Learned Helplessness: Implications For Your Success

Learned helplessness is one of the most exciting discoveries of modern psychology to date. Credit for the discovery goes to psychologists Steven Maier and Martin Seligman, and the implications of their finding underscore the importance of a positive mental attitude.

What is Learned Helplessness? An Experiment with Man's Best Friend...

Learned helplessness is a term describing a psychological state in which you will behave in a helpless manner in response to unwanted or painful conditions, even when you can do something about it.

In their 1967 experiment, Maier and Seligman showed dogs could be conditioned to be helpless in the face of electric shocks. They conditioned the dogs to be helpless by shocking them in a box in which they could not escape. Though the dogs tried at to escape at first, eventually they just lied down and gave up. When moved to a new box with a barrier over which they could jump to escape the shocks, the dogs believed nothing they did would make a difference and simply lied down.

But the most interesting discovery of Maier and Seligman was this:

Learned helplessness could be cured and prevented.

Overcoming learned helplessness...

In a later experiment, Seligman and Maier took dogs that had learned to act helpless in the face of mild shock and put them in a box where they could jump over a barrier to escape the shocks. During the course of the experiment, the psychologists moved the dogs over the barrier again and again until the dogs began to jump over it themselves to escape the shock.

The dogs were now completely cured of their helplessness. Even more intriguing, when the dogs were taught the skills they needed to escape as puppies, they were immune to helplessness for the rest of their lives. Learning beforehand that your response matters prevents learned helplessness.

You might even say the dogs had a "positive attitude" in their ability to overcome challenges.

Practical Implications of Positive Psychology

Although this new field of psychology (now called positive psychology) stunned the psychological world because it contradicted the dominant theory of behaviorism, the exciting implication is how this finding (and later studies done because of it) affects YOU today. If you can be taught to think and act optimistically in the face of adversity, then guess what the implications are?

Implication #1: Optimism is a skill you can learn that will benefit you for the rest of your life, no matter where you came from. If you've been abused and are having a hard time right now, a good cognitive therapist can help you not only reconnect with who you are, but also make you more optimistic, which will in turn improve the quality of your life as you make positive changes. Perhaps you haven't suffered from something as drastic as child abuse, but if you have other challenging problems, learning to take positive action rather than stay helpless can assist you in dealing with life's challenges. You'll live a happier and healthier life. Isn't that we're all after?

Implication #2: Pessimism is bad for your health. Subsequent psychological studies have shown negative psychological states such as pessimism or grief can weaken your immune system (which is not to say that you shouldn't grieve over the loss of a loved one, but rather that continual pessimism is not healthy) and potentially make you more susceptible to illness and disease.

Implication #3: Depression is curable (for the most part). For a good fraction of people (with the exception of bipolar and unipolar depressives), depression can be handled by changing the way you think.

But the most exciting implication is this:

The self-help gurus are right after all. A positive mental attitude makes all the difference.

You have the power to create the life you want, because you can change the way you think, and by association, the actions you take in response to your thoughts.

As Zig Ziglar once said, "You've got to 'be' before you can 'do', and you've got to 'do' before you can 'have'."

So before you tell yourself you can't do something, think about a golden retriever jumping over a barrier. Look for ways to make a situation better. If Fido can overcome the odds, so can you.

Related article(s):

Overcoming learned helplessness

Why are you unhappy? (and how to fix it) Subscribe to the ZenTactics Newsletter and receive 2 FREE Giveaways!

This newsletter is packed with valuable tips and advice for abuse survivors, with feature articles to help you. I NEVER spam and you you can unsubscribe at any time.

Return from Learned Helplessness to Psychology and Mental Health Articles

Return to Home Page