Learned helplessness: psychological studies of the phenomenon. Learned helplessness: what is it and how to deal with it

Why do some people fight until victory, while others give up without even trying to do anything? In the 1960s, scientists discovered a phenomenon that is inherent not only to humans, but also to all highly developed animals. It's called learned or learned helplessness.

Learned helplessness syndrome is a complex of psychological attitudes formed under the influence of several repeated failures in a row. When a person sees that he cannot influence the situation, he stops trying to do anything in the future. This phenomenon is characterized by the following phrases: “I won’t succeed anyway,” “I won’t be able to, there’s no point in even trying,” “I was a loser, and I will remain one.”

It often happens that the syndrome develops in those people whose work does not produce quick results. In this case, the emotional connection “effort-reward” disappears. Another dangerous factor is the irregularity of the response, when the same actions lead to different results.

Learned helplessness syndrome was discovered quite by accident by American psychologists while studying conditioned and unconditioned reflexes in dogs. This was in 1964. The experiments were reminiscent of those that the notorious Pavlov conducted on dogs.

The animals were locked in cages with a metal floor through which shocks were fired. electric current. First, a loud beep was heard, followed after some time by a discharge.

When the dogs learned the pattern, the experiment was complicated - the cage doors were opened. It was assumed that upon hearing the sound associated with the electric discharge, the dogs would rush out of their cages to rid themselves of the unpleasant sensations. But it was not there.

Having heard the signal, the dogs did not go anywhere, but lay down on the floor, whined and prepared to endure the pain. The scientists were perplexed and confused. The system has failed. The reflex to the signal was developed, but no one expected such a reaction.

In that group of scientists was Martin Seligman, an American psychologist who later founded such a movement as positive psychology. He spent many years trying to prove the existence of learned helplessness syndrome and understand its intricacies. And, most importantly, he made people understand that helplessness can not only be acquired, but also get rid of it.

In 1967, learned helplessness syndrome was confirmed using an experiment on dogs that were repeatedly shocked. Only this time they were divided into three groups. Participants in the first group could press a pedal that turns off the current. Animals from the second group could not influence the process in any way - the current supply stopped only if the dog from the first group pressed the pedal. The dogs of the third control group simply chilled, without experiencing all the delights of science.

Then everyone was placed in cages with the same conditions. In one half of the cage the floor was electric, but in the other it was not. The two halves were separated by a partition that could be jumped over. The dogs of the first and third groups instantly found their bearings and moved to a safe place. Most of the dogs in the second group remained in place, continuing to endure.

In 1971, this phenomenon was studied in humans. Of course, they didn’t shock them, but carried out all sorts of humane experiments. There is a fairly well-known experiment in a nursing home, where patients on one floor were given the opportunity to control some aspects of their lives, while others were completely deprived of this opportunity - everything was decided for them. So, the first ones could choose for themselves indoor plant and had to take care of it themselves, while the latter simply received a flower that could not be cared for - this was done by the medical staff. The former could choose food, the latter could not. And so on.

Research has shown stunning results. Patients who had control were less sick, were happier, and the mortality rate in this group was much lower.

In total, over 25 years, more than 300 studies were conducted on different animals and humans at different institutions around the world.

Many interesting details emerged. Learned helplessness syndrome almost always accompanies depression. In most cases, it develops in childhood, when parents do everything for the child (“You’ll do it wrong anyway!”) or do not encourage his actions.

Another study has shown that people without reward can acquire learned helplessness. The participant had to compare and recognize identical pictures among similar ones. He worked with a group that discussed his choice. In the first case, the group was focused on criticizing the choice, even if it was the right one. In the second case, the group strongly supported and praised the participant’s choice.

The one who was criticized showed worse results at the end of the experiment, made more and more mistakes, his emotional state and self-confidence decreased. Those who were praised showed good results and were in excellent spirits. After this, the presenter suggested continuing the experiments - now it was necessary to recognize the images of animals. Many of those whose choice was criticized refused to continue working.

During the research, another interesting nuance was revealed: every third participant (whether animal or human) under no circumstances gave up and continued to persist, trying to achieve results even with constant failures. Such experimental subjects were called “conscious optimists” and turned Special attention on them when studying learned helplessness and means of combating it.

There are four attitudes, in the presence of which acquired helplessness syndrome develops:

• This only happens to me;
• This will happen to me in all areas of my life;
• This will always happen;
• There is no way out of this.

If three of the four attitudes are present, the syndrome is ready.

What to do to get rid of acquired helplessness syndrome?

It is necessary to work with the four attitudes written above, constantly refuting them. We know that failure happens to many people. We understand that if things don't go well at work, it doesn't mean the same will happen at home. We must remember that even a long series of failures does not mean that they are endless. And there are certainly no hopeless situations.

The ability to choose (even in small things) and influence events (even everyday ones) increases our sense of self-worth and importance for this world. And this is not just a desire to stroke self-esteem: a person who feels like a loser and insignificance gets sick more often, suffers from mental disorders and dies faster.

You need to constantly increase the level of control over what is happening in your life, do what you are good at - at least at the level of a hobby. The more control in life and response to one’s actions a person feels, the happier he becomes, and the lower the risk of acquiring the destructive syndrome of learned helplessness.

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The term “learned helplessness syndrome” was coined by psychologist Martin Seligman in 1964. Martin was engaged in tormenting animals in the laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania. He had dogs in cages, and Martin shocked them for scientific purposes. True, he indicated in all his works that the charge, although long-lasting, was weak, and therefore did not cause pain in the animals, but only discomfort. (So, perhaps, in the next world, Martin will not be endlessly torn into many little martins by hellhounds with red eyebrows. But he will have to endlessly scratch his belly with hellish lapdogs.)

