Seattle Anxiety Specialists - Psychiatry, Psychology, and Psychotherapy

Theory of Learned Helplessness

Overview

Psychologists Martin E. P. Seligman and Steven F. Maier first discovered the phenomenon of learned helplessness in 1967 and published “Failure to escape traumatic shock” in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learned helplessness involves a failure to respond after repeated negative outcomes leads to the person to feel they have no control over their environment.[1] Specifically, learned helplessness could provide insight into why people may be more vulnerable to depression or why victims stay in abusive relationships, especially when examining how people attribute those negative outcomes. 

History and Development

In 1967 Segliman & Maier conducted an experiment that first included two groups of dogs all placed in a box that administered electric shocks. The first group was able to relieve the pain by pressing their nose to a button, while the other group was not. In the second phase of this experiment, all dogs had the ability to escape the electric shock administered, all that was required was to jump over a partition between two chambers. However, the psychologists found dogs without the button in the first phase did not attempt to escape the shock, while the dogs with the button quickly learned to jump over the barrier.[2] From this, three main effects were drawn:[3] 

• Response Initiation - Animals who adapted to shocks were slower to initiate responses to relieve the shock or did not respond at all 

• Delayed Learning - Slowed response learning that their actions could control the trauma 

• Emotional Stress - Stress increased in intensity when the trauma was uncontrollable

After publication, critics argued that these same principles could not be applied to humans, and so, in 1974 an experiment was conducted by D. S. Hiroto using college students. The experiment followed the general pattern of the original but utilized a loud noise rather than a shock. The results of this experiment were remarkably similar as the students in the unescapable (button-free) noise group failed to escape in the second phase and listened to the noise passively while those in the escapable group (with button) were quick to learn how to escape the noise.[4] 

Following the findings of Hiroto’s experiment, a renovated learned helplessness theory was published in a 1978 article entitled “Learned Helplessness in Humans: Critique and Reformation”. In this entry, authors touched on previous inadequacies of the old theory and began to relate them more towards humans.[5] 

Theoretical Components 

The main idea of Seligman & Maier’s theory focuses on how repeated aversive outcomes will cause an organism to fail to use any means necessary to change the outcomes of its environment. This continuous lack of control over one’s environment will lead to a decrease in motivation and will lessen later attempts to solve the situation.[6] The 1978 theory introduced a new component, attribution, which can affect how broad and constant helplessness may appear in new situations; this can later affect a person’s self-esteem when facing those new circumstances.[7]

When an aversive outcome arises, there are two situations that can be at the root: 

• A person is unable to control the outcome and believes no one else is able to, either. 

• They think they, themselves, are lacking the skills necessary to control an outcome. 

This distinction marks the difference between universal helplessness and personal helplessness.[8] Therefore, when a person makes an internal attribution that others were able to find the solution to the outcome and they were not, it is deemed personal helplessness. On the other hand, if a person makes an external attribution that the outcome of the situation was independent of their response, that is seen as universal helplessness.[9]  

Another dimension of this theory involves the generality of the uncontrollable outcome that will occur. This irregularity is deemed global or specific. Unlike the dichotomy of personal versus universal helplessness, these two categories are a continuum. The term global refers to when helplessness affects a wide range of situations, versus specific, which is when helplessness only occurs in a certain set of situations.[10] The duration of helplessness can also be broken into two categories, long-lived and recurrent (i.e., chronic) or short-lived and nonrecurrent (i.e., transient). The final division of helplessness outlined by Segliman deals with the stability of the deficit. Stable helplessness is long-lived, while unstable is short-lived.[11] 

Together, these various dimensions produce different severities and durations of helplessness. The most damaging forms of helplessness mainly pertain to stable factors- for example, if a person feels a lack of intelligence or ability to complete an action. The feeling of helplessness will persist longer as it is something they feel they cannot change about themselves. Self-esteem deficiencies become more likely when internal attributions are paired with stable factors.[12] However, the most severe combination comes when internal, stable and global attributions are all given.[13] In this situation not only does the person blame themselves for their helplessness, but also perceive the factor that will not change, which happens in a wide range of situations. Notably, while attribution can predict the recurrence of the outcome, the expectation of the situation is what determines how often the helplessness occurs.[14] If a person feels they are indeed capable and expects the situation to end positively, then their chances of helplessness are lower versus a person who enters a situation with a negative expectation in mind. 

