Learned Helplessness Essay

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Emily Brown PSYC 2301-710 October 20, 2011 Learned Helplessness The perception that one is in control of their lives is an important aspect in a person’s psychosocial development. When a person fails to develop this sense of control they often resort to learned helplessness. This coping mechanism allows them to cope with life’s experiences even though it comes at a high cost. Over time, learned helplessness can perpetuate a lower level of emotional, physical and social expectations impeding the development of a healthy self-esteem. Repeated failures in one’s past can sometimes lead to a person to give up any expectations that he can have any influence over his future. There is a sense of futility that no matter what actions a person takes he is too incompetent to change the outcome. This learned helplessness can become pervasive and perpetuate the belief that there is no escape from a bad situation no matter what actions are taken. There may be rationalization that any change will be negative and the situation will be worse than before or that he does not deserve anything better. Once this person has established a certain acceptance of a situation, it becomes difficult for them to change or deviate from this path. Learned helplessness is established when a person has become inappropriately passive when exposed to prolonged uncontrollable events. He begins changing the way he thinks about his ability to control similar future events. There are several factors that can lead a person to develop learned helplessness including childhood trauma, overprotective parents, continuous teasing or bullying, or working hard but still not achieving the desired goal. There are many examples of learned helplessness in everyday life. One is an intellectually impaired five year old child who has been spoon-fed by his over protective mother his entire life. Although he
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