The dogs were divided into two groups: “lucky” and “losers”. The “losers” could not do anything about the shocks that were delivered to the floor of the cage twice a day. At first they rushed at the bars and tried to break them down. But then they got used to it and just curled up into a ball and howled when the shock was given.

The “lucky” ones had a panel in their cages, by clicking on which they could stop the discharge. All the animals learned to use it and, without the slightest panic, ran to the panel to put things in order at the first symptoms of an electrical attack. At the same time, we note (this is very important) that the “lucky” and “losers” received approximately the same portion of the discharge, since the panel still had to be reached and sometimes it was not pressed the first time.

But one fine day, Martin removed the panels from the “lucky” dogs’ cages and replaced the doors in all the dogs’ cages, replacing them with rather flimsy barriers. And then he gave the current.

The “lucky ones”, seeing the absence of their favorite panel and feeling the first discharges, did not think twice: they tore all the barriers to hell, instantly getting out of the cages. What about the “losers”? They, as always, lay in cages, covering their ears with their paws and whining.

This is how the term “learned helplessness syndrome” arose, meaning a situation in which “an individual does not make attempts to improve his condition (does not try to avoid negative stimuli or receive positive ones), although he has such an opportunity. This syndrome appears, as a rule, after several unsuccessful attempts to influence the negative circumstances of the environment (or avoid them) and is characterized by passivity, refusal to act, reluctance to change the hostile environment or avoid it, even when such an opportunity arises.”

Why is this syndrome needed?

Let's imagine a world in which not a single animal learns anything, but is ready to respond to any obstacle only by intensifying its efforts. Did you imagine? Here are all these rhinoceroses, methodically smashing their heads through the trees standing on their road; lions trying to catch and eat their own shadow; hares gnawing on stones; wolves with mouths full of porcupines?

Evolution gave the green light only to those individuals who, realizing that stone Flower it doesn’t work out, the crocodile can’t be caught and you can’t hug the baobab, they quickly stopped doing nonsense. They humbled themselves, so to speak, in spirit. Like in that parable about two frogs who fell into jars of milk. One did not give up trying to get out and worked with her paws until she churned the butter, got out of the jug and fell dead from fatigue in the nearby burdocks. And the second one quickly reconciled herself, remembered that she was, after all, a waterfowl, and continued to sit in the milk, sleep in the milk, and drink milk. And she felt good until the owner came and, with an angry cry, threw the much fatter and happy amphibian into the same burdocks*.

“In the parable, everything is actually different - you remember? There, the resigned frog drowned in spite of all the laws of biology. But the fact is that in the original Latin version of this parable it was still about two mice. And why in numerous translations and retellings, including those written by Leonid Panteleev and Sergei Mikhalkov, mice turned into frogs, I don’t know.”

In itself, refusing to act in a hopeless situation looks so natural that it would hardly have interested psychologists if not for one circumstance. A dog is a smart animal. The “losers” saw that the cage doors had been changed. They understood that they could avoid the unpleasant current, as the “lucky ones” instantly realized. But they didn’t budge!

Then there were a series of other experiments, quite tedious, and we will not describe them here. In the end, Seligman's laboratory reached a verdict: “An animal experiencing constant discomfort and unable to influence the situation becomes depressed and becomes lethargic and passive. An animal that experiences perhaps even greater discomfort, but can somehow control its causes or is in the illusion of such control, this animal remains active and energetic.” And here the world of psychology gasped and began to lick its lips carnivorously.

Old people instead of dogs

Arden House in Connecticut is a very famous nursing home. It gained worldwide fame in the mid-1970s, when an experiment based on Seligman’s findings was conducted there. The experiment was carried out on the inhabitants of the second floor and the fourth: both of them had approximately the same contingent in terms of gender and age composition, as well as health status.

Don't worry, no one was shocked. The inhabitants of the second floor were provided with all the services of a first-class hotel-sanatorium according to the regulations. The sheets were changed, the rooms were cleaned, pills were distributed, lunches were served strictly according to the hour, rest was replaced by walks, lectures and physical exercise According to the schedule, the ward rooms were hung with paintings and arranged with flowers, which were looked after by nurses. The old people were spared all the hassle and problems - in general, they lived like in paradise.

But the residents of the fourth floor had to call themselves on Saturdays with a demand to change their linen, sign up for procedures themselves, choose their own flowers for the ward and care for the plants. And also crawling back and forth along the corridor all day in various chores: either you need to order lunch, or not be late for physical education, which was again postponed, or call a repairman to fix the faucet in the washbasin, or catch your sister-hostess and arrange for the curtains to be finally vacuumed. ..

At the same time, the actual level of service on all floors of Arden House was exactly the same, only on the fourth it was necessary to achieve it.

Therefore, when relatives visited the patients on the fourth floor, many stories awaited them about how they managed to get a more comfortable mattress, defeat the greedy housekeeper and get olive soap to be replaced with lavender again, how successfully Miss Betty’s group repelled the attacks of Mr. Pritchett’s group, so now good jazz will be invited to Christmas, and not these terrible cellists, and how good it is overall, although there is such a mess all around...

And when relatives visited patients on the second floor, they, washed and dressed, lay peacefully on sun loungers and stared blankly into nothingness with faded eyes.

According to surveys, the level of satisfaction with life was much higher among residents of the fourth floor. In addition, their state of health - both mental and physical - was much better. And they lived longer. And one more interesting point: on the fourth floor there were extremely rare cases of refusal of pills and food, which was the norm for the second floor. Because for the inhabitants of the second, this was almost the only case when they could make at least some choice themselves.

The Arden House experiment decisively changed the foundations of gerontology - the science of aging. In most nursing homes in the USA, Europe and developed countries in other regions, the method of “maintaining control of life” has become sacred cow. Everything that a boarding house ward can decide and choose independently must be left to him: the color of the walls, bed linen, menu, schedule of procedures and events.

