托福口语 Task 3

The concept of 'learned helplessness' refers to a psychological state in which an individual, after repeated exposure to unavoidable negative outcomes, begins to believe that they have no control over their environment. This belief persists even when opportunities for escape or change become available. Learned helplessness can lead to passive behavior, reduced motivation, and impaired problem-solving, as the person generalizes their lack of agency to new situations.

Professor: Let me give you a classic example from psychology. Researchers placed dogs in a chamber with a low barrier in the middle. First, they gave the dogs mild electric shocks that they could not avoid, no matter what they did. After several trials, they changed the setup: the dogs could now jump over the barrier to escape the shock. However, instead of jumping, most dogs simply lay down and whined, accepting the shock passively. They had learned that their actions were futile. In contrast, a control group of dogs that never experienced unavoidable shocks quickly learned to