Learned Helplessness is the response of an organism to stimuli.  Over a period of time, the organism learns whether the stimuli can be controlled.  When organisms cannot exert control over their environmental stimuli, they may respond with NO response.  Thus, the organism "takes"  the negative stimuli without being evasive.  The organism has learned that it is helpless to control stimuli.

The articles, in their conglomeration, seem to indicate a relationship between Learned Helplessness and depression in some humans.  Those who are affected most by the depression brought on by Learned Helplessness seem to have a more pessimistic outlook.  The two concepts, when combined, may affect the immune system.

Several of the sites make application for teachers.  The belief of unlearning Learned Helplessness is still questioned.  There seems to be a growing understanding in the field that one can overcome Learned Helplessness through several fairly simple methods.

Learned Helplessness may affect many people who are not debilitated by its power.  Teachers need to be aware of the symptoms as seen in students and how teacher behavior and expectations can create or help cure Learned Helplessness.

--Todd Sukany tsukany@sbuniv.edu

Teachers have a role in Learned Helplessness as, for some students, "[c]ontinual exposure to academic failure has been shown to contribute to learned helplessness, withdrawal, unwillingness to approach new tasks, and a lack of persistence."  Additionally, "[o]ther factors have been shown to contribute to this learned academic helplessness. Grouping students with a variety of disabilities under the tutelage of one teacher with generic training, excessive use of external reinforcement, lack of early identification of learning disabilities, a belief in a fixed static intelligence and a lack of reward for individual effort versus achievement are all important issues to consider."  The following observations are made concerning Learning Disabled (LD) and Non-Learning Disabled (NLD) students:

1.  LD students tend to a higher external causation than NLD peers.
2.  LD students generally hold lower self-esteems than NLD peers.

My question is "How are those goals unique to LD students?"

The authors make an analogy to an electrical failure as a model of remediation.  Remediation is a "three-legged stool" of understanding, discovering, and equipping.  The perception the individual holds of the "failure" events is a major component of remediation according to Seligman and the authors.  Explanatory style is determined by three factors: permanence, pervasiveness, and personalization.  Seligman's "ABCDEs of Cognitive Therapy" is also discussed and illustrated through vignettes.

a) information about the contingency - outcome upon responseb) cognitive representation of the contingency - expectation of level of one's control, learning about environment, etc.
c) observable behaviour [sic]. "

The article includes a discussion of Seligman's critics.  One critic, "Teasdale[,] further argued that, of the subjects who did become helpless, some bounced back right away, while others never recovered; some were helpless only in the situation they learned to be helpless in while others gave up in brand new situations (Seligman, 1990). "

Seligman's character concerning critics is demonstrated in his collaboration efforts with some of his critics.  He answered the critics and "[t]hus, Seligman, Abramson, and Teasdale combined their talents to produce a revision of the learned helplessness theory which includes explanatory or attributional style of the individual. A negative or pessimistic style may suggest higher susceptibility to learned helplessness or, ultimately, depression. A positive or optimistic attributional style may demonstrate greater immunity to helplessness and depression. "

The article concludes with several questions (behavioral immunization) still unanswered by Seligman's theory.  "The answer for why and how we become helpless," asks the writer, "probably originates from many avenues. Perhaps the developed helpless strains of rats have the answer; that is, perhaps it is primarily inherited, predisposing the individual to become helpless in a given situation."  This is another area needing the support of continued research.