And if old man maybe he wants to live alone, then there is no need to drag him on a rope to the most wonderful nursing home, where you don’t have to milk cows, chase wolves with a pitchfork and chop wood, but you just have to eat porridge and not cry when the diaper is changed. An old man’s refusal to be independent without sufficient grounds can cause very rapid death due to a complete loss of interest in life.

After gerontologists, the principle was adopted by physiotherapists involved in the rehabilitation of seriously ill patients. Nursing manuals began to implore relatives of those recovering from a serious illness not to try to do everything for their loved ones. If a person can reach a glass of water himself, then there is no need to spoon-feed him for hours; if he can get up without risk, even with pain, then there is no need to bring him a bedpan; If he can cook breakfast, then there is no need to carry him a tray of food.

Caring is great, but overkill compassionate care significantly increases recovery time. After much observation, the global medical community is ready to confirm this.

Adults only

No, all this does not mean that it is generally better for a person to live in troubles and problems. Learned helplessness syndrome requires a lot of important condition: The object must suffer. Or, at least, assess your condition as a whole very negatively. A healthy and satisfied person can live quite serenely in the maximum possible way. comfortable environment almost unlimited time. That’s why child psychologists got into trouble and began to associate this syndrome with various childhood problems.

If a child is afraid of new things, is not confident in his abilities, and is ready to give up even before the start of any competition, this is often explained by the syndrome of learned helplessness. They say that mothers deprive their children of independence, and even scold them for any attempts, and then the child lies on the floor all his life, covering his ears with his paws.

That's why advanced parents now praise their children for everything. They are given medals for brushing their teeth and certificates for dry pants, they are not allowed to give grades, they need to be endlessly encouraged, inspired and always specified what they want for breakfast - an orange or a grapefruit.

In reality, children are extremely rarely victims of this syndrome, except in rare cases when the child is seriously ill or grows up in conditions of severe violence.

After all ordinary child- this is a healthy creature, feeling great, happy with itself and the world, optimistic and cheerful. His bones don’t hurt, his head doesn’t shake, and he hasn’t forgotten the name of his first love, who, like almost all the people dear to him, has already died. He doesn’t greet each day with the thought “maybe this is his last.”

There may be many reasons why a child clings to his mother’s skirt and roars desperately, not wanting to go on stage and dance the pas de deux from “The Nutcracker”, but they are almost certainly not associated with learned helplessness syndrome, at least not in its scientific understanding. If you read this text carefully, you already understood that a child with the syndrome would come out and dance everything that was ordered, mentally covering his ears with his paws. On the contrary, children and adolescents are usually like dogs from the “lucky” group: they are easily ready to rebel, cry, knock out barriers and break up an unpleasant situation for them. For the time being.

Syndrome in middle-aged people

Since the late nineties, studies began to appear that noted an increase in the frequency of diagnosing the syndrome in middle-aged people (35-40 years and older). It was more common in men than in women. It expressed itself in apathy, alcoholism, depression, and so on, up to suicidal feelings for no apparent reason.

Often the syndrome was the cause of rapid desocialization of the individual. This is when an outwardly quite successful citizen gradually stops communicating with other people, locks himself at home, stops washing, shaving and paying bills, and ultimately finds himself in cardboard box at the trash heap.

During therapy, the patient usually states that everything is terrible, he is good for nothing, he is already an old piece of trash and a downed pilot, that everything hurts, there is a complete mess in the world - well, burn it all with a blue flame! He is afraid that he will be fired, that he will lose his business, that he cannot trust anyone, that he has no strength for anything. Learned helplessness syndrome differs from ordinary depression in the presence of complaints about physical well-being, a willingness to blame oneself for all sins, and doubt in one’s abilities. If depression is basically “I could, but I don’t want to,” then the syndrome is always “I’m tired, I can’t.”

Psychologists of weak qualifications usually begin to delve into the patient’s childhood and, to everyone’s delight, find there an overbearing mother, a stern father or an evil aunt, numerous injuries and terrible trials such as standing in a corner, after which they prescribe therapy in the form of sessions of further striptease of the subconscious and some not the most powerful pills.

Because the most popular root cause of this syndrome is a rather serious, often systemic disease, perhaps as yet undetected and at a very early stage: diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, problems with thyroid gland... In addition, the impetus for the development of the syndrome may not even be diseases, but simply degradation processes that are gaining momentum at this time, which will someday lead to old age.

In other words, there is that very discharge of current that is the basis of our negative vision of the situation: a constant feeling of pain and inconvenience, weakness and various deteriorations, albeit very mild for now, and perhaps not even perceived by consciousness.

And we, realizing that we are powerless to rid our body of these trials, ultimately evaluate ourselves as old, worthless trash, which is incapable of influencing anything at all. Even get your own tail off the rails.

A person with learned helplessness syndrome feels his productivity dropping and is afraid of ending up on the street without money. He is afraid of breaking up with a regular partner because he understands that he does not have enough strength to acquire a new one. He reacts sharply to unpleasant political news, because he no longer feels like a participant, but a potential victim of any events. And so on and so forth.

Why are women less likely to suffer from this syndrome? But because they visit doctors more often, they discover their health problems earlier and begin treatment earlier, including taking painkillers. In addition, although women react more sharply than we do to the loss of external attractiveness, they notice less the weakening of physical strength. And most importantly: women still traditionally bear the responsibilities of housewives. Even if at work she occupies the modest place of a person who commands everyone, then at home she is a king and a god. She decides what she'll have for lunch, what color curtains to buy, and who won't go to Misha's birthday party if she doesn't do her homework right away. Shopping as an ideal choice simulator, control over everyday life not only their own, but also the whole family, a lesser tendency to evaluate themselves by career achievements and usually the presence of men nearby, sources of financial and physical support, are the pedals thanks to which women have the illusion that they will ultimately be able to solve any problems.