In all cases, however, a clear flow of events can be mapped out to show a person’s descent into a helpless mindset. The first connection comes when the person no longer associates their actions with the desired outcome. They then make a conclusion based on the lack of association between the action and the outcome. That association then leads to the person expecting those same aversive outcomes for the future thus hindering any future response they might have that can change the outcome.[15] 

Treatment

In 1990, Seligman published the book Learned Optimism as a way to help guide clients out of this negative mindset with the help of a therapist or psychologist.[16] Through cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), the client can break down the root of the negative thought pattern and can begin working on a more positive mindset. Through learned optimism, the client can make that switch from a pessimistic point of view of their environment to a more optimistic view in the hopes of breaking that automatic negative thought pattern. Seligman also discussed the usage of guided discovery during therapy in which the client is taught how to break down those negative thoughts themselves allowing them the tools to examine and correct them when those situations arise in the future.[17]

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) has also been proposed as a possible form of treatment for learned helplessness. EMDR is a psychotherapy that is specifically designed to treat trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), thus allowing clients to work through negative experiences from their past.[18] A practitioner uses bilateral stimulation (e.g., eye movement) to allow the client to work through unresolved memories and aversive experiences from their past.[19] Thus, it gives the client an opportunity to work through their trauma without going into disturbing details. It also supports the development of positive beliefs and tries to reduce the negative expectations that come from past traumas.[20]

Exposure therapy can also be used to expose clients to their helplessness head-on. By facing their fears in a safe environment where the trauma cannot recur, the client can learn to navigate those aversive outcomes and adjust their expectations for future situations.[21]

Discussion 

Due to the nature of how learned helplessness arises when aversive outcomes lead to a decrease in response, many have come to use Seligman’s theory to explain why certain people are more vulnerable to depression. Depression can be described as a person having reduced responses and a negative cognitive set, both of which can be tied to a feeling of hopelessness or helplessness.[22] Once a person makes the connection that response and outcome are independent of one another, they can become vulnerable to a depressed effect. However, the idea of uncontrollability is not sufficient enough for depression to arise on its own. Seligman laid out four different deficits that can make up depression: motivational, cognitive, self-esteem and affective. When a person learns their response no longer affects the outcome, the loss of a desired outcome, or event of an aversive outcome, leads to a belief they are doomed to fail in the future. Additionally, the intensity of the depression is dependent on if the person makes a personal or universal attribution for their helplessness.[23] If seen as personal, their self-esteem decreases as they deem themselves unfit to change the outcome.

This link between personal helplessness versus universal helplessness affecting depression was examined in a study done by Rizley in 1978. In his study, Rizley assigned depressed and nondepressed college students a cognitive task, however, some were destined to fail or to succeed. Once the task was completed they were asked to make an attribution about the outcome. The failed group showed that depressed students made more internal, global, stable attributions, or saw themselves as incompetent, while the non-depressed students made external, specific, stable attributions, like seeing the task as too challenging. Conversely, if the student succeeded the depressed students attributed the positive outcome externally (i.e., deeming the task too easy) while the non-depressed students attributed it internally by praising their own abilities.[24] Thus the relationship between learned helplessness and depression is strong, and the effects of depression can become more far-reaching if the person continuously faces the challenge of overcoming their helplessness. The lack of response from the person can even lead to a delay in development and learning as well as make them more vulnerable to depression, anxiety and guilt.[25] 

People who continuously face uncontrollable situations, especially those that have a high likelihood of being aversive, are much more vulnerable to depression. That depression also becomes more far-reaching once that person begins to make global, stable and internal attributions about the outcome. However, learned helplessness is not necessary for someone to fall into depression, but it is sufficient to develop depression.[26] The combination of uncontrollability, lowered self-esteem, and generality that comes from learned helplessness can have dramatic effects, especially within vulnerable groups such as children and victims of abuse.[27] 

