Learned Helplessness
Hi guys! I recently stumbled upon a term called “Learned Helplessness”! It’s the concept of believing you cannot change an outcome of a situation because of a repeated pattern of bad outcomes. This relates to the concept that has been thrown around quite a bit on the internet: a fly will not move from above the top of a jar (even after the jar is opened) because it has already learned that the top of the jar will stop it from getting out. Scientists Martin Seligman and Steven F. Maier conducted an experiment using dogs to test this theory, proving that dogs, like people, can learn helplessness.
Warning if you decide to read the article, it might sound like it’s just an experiment but it was highly unethical what they were doing to those dogs all to prove a point.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/learned-helplessness.html
here’s the article!
Thanks for sharing! Learned helplessness is definitely an important topic these days! I feel like pretty much everyone has had experiences with this phenomenon; one example I can think about is low voter turnout despite many people expressing desire to change the system. Or not studying for a test because you know your grade's cooked anyways.
It's interesting to think about other animals having this too. It seems like such an abstract, detached way of thinking... something you wouldn't expect a dog to also develop.