Well, we just have to remember that, no matter how traditionally vile things are, we should never lose hope that one fine day instead steel door in front of us there will only be a flimsy barrier.

How to deal with the syndrome

Methods for combating learned helplessness syndrome were first formulated by psychologists Lauren Alloy and Lyn Abramson, the organizers of the experiment at Arden House.

1 Write down all the health problems and physical sensations that you have, and take them to the therapist - let him send you for a full medical examination. Cure everything that is possible, and take control of what is not.

2 Well, yes, sports, of course. As physical well-being improves, the syndrome will loosen its grip. Swimming pool, massage, sauna, tasty food- everything that brings pleasure to the body and does not cause much harm is very good.

3 Bibliotherapy is a great thing. People are very prone to borrow characters' thoughts and experiences. A person with the syndrome will find it extremely useful to have an artistic description of how a hero, who was in a difficult situation, with the help of efforts, invention, knowledge and common sense got out of it. The detective stories of Dick Francis with his eternally mutilated, but stubborn, like a bulldog, heroes are magnificent in this regard. Also good are the books by Stephen King, written after a serious accident in which he got into - now the theme of overcoming pain, helplessness and suffering in his every next work. “Duma Ki” and “Lisey’s Story” will go especially well.

4 Read news only from the most balanced and discreet newspapers and websites. The feeling of chaos in the world worsens the situation with the syndrome.

5 Go shopping. Yes, it's boring choosing which of the five types of green peas to put in your cart. But remember the Arden House experiment.

6 We would write about sex, but with the syndrome, the problems of erectile dysfunction and the fears associated with them often worsen the situation. Therefore, the advice will be framed as follows: if you can have sex regularly and without stress, great; If sex is associated with stress, then until there is a significant improvement in well-being, it is worth finding quiet joy in abstinence. But no one canceled masturbation!

7 Alcohol is also an ambiguous solution. Yes, the ability to sometimes forget about the syndrome that alcohol can give is a very important thing. But let's not forget that rapidly developing alcoholism is one of the main symptoms of the syndrome.

8 Acquire new knowledge. At least learn the Negidal language, at least practice drawing cross-sections of caterpillars! Assimilation by you new information the subconscious will evaluate small victories and achievements.

9 If it is possible to change the rhythm and lifestyle, then ideally a life on a small rent would be suitable for you - in nature, surrounded by calm neighbors and friendly relatives, with frequent walks, creative physical and intellectual work in small doses and a regime completely regulated by you yourself day and a list of responsibilities. No, we're not kidding. We write: ideally. Well, maybe we're just kidding ourselves a little bit.

A friend of mine has been working for pennies for many years, although he is a first-class specialist. My relative lives with an unloved person. My neighbor is not suing someone else who flooded her apartment because she doesn’t believe she will win the case. When we make no attempt to get out of an unpleasant situation, psychologists call it learned helplessness.

About the essence

If 27-year-old English boatswain Alexander Selkirk had this “syndrome,” we would never have known the story of Robinson Crusoe. If Mendeleev had abandoned his attempts to systematize chemical elements, he undoubtedly would not have “dreamed” about the table. And yes, if Adolf Schicklgruber had decided to become an artist, who knows, maybe we would only know him as a painter. But in fact, learned helplessness is not even a syndrome, but simply a character trait (situational or permanent) that a person acquires after several unsuccessful attempts to change the situation for the better. He begins to believe that he will not succeed anyway, and only passively looks at what is happening.

About contradictions

In 1964, the American psychologist - the future founder of the so-called positive psychology - Martin Seligman participated in experiments on dogs in the laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania. Part of the purpose of the experiments was to form a conditioned reflex in four-legged animals - the fear of high-pitched sounds. To achieve his goal, Seligman shocked the unfortunate animals (who were sitting in cages and therefore had no way to escape) immediately after the dogs heard a high-pitched sound.

After some time, the cages were opened and the hated sound was turned on again. But, contrary to the expectations of the experimenters, the unfortunate people did not run away (to avoid a subsequent electric shock), but lay down on the floor and whined.

Such results were in complete contradiction with the then dominant behaviorism - the direction of psychology, according to which the behavior of humans and animals as a whole is subject to the “stimulus-response” pattern. Moreover, these reactions, according to behaviorists of that time, were quite similar and were always supposed to carry only benefits for the individual. A simple example: an apple was taken away from a child. He tries to take it away, and even hits the offender with a spatula. A situation in which a child stands silently and makes no attempt to pick up an apple, and perhaps gives the offender another one, did not fit into the simple circuits behaviorists. But such cases are not uncommon.

It's the same with Seligman's dogs. In theory, they should have escaped as soon as the cages were opened, but this did not happen. Then the psychologist put forward a revolutionary thesis: dogs remain in cages not because they are not afraid of electric shock, but because they are accustomed to the inevitable: during the experiment, they tried to escape more than once, but they did not succeed. Therefore, the dogs resigned themselves - in other words, “learned to be helpless.”

About dogs

Three years later, in 1967, Seligman decided to continue his torture of dogs, taking on his colleague Stephen Mayer as an assistant. This time, three groups of dogs took part in the experiment. The four-legged members of the first group had the opportunity to avoid electric shock by pressing their noses on a special panel (thus the animals turned off the power supply system). The dogs from the second group depended on the actions of the first, that is, their reaction did not affect the result in any way. Animals from the third - control - group did not receive a shock at all.

After some time, all three groups were placed in a box with a partition over which any of the dogs could jump, thus getting rid of the electric shock. It is not surprising that this is exactly what the dogs from the first group did, the same ones that had the opportunity to “cancel” the electric shock by pressing the panel. But the animals from the second group, as expected, did nothing
They did this to avoid being hit, but again they lay down on the floor and whined. Moreover, each time they got used to blows of increasing force. Seligman and Mayer concluded that feelings of helplessness are not caused by unpleasant sensations as such, but by the experience of being unable to influence these events. This discovery was so significant that Seligman received an American Psychological Association Award in 1976 for his theory of learned helplessness.

