Definitions
Sorry, no definitions found. Check out and contribute to the discussion of this word!
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word learned helplessness.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
bilby commented on the word learned helplessness
"In psychology, a mental state in which a laboratory subject forced to bear aversive stimuli becomes unable or unwilling to avoid subsequent applications, even if they are 'escapable,' presumably through having learned that situational control is generally out of one's hands. Experiments, first on dogs and later on humans, led some researchers, including Martin E.P. Seligman (b. 1942) in Helplessness (1975), to believe that chronic failure, depression, and similar conditions are forms of learned helplessness. Critics have argued that different conclusions can be drawn from such tests and that broad generalizations are unwarranted."
- answers.com
December 10, 2008