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Today, our psychologist Sofia Okhrimenko will analyze one of the most interesting experiments in psychology, the results of which are still able to change the thinking of people and society. But let's start with a small preface: surely each of you has a friend or acquaintance, looking at whom you do not understand at all why he lives like this and does not change anything in his life? Or maybe you yourself are the very person who understands and realizes that he has certain inclinations and talents, but nothing changes in life at all?
You have practically not moved anywhere from point A for reasons that are completely incomprehensible to you. Internally, this causes unpleasant emotions and sensations, and only brings disappointment due to the fact that nothing in your life is changing globally. So, let's see why this is happening. It is quite possible that all this is only a consequence of learned helplessness — a state in which it seems that any efforts do not make sense and will not bring any result.
1. Origins
This condition was revealed in one of the unique and interesting experiments of psychological science. In 1965, two graduates of the psychology department of the University of Pennsylvania, Martin Seligman and Stephen Mayer, decided to conduct an experiment on dogs to examine Pavlov's experiment on the conditioned reflex and the “freedom” reflex in more detail. Pavlov found that no matter how many dogs were fixed with a special machine, they still tried to escape and made repeated attempts to feel freedom.
Seligman and Mayer decided to supplement this experiment and divided the subjects into three groups:
- Control group - just put the dogs in cages without power supply;
- Experimental 1 - put in a cage of 2 compartments (1 current was supplied, in 2 compartments - not) and with periodic supply of current through the floor, but dogs could turn it off by pressing the pedal located on the floor of one of the sides of the cage;
- Experimental 2 - also planted in cages with compartments with periodic current supply, but without the possibility of its termination.
The dogs of these groups could get into a safe part of the cage: for this, they had to overcome an obstacle and jump over a small barrier, and the animals from the first two groups successfully did it. But the dogs from the third group, already accustomed to receiving electric shocks, simply lay down and whined, without making any attempts to free themselves from electric shocks. They were sure that there was no escape from the pain. It is this state that Seligman and Mayer called “learned helplessness” and suggested that it is characteristic of all mammals and humans.
Learned helplessness (SH) is a condition in which it seems that any efforts do not make sense and will not bring any result.
Subsequently, similar experiments were conducted, which were aimed at studying the behavior of people in difficult situations. Of course, for ethical reasons, there was no current in the experiments, but people were offered an irritant in the form of strong and unpleasant noise. People from the first group could turn it off by pressing some buttons on the TV remote, and from the second – no matter what buttons they pressed, they could not change anything, and the noise in the headphones remained at the same level. There was also a third group whose people did not participate in the first stage of the experiment at all.
Then all the subjects were sent to another room (all were in equal conditions), they had to put their hands in a drawer, from where unpleasant and loud sounds came. This sound could be turned off by touching one side of the box with your hand. People from group 1 successfully overcame this noise and looked for a way out of the situation, so did people from group 3 who had no previous experience of participation. People from the 2nd group did not seek to find a way out of the situation and often showed passivity, just waiting for this experiment to end.
As a result of the experiment, it was revealed that people have learned helplessness, which is formed under the influence of negative experiences, where the efforts made did not bring results.
The action of learned helplessness also extends to other situations, including those that do not correspond to the conditions in which the negative experience was obtained and learned helplessness arose. Learned helplessness changes people's thinking, oppressing their capabilities and abilities. That is, a person who resorts to the behavior patterns of learned helplessness, then transfers this state to all areas of his life. And even with resources and abilities, he is rarely able to do anything drastic.
2. Features of thinking with learned helplessness
People with AS (learned helplessness) have certain peculiarities of thinking.
Let's take a closer look:
- Ajusting, the adaptation of people with helpless thinking is much lower than that of people who tried and got results.
- Low level of energy. There are forces, but they are spent unclearly for a person. The performance of one task is long, with constant intervals for rest or some thoughts.
- Internal nervousness and anxiety are constant companions of any activity.
- Often there is an expected value of a negative outcome.
This is just a small list of visible signs of thinking of people with learned helplessness. Important: People with learned helplessness have a low ability to change their reality. They can make repeated attempts to change, but in fact the changes will either be insignificant or there will be a rollback, since there is an inability to keep a positive result. Learned helplessness greatly hinders human development, it is definitely necessary and important to work through it. It can be obtained both in childhood and in adolescence or adulthood. Thus, it is impossible to fully insure against it, but you can be prepared to overcome it.
3. How to protect your psyche
You need to make your thinking more flexible, to form an inner readiness to overcome difficulties, even when constant failures or a protracted downswing haunt you. But first you need to take the first steps to change your thinking and clearly understand the situations in which you could form learned helplessness. These situations need to be written out and comprehended, looked at and analyzed – whether you have transferred the experience gained there to other areas of your life. This analysis will already give you a lot. And its elaboration is carried out by the psychologist of the Poker University project at individual consultations. Therefore, if you have realized that learned helplessness is not just a word for you, we invite you to consult our specialist for a detailed study and get rid of this condition.