About people

In the same year, two other American psychologists continued studying the phenomenon of learned helplessness. This time the girls are Ellen Jane Langer and Judith Roden. They conducted a famous study in a nursing home called Arden House (Connecticut, USA). No one was forced to suffer here—helplessness was taught gently.

Participants were randomly selected from residents of two floors of a nursing home. The experimental group included residents of the fourth floor (8 men and 39 women), and the control group included residents of the second floor (9 men and 35 women). Total - 91 people.

The control group led a normal life, they were surrounded by the care and attention of the staff. The experimental group had the fate of bearing increased responsibility for themselves and their actions.

The nursing home administrator called a meeting in the hallway of each floor. He addressed the residents of the second floor with the following message: “We want your rooms to look as comfortable as possible and we will try to do everything for this. We want you to feel happy here and we hold ourselves responsible for making sure that you can be proud of our nursing home and be happy here... We will do everything in our power to help you... I would like to take this opportunity to give everyone of you is a gift from Arden House [the employee went around everyone and handed each patient a plant]. Now these are your plants, they will stand in your room, the nurses will water them and take care of them, you won’t have to do anything yourself.”

To the inhabitants of the fourth floor, the administrator voiced similar instructions, but with a completely different meaning: “You yourself must decide what your room will look like, whether you want to leave everything there as is or want our employees to help you rearrange the furniture... You yourself must tell us your wishes, tell us what exactly you would like to change in your life. In addition, I would like to take advantage of our meeting to present each of you with a gift from Arden House. If you decide that you want to have a plant, you can choose the one you like from this box. These plants are yours, you must maintain them and care for them as you see fit. Next week we will be showing the film on two evenings, Tuesday and Friday. You need to decide what day you are going to the cinema and whether you want to see the film at all.”

Thus, residents of the fourth floor could control everything that happened to them and participate in solving issues that were important to them. The latter could only indifferently accept their situation, and although it was more than bearable, they had no opportunity to influence anything - everything had already been decided for them.

The experiment lasted three weeks. During this time, the medical staff observed the activity, level of sociability, general tone, habits and nutrition of the participants. At the end of the experiment, surveys were conducted among the subjects that showed life satisfaction.

About responsibility

Residents of the fourth floor, who were in control of their lives, felt happier than residents of the second, who received maximum care but were unable to take responsibility for their lives (the average “level of happiness” for the former was +0.28, for the latter -0.12). The analysis of their condition showed the same thing. According to the medical staff, residents of the fourth floor showed a clear improvement in their scores (+3.97), while residents of the second floor showed a deterioration (-2.39). Even in terms of communication, participants experimental group were ahead. The indicator of time spent talking with each other and with nurses was +4.64 for residents of the fourth floor, and -2.14 for residents of the second. In addition, the participants in the experimental group were also active in terms of watching a movie, as well as in a simple game, the goal of which was to guess the number of sweets in a jar (out of 47 people living on the fourth floor, 10 took part in the game, and out of 45 living on the second , only one).

After analyzing the results, Langer and Rhoden concluded that some of the phenomena that typically contribute to aging—memory loss or decreased body tone—are likely due to the fact that people no longer have the ability to control their lives. And to avoid this, it is enough to restore elderly people’s faith in own strength, the right to choose and make decisions.

Moreover, six months later the psychologists returned to the nursing home to take measurements again and understand whether the experiment was still working. It turned out, yes! Nurses showed that former participants in the experimental group continued to feel better (their average overall score was 352.33, while in the control group it was 262.00). The residents of the fourth floor also experienced an improvement in health, while the second floor, on the contrary, worsened. The experiment had such a decisive impact that the indicators even affected mortality! Thus, over the past period of time, 30% of people died in the control group, and only 15% in the experimental group. It was these observations that led to the nursing home’s management deciding to continue to encourage people’s desire for responsibility and control over their lives. This time - for absolutely all residents of Arden House.

Other similar experiments showed the same results. Even in conditions where older people did not have the opportunity to choose and control their own lives, in some cases they began to commit self-destructive actions (refusing food or medicine). After all, this was the only thing they could still choose.

But it's not just about the elderly. Quite young people also gave similar reactions, and in different situations. For example, in a crowded elevator, which was perceived as more free and causing less anxiety if a person was close to the control buttons.

About childhood

A person can “learn” helplessness both as an adult (under the influence of some negative circumstances that he could not cope with; most often, this reaction is temporary and aimed at certain events), and in childhood - under the influence of the same circumstances, but, as a rule, already in parental family. And such experience is already shaping personal qualities- isolation, emotional instability, excitability, pessimism, timidity, tendency to feel guilty, low self-esteem and a low level of aspirations, indifference, passivity and lack of creativity.

The aforementioned Martin Seligman notes that learned helplessness in this case is formed around the age of eight. And it can develop from several sources: the experience of experiencing events unfavorable for the child, from which he did not have the opportunity to protect himself (for example, insults inflicted by parents or teachers); death of a loved one or animal; serious illness, divorce or parental scandals; the experience of watching helpless people (both on TV and in life) and the endless willingness of many parents to do everything for their children (collect toys, make the bed, dress, put on shoes).

It is not surprising that learned helplessness is a trait of a huge number of people. So much so that entire companies and large work teams suffer from it (in addition, this quality is very contagious and, as research shows, most often manifests itself in teams with authoritarian leadership). There is only one method of dealing with this scourge - psychotherapy. True, it does not always help, and, as a rule, people with learned helplessness have no motivation to contact a specialist. For what? After all, they are used to being patient.

