LEARNED

HELPLESSNE
SS

ILNU, Ahmedabad, India

Adimesh Lochan
Aditya Shukla
Prafull Bhardwaj
Prateek Shrivastava
Sumit Singh Bhadauriya
Utkarsh Jain
9726672361 9726672341
9726659836 9726665323

IF
IFYOU
YOUARE
AREIN
INAABAD
BADSITUATION
SITUATIONYOU
YOU
WILL
DO
WHATEVER
YOU
CAN
DO
TO
WILL DO WHATEVER YOU CAN DO TO
ESCAPE
ESCAPEIT
IT
IF
IFYOU
YOUFEEL
FEELLIKE
LIKEYOU
YOUARENT
ARENTIN
IN
CONTROL
CONTROLOF
OFYOUR
YOURSITUATION
SITUATION, ,YOU
YOUWILL
WILL
GIVE
UP
AND
ACCEPT
WHATEVER
GIVE UP AND ACCEPT WHATEVER
SITUATION
SITUATIONYOU
YOUARE
AREIN
IN

INFORMAL DEFINITION

Giving up .
Expectations of future non contigency
outcomes no longer depends on actions.
BELIEVING it wont matter what I do.
BELIEVING I have no control over the
outcome.
The belief that your actions are futile.
BELIEVING you are incompetent.

Negative Reinforcement

Negative reinforcement
occur when something
already present is removed
( or taken away ) as a result
of persons behavior, thereby
creating favourable outcome
for that person in future.

EXPERIMENTAL
EVIDENCES OF
LEARNED
HELPLESSNESS

CLASSIC EXPERIMENT ON DOGS BY MARINE(1969)

EXPLANATORY STYLES
Explanatory style is a psychological attribute that indicates
how people explain to themselves why they experience a
particular event, either positive or negative.
Three components in explanatory style:
1. Pervasive (global vs. specific)

This involves how one explains the extent of the effects.

2. Permanent (stable vs. unstable)

This involves how one explains the extent of the cause.

2. Personal (internal vs. external)

This involves how one explains the cause of an event.

BERNARD WEINER'S ATTRIBUTION

THEORY (1985-86)
This attribution theory includes the dimensions of
1. GLOBALITY: Cause of a negative event is consistent
across different contexts.
SPECIFICITY: Cause of a negative event is unique to a
particular situation.
2. STABILITY: Cause is consistent across time.
INSTABILITY: Cause is specific to one point in time.
3. INTERNALITY: An external attribution assigns causality
to situational or external factors
EXTERNALITY: An internal attribution assigns causality
to factors within the person.

People who generally

tend to blame themselves for negative events,

believe that such events will continue

indefinitely, and

let such events affect many aspects of their

lives display what is called a pessimistic
explanatory style.

Conversely, people who generally

tend to blame others for negative events,

believe that such events will end soon, and

do not let such events affect too many aspects

of their lives display what is called an
optimistic explanatory style.

Attributing outcomes to controllable

causes such as effort, an internal
unstable attribution, would then lead to
an active task approach.
Attributing outcomes to uncontrollable
situations such as lack of ability, in
contrast, would lead to the undesirable
causes of learned helplessness (Dweck,
1975).

HEALTH
IMPLICATION
S

DEPRESSION

-SADNESS IS NOT
DEPRESSION

SYMPTOMS

DECREASE IN APPETITE
INSOMNIA OR HYPERINSOMNIA
LACK OF ENERGY
SUICIDAL THOUGHTS
FEELING OF WORTHLESSNESS AND
GUILT

SELIGMANS OBSERVATION

CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION

1. Emotional disturbance- sadness and
hopeless outlook towards life.
2. Reluctant to initiate action-characteristics
of severe depression
3. Cognitive deficient- difficulty in solving
problems or learning learnable things

SOCIAL IMPACT

LEARNED HELPLESSNESS IN SOCIETY

IN THE CLASSROOMStudents who repeatedly fail may conclude that they are
incapable of improving their performance, and this attribution
keeps them from trying to succeed, which results in increased
helplessness, continued failure, loss of self esteem and other
social consequences.

IN CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS-

It may be a factor in the development of avictim

mentalityin a Child or young adult. By being repeatedly
exposed to uncomfortable or painful situations, such as
bullying or abuse by their peers, the person may stop trying
to cope with painful social situations. This can lead to
continued stress, feelings ofself-hatred, and maladaptive
behaviors such as avoiding all social interactions.

Those who are extremely shy or anxious in social

situations may become passive due to feelings of

helplessness. Gotlib and Beatty (1985) found that
people who cite helplessness in social settings may
be viewed poorly by others, which tends to reinforce
the passivity.

IN AGING INDIVIDUALSThey may respond with helplessness to the deaths of

friends and family members, the loss of jobs and
income, and the development of age-related health
problems. This may cause them to neglect their
medical care, financial affairs, and other important
needs.

WAYS TO OVERCOME LEARNED

HELPLESSNESS

BY THE PERSON HIMSELF

BY PSYCHIATRISTS

SELF HELP (BY BRINGING IN

THEIR PERONALITY/ATTITUTE)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

CHANGE IS POSSIBLE
THINK BIG
GET PERSPECTIVE
SET GOALS
ACHIEVING SUCCESS
CONSIDER DIFFERENT
POINTVIEW

BY PROFESSIONALS/PSYCHIATRIST

1.

2.

3.

USING METAPHORS
VIVE LE DIFFERENCE
( DIFFERENCE RULE)
ENCOURAGING ACTIVE PROBLEM
SOLVING

Thank you