Seligman's Theory Of Learned Helplessness

“The learned helplessness phenomenon is proposed as a model for the emotional numbing and maladaptive passivity sometimes following victimization” (Peterson 103). Learned helplessness as stated in Martin Seligman’s research was basically people experience learned help-lessness as thinking that the test they had was impossible. According to what I researched, making them have a tendency to give up easily or fail more often at somewhat eas¬ier tasks. Learned helplessness is more likely to result from situations where fail¬ure is uncontrollable.

Martin Seligman and Steven Maier performed a study in 1967 that proved Learned Helplessness. “Seligman found that dogs exposed to inescapable and unavoidable electric shocks in one situation later failed to learn to escape shock in a different situation where escape was possible” (Maier, 1967 ). Dogs were placed in an area where shocks could be avoided and dogs showed that they eventually learned how to escape the shocks every time. He placed dogs during his experiment in the line of shocks that were random and unable to avoid. The dogs showed Learned Helplessness when the last shocks were avoidable, but didn’t make any move to escape or avoid it. In a sense, the dogs gave up after believing in the beginning the shock was unavoidable.

They stated that there were

After researching this social psychology study I am not exactly sure of how I feel about the topic. My personal point of view on this study is that it definitely makes sense as to why it would apply to a normal human being and their feelings of helplessness since they felt it way too many times. But as I was growing up, my parents told me to never give up. In what way do the people who don’t give up after the uncontrollable is out the way apply? Is that a theory or just a way of life? Just questions that life maybe answers after a