Learned (learned or acquired) helplessness is a state in which a person does not try to improve something, although there are many opportunities for such improvement.

You Bad mood, anxiety, worry, self-doubt? Do you constantly feel tired? Have you forgotten when you laughed heartily? These are symptoms of depression, a disease that comes out on top among other diseases, ahead of infectious and cardiovascular diseases. Depression is a leader among mental disorders, the main cause of disability and more than half of suicides. But what causes depression, and how to deal with it? There are many reasons, but psychologists consider learned helplessness to be one of the main social culprits of the disease.

Learned helplessness is one of the most common mental states. Many people don't even notice it. Perhaps psychologists would not have learned about learned helplessness. A case helped that brought this insidious phenomenon out of the shadows, and its researcher eventually created a new direction in science - positive psychology. How does the effect of learned helplessness appear in humans? Why is it dangerous, and how to get rid of it?

History of the term

1964 Laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania. An experiment is being conducted here on dogs. Animals are placed in tightly closed cages and a weak sound is given, which is accompanied by an unpleasant electric shock. Stimuli are repeated until the reflex is consolidated. The dogs are then moved into cages from which they can escape. The sound is heard again. It would seem that the formed reflex to the sound before the electric shock should drive the dogs out of the cages, but they lie down on the floor and do not even try to escape. What is this? Was there an error in the experiment, or did the theory of conditioned and unconditioned reflexes fail? Neither one nor the other. The young psychologist Martin Seligman realized that scientists had witnessed a new phenomenon for psychology.

In order to test his guess, Seligman conducts a new experiment. But in this experiment, dogs from the first group, after a conditioned signal, can press a button with their nose and turn off the current. The same button turns off the electricity to dogs in another cage. The dogs of the second group themselves cannot influence the situation in any way. The third group remains the control group and does not receive electric shocks. Soon all the reflexes are formed, and all the dogs are placed in cages where there is no button to turn off the current, but there is a wall that is easy to jump over.

There is a sound. Dogs from the first and control groups quickly run away from the expected electric shock, while animals from the second group whine and lie down on the floor, preparing to endure it. This lack of attempts to influence the situation was called the phenomenon of learned helplessness. The conclusion was the following: that it is not the events themselves that cause a feeling of helplessness, but the belief that it is impossible to influence what is happening.

5 years later, in 1971, Donald Hiroto, a graduate student at the university, decided to test this phenomenon in humans. To do this, the scientist put several people in a room. Then he turned on a loud sound and invited everyone in the room to learn how to turn it off. But no combinations on the panel allow the first group to do this.

The second group has a button combination that turns off the noise. The third group is a control group and is not exposed to noise. Then, Hiroto sends everyone to another room with a box - a pencil case. If you touch its wall with your hand, you hear unpleasant sound sirens. If you touch another wall, the sound stops.

People who initially couldn't turn off the sound now don't even try to get rid of it. But people from the control group, and those who could turn off the noise, very quickly find an opportunity to stop the siren.

Over the next 35 years, research was conducted at dozens of universities on dogs, rats, and people. And members of helpless groups always gave up and did not try to change anything in new situations.

Learned helplessness is a state in which there is a conviction that a person cannot influence the outcome of events in any way, and there is a refusal to take any action in an incomprehensible and difficult situation.

In the second half of the 70s, scientists based on experiments proved the influence of mental state on physical health. Among women with breast cancer, those who were able to avoid relapse were predominantly women with a fighting spirit, and death Most of all were patients who had given up.

According to national institute oncology, survival was not related to the severity of the disease. For people who have experienced the loss of loved ones, nervous system was weakened, and pessimists were twice as likely to be diagnosed with infectious diseases.

What life circumstances can lead to learned helplessness?

• The first is the lack of consequences. When there is no feedback from the outside about what a person is doing. No matter what he does, nothing changes.
• The second is monotony. There are consequences, but they are always the same.
• Third is asynchrony. Events and results are greatly delayed, and visible connection lost between them.
• Fourth, when the consequences are different and unpredictable.

A person can, unnoticed by himself, learn helplessness, and it will poison his life. On the other hand, any individual can get rid of this psychological state if he remembers that he is able to influence his life. Positive psychology teaches how to combat the insidious phenomenon of learned helplessness.

The essence of the method is to switch from what does not work to what does work. A person with learned helplessness considers himself the cause of his failures, and not his wrong actions. This happens because for a given individual the cause-and-effect relationship is broken.

Tiffany, you know, I have 3 sons, two of them went to kindergarten. It has never happened that the authority of the teacher was stronger than the authority of the mother, or even just relatives (family members)

Respecting and fearing his opinion of you as “bad”/“good” are simply different things, and you put an equal sign between them. I'm 38, I'm in this state now. Just a year ago I was ready to crush rocks. There was a goal, a plan to achieve. There was an interest in women. The head was thinking. Body and mind were subject to will. Now I resemble a plant life form. In a month or two there will be nothing to pay rent, there will literally be nothing to eat, but this does not motivate me. Don't care about everything. It’s as if I don’t live, but only support shell functions. In the morning I wake up surprised that I woke up. Thoughts are usually like this: why do I need this world? What should I do in it? Find food again? Enrich the employer, landlord, retailer? I don’t want to work, I don’t want to have fun, take care of myself, dress beautifully, eat delicious food, love, family. I don't want any of this. I want only one thing - no external irritants.
I never thought that one day I would turn into a vegetable. How to treat this in general? I saw a psychologist and was disappointed. I went to church and didn’t feel anything. I did yoga, which seemed successful to me. But one day it was cut off. A persistent rejection and disgust appeared. Maybe go to war or commit some act of self-sacrifice. I don’t agree to just end myself out of powerlessness.
Exactly. And here you see that the criteria for being a good teacher are unacceptable to you. So it's one of 2 things. Either change the teacher to one who has better criteria (as an option, convince him), or make sure that the importance of these criteria for the child decreases, i.e. Explain to the child that you and the teacher do not agree on this issue.

No one is suggesting that you instill in your child the worthlessness of educators. It is quite enough to say that on this issue your opinions do not coincide. Opinions can differ even among very respected people and there is nothing terrible about that.
You are right about the importance of authorities, but to list any adult as an indisputable authority due to his age and position is simply dangerous.

By the way, N.V. - a professional psychologist, and about all the subtleties developmental psychology She's probably well aware))
I don’t know how much this mother retained in her daughter that same naturally given feeling of goodness. The fact that the girl cried most likely indicates that she is sensitive to value judgments, and if so, it means they are in use in the family.

In order for such an adult opinion to be formed, a person must learn to be very selective about those people who say something about him. And one must also learn to be critical of what they say, without immediately taking everything to heart. Alas, if adults do not give the child guidelines (who, when and what to listen to), and even more so if they load the child with dogmas like “the teacher/educator is always right”, “you must listen to your elders”, etc., then even when such a child will grow up to be vulnerable to the assessments of others, sometimes contrary to all obvious logic, as in the case of the money on the bench.

I agree, replacing teachers, and even a suitable manager, is fantastic. But finding educators (somewhere else) with a different approach to the issue is a solvable task. I didn’t even have to try at the time. It was just luck. The teachers moderated conflicts, but fully allowed the children to sort things out; aggression was not prohibited. One of the teachers once explained to me that children usually go through this period at 4-5 years old, this necessary stage socialization. They learn to defend their interests, defend themselves, and find acceptable measures of influence in a conflict.

If a child knows from early childhood that an adult may be wrong, this will not prevent the formation of authorities. But this will prevent the absolutization of these same authorities and protect against all kinds of abuse. Alas, on the part of educators, teachers and coaches, abuse of authority (or pedagogical illiteracy, or psychological imbalance) occurs too often to be ignored.

Honestly, it's sad.

Well, yes, this is the “solution” to the problem. Clear out these same fighters from the group, “wild creatures from the wild forest,” and it will not be life, but a fairy tale. Sorry, but I can't help you with this decision.

When the majority of children in a group are not aggressive themselves, but do not allow their boundaries to be violated, and at the same time are quite decisive and convincing, then the fighters quickly deflate. N.V.
It seems to me that in your judgments you are confusing the psychology of a preschooler and junior school student, mixing in adult judgments

A child is NOT = a small adult.

I'll show you on simple example. Everyone knows that children react very sharply to the name-calling of their peers. I remember walking on the playground with my daughter, and 3 girls were returning from school. 2 girls called the third one and she cried, said that they themselves are like that, but she is not, but she cried. It would seem that, according to your logic, this should not have happened, because the girl herself knows that she is good, and her mother immediately met her (a normal woman) and the name-calling clearly has nothing to do with real life. But she cried because someone thought she was not good.

What will you do as an adult if the grandmothers on the bench shout at you “is this aunt a total p...”? you will laugh because you know that this is not so. Or you will ignore it. In any case, you definitely won’t cry. Your self-esteem does not depend on WHAT grandmas say. You can form an opinion about yourself. But preschoolers do not. The teacher’s opinion about themselves is important to them.

There you are clear example differences between child and adult thinking/psychology.

Now let's get down to business. Searching for and demanding other educators is a fantasy. These are quite normal, except for a couple of points. And even then these moments are not good only from my point of view. The manager will not support. She also feels good when children don’t give change.

Secondly, if you instill in a child from childhood that the teacher should not be respected, then such a child will not respect the teacher either. And it is very important to have authority among elders for the development of a child. For his integrity, academic performance, faith in the world. You can speculate a lot on this topic, but this is off-topic.

Thirdly, you somehow describe the situation for children as a concentration camp. Teachers do not humiliate anyone on purpose. Everyone is prohibited from fighting. For both boys and girls. Also, regardless of gender, people are put in chairs for fighting. None of the adequate children likes to be punished. If they don't cry, they sit with sad faces. It's not just my child who doesn't fight back. Almost all children who regularly attend kindergarten do the same. And what? Are we all bad parents who are not authorities for our children or who forbid them to give change and bully them for their misdeeds together with the teacher? No! The problem is systemic, not specifically in my child only.....

Only fighters are punished with this punishment. They simply do not have an authority-educator and good contacts with peers. They don’t even have a speech, they can’t put two words together. If we follow your advice about neglecting the teacher’s instructions, then adequate children will descend into the same brawlers and the group will get stuck in chaos...

It is necessary to somehow influence the educators, somehow clearly convince them and show that they also need this. But how? I tried to explain that a child needs to be able to stand up for himself and endure insults - this is not a solution and is not beneficial for a future personality. But they didn’t understand me. We need another way that I don't see yet.....
You have set this limit for yourself. For some reasons of your own, you placed the authority of the teacher above your own (once again - the child establishes the authority of the teacher not himself, not automatically to every adult, but very selectively through parents who “calibrate” the child’s perception, for example, encouraging the child to be good in front of the teacher and giving high value negative reactions of the teacher to the child, confirming them and joining them). You don't want to give up this choice of yours. This means that you will have to find teachers who will really protect your child from more aggressive (or even just more active and more persistent) peers. Otherwise, you are essentially betraying your child. A girl should not stand up for her own rights, much less “exceed the limits of necessary self-defense,” that is, sometimes fight. A girl should not contradict her teachers, who have been given full power. The girl can only “disappear,” which she does.

Nope, not anyone. Small child considers himself good until adults prove him otherwise. First of all, parents. If it is painful for a child to be punished to the point of tears, or it is unbearable to screw up in public, then he has already been well treated with a file in order to give the desired image. An “untreated” child will not see any horror in sitting on a high chair, although he will experience some inconvenience - sitting is boring, especially if others are playing with all their might. By the way, another reason to think about how educators behave if a child is terrified of universal condemnation. Maybe the teachers like to take the child to the center and publicly graphically shame the child? Then certainly nafik such educators.