In academic settings, academic failure or low academic self-esteem can set students up to feel that their actions no longer affect the outcome of their situations. Students who fall into learned helplessness begin to feel as if they are unable to change their negative outcomes and thus stop applying any effort to their schoolwork at all. They can also begin to feel anxious about schoolwork or attending school, thus depressing their motivation, effort, and chances of success in the future.[28] It also becomes a larger issue when students who may face bullying at school begin to believe there is nothing that can be done to stop it and inadvertently allow their own bullying.[29] They fear that speaking out against their aggressors will not change the negative outcomes later on and adapt to that environment rather than try to change it. This can also be applied to children facing abuse, or any form of trauma at home. They feel all control has been lost, especially when their control is being taken by an adult, and they fear it may never come back.[30] This loss of control from an early age can stunt that child’s development and can lead to those negative personal attributions tied to depression and other mental health issues.[31]

These same ideas can be tied to victims of abuse who stay in dangerous situations when so many others tell them to leave. Abusers will subject their victims to repeated abuse, teaching them they have no way of expecting when the abuse will arise or how to control it.[32] They learn very quickly that they have little to no control over the abuse inflicted on them and thus no longer try to change their situation. The abuse thus holds complete control over their victim and forces them into learned helplessness. Once victims are acclimated to their situation, it will normally take intense support and therapy to allow themselves to leave their abusive environment.[33] These victims will also make internal attributions about why their response leads to traumatic outcomes and sees themselves as the root of that abuse. 

Each situation will have its own specific solution. For students struggling in school, it is important to implement praise based on students' effort as well as setting individual goals so that students can see the progress they make as they complete each goal they set for themselves. However, in more advanced cases of learned helplessness, therapy and support can allow people to escape their negative environments.[34] Further, teaching the idea of learned hopefulness can allow people to have a new outlook on response-outcome relationships. Learned hopefulness is a positive attribution style taught to combat learned helplessness and to help people limit those thoughts that may debilitate their actions in the future.[35] These types of positive attributions can be especially effective when paired with therapy and support from those around the individual. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression, anxiety and/or abuse, or feel you are in some sort of hopeless situation, please reach out to a licensed mental health professional (e.g., a psychotherapist, psychologist or psychiatrist) for guidance and support.

Contributed by: Ryann Thomson

Editor: Jennifer (Ghahari) Smith, Ph.D.

References

1 Nickerson, C. (2023). Learned Helplessness Theory in Psychology (Seligman): Examples & Coping. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/learned-helplessness.html 

2 Seligman, M. E., & Maier, S. F. (1967). Failure to escape traumatic shock. Journal of experimental psychology, 74 (1), 1. https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fh0024514

3 Seligman, M. E. (1972). Learned helplessness.  Annual review of medicine,  23 (1), 407-412. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.me.23.020172.002203

4 Hiroto, D. S. (1974). Locus of control and learned helplessness. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 102(2), 187–193.

5 Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P., & Teasdale, J. R. (1978). Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87(1), 49–74. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843x.87.1.49 

6 Ibid. 

7 Ibid. 

8 Ibid. 

9 Ibid. 

10 Ibid. 

11 Ibid. 

12 Nickerson (2019) 

13 Abramson et. al. (1978) 

14 Ibid. 

15 Ibid. 

16 Seligman, M. E. P. (1991). Learned optimism. A.A. Knopf. 

17 Ibid. 

18 GoodTherapy Editor Team. (2019, September 6). Helplessness / Victimhood Therapy, Helplessness / Victimhood Therapist. https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/issues/helplessness 

19  Davis, Rayelle. (2022, August 2). What Is Eye Movement Desensitization And Reprocessing? | Psychology.org. Psychology.org | Psychology’s Comprehensive Online Resource. https://www.psychology.org/resources/emdr-therapy/ 

20 GoodTherapy (2019)

21 Ibid. 

22 Seligman (1972)

23 Abramson et. al. (1978)

24 Ibid. 

25 Thompson, J. (2014, February 26). Learned Helplessness: You're Not Trapped - GoodTherapy.org Therapy Blog. GoodTherapy.org Therapy Blog. https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/therapy-learned-helplessness/ 

26 Abramson et. al. (1978)

27 GoodTherapy (2019)

28 Nickerson (2019) 

29 Goodtherapy (2019)

30 Nickerson (2019) 

31 Goodtherapy (2019) 

32 Nickerson (2019)  

33 Ibid. 

34 Ibid.

35 Ibid.