The child will consider himself “not good” only if the objects of his affection confirm this to him. Although you may get sick. Not because he believed someone else’s aunt that he was not good, but because with unpleasant contact (that is, stress), immunity decreases, and the disease allows you to avoid these most unpleasant contacts.

This is not just my personal opinion. This is the opinion of respected psychologists, whose theories are taught at the university and on whose theories child psychology is based. It is as it is. The teacher is truly an authority for children. And for parents to devalue a teacher in the eyes of a child is a disservice.

She gave permission and said that her “I” was sufficiently established in the family. It’s clear to you, an adult, that sitting on a chair is not scary. The child has a completely different psyche. I will repeat. A child at this age considers himself to be as “good” as others (teachers and children) consider him good. Any child at this age is very painful to the point of tears from public punishment, such as simply sitting on a chair. Because this symbolic punishment means that the child is NOT “good”. And if a child considers himself “bad”, then he may even get really sick..... Not with just one punishment, of course, but still.....

Any other opinions?
Just not for kindergarten age. Of course, if you think that for your child the teacher is an unquestioned authority, then so it will be.

The child will not be able to immediately find the necessary measure of counteraction and self-protection. We'll have to fight. Collect a bouquet of consequences and draw conclusions.
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Allow your daughter to defend herself. Show your protection towards her. Say that you will not scold along with the teachers. Reassure that sitting on a chair is not the worst thing that happens in life. And also accept her “no”, expressed to you on various occasions. First, the “I” is established in the family, and only then can it be established in society.

You are mistaken, the educator or teacher is a very important authority for the child. In some matters, they are equal (or even more) than the parent (depending on age and amount of time spent).

Children in preschool age perceive their “goodness” through the prism of others (those educators). And other children perceive the child in relation to the teacher. That is, if the teacher praises and encourages “not to stand up for yourself,” then the child, following this, considers himself “good.” And other children think he is good. This is very important for the child. It is in preschool age that the approval of elders is of particular importance for a child. Some children are ready to do anything to earn praise (in preschool age).

All statements above are true for normal children. Our fighters have diagnoses. It is, of course, convenient for the teacher to teach adequate children not to fight back if they cannot cope with the “special” ones. And, it seems, there are fewer fights in the group, everything is fine. But I, as a parent, am not happy with this situation!

This doesn't mean that I want mine to fight. I want her not to be afraid in most cases to defend her interests (toy, game, etc.). Now it turns out that if a toy is taken away from her, then it is easier for her to immediately give it back and silently suffer from “lack of play” than to say “no” to the fighter. After all, if he says “no!”, he will get a punch, but you can’t give change; it’s useless to complain to the teacher. But the fighter does not understand the words and feels his impunity....
Many questions arise at once. Why is the child so correct? Why is he so afraid of punishment from his teacher? After all, a kindergarten teacher is far from the main figure for a child. What’s more important is how parents feel about the fact of punishment, how much they want the child to always be correct, how often they themselves appeal to the child’s feelings of shame and fear... I’ll raise the topic because opinions are needed.

The child goes to kindergarten. There, naturally, teachers forbid fighting and fighting back. My child is very “correct”. She was forbidden to fight, and she does not fight. But there are children in the group who didn’t give a damn about the teachers’ prohibitions. As a result, my child is “learned” to receive blows and not be pushed aside. I don't like this arrangement. But I cannot objectively influence the situation (especially on other children) when the child spends so much time outside the home and there is another “educator” authority. And it is necessary. But how?

The child is afraid to give change, because for this they may be punished - “put on a chair.” Conversations with teachers have no effect. They are not interested in raising a specific (my) child in a way that would stand up for themselves. It's easier for them if she doesn't do this. But teachers cannot particularly influence the brawlers who offend other children. They both offended and continue to offend. And all the other children in the group are afraid of these brawling children and teachers (punishment in case of surrender). Children are afraid to tell their teachers that they are being bullied (or know that it is useless). Fighters feel their own impunity. It turns out just some kind of “learned helplessness” to endure insults from peers.....

If I were there in kindergarten, then I would have figured out what to do. But from the outside I can’t even imagine how to structure a conversation with teachers correctly (I’ve already tried, there was no effect), or how to reconfigure my daughter, how to overcome the authority of the teacher in this matter and whether it is necessary to do this (after all, in the event of a fight, the teacher will punish me and I won’t will be there to protect you from punishment).... I'll raise the topic, the article is interesting. It seems to me that there is a rather thin line between independence and abandonment. It is important for a child to be able to do a lot on his own, but he should not do absolutely everything himself and always be alone... that's what I thought about. It’s just that a friend’s child in 1st grade does his homework himself, heats his own food, comes home on his own, sits there until the evening or night. And here it’s not a matter of independence... Many parents suffer from the fact that they do everything for their child, delaying the development of independence until the last moment, when it is already too late. Or redoing it right there, in front of the child, thus undermining his confidence in his own abilities.
We decide for the child what to wear, we are overprotective of him, we are afraid that he will fall, get hurt, make a mistake, break...
At the same time, the child’s room is full of toys, he gets everything he wants. Why should he show independence? At some point this becomes unprofitable.
Teach your child to be independent, stop indulging him in everything and doing everything for him. In this way, from a young age you will be able to raise an independent and self-confident person who will be difficult to break. I recognized myself. I thought about it. I am now fighting my learned helplessness with sheer persistence; I don’t know any other way. What are some recommendations for an adult? Because persistence alone is not enough. Enthusiasm weakens and ends. Then a little time passes, and strength and perseverance appear again. I just wish I could be more effective Learned helplessness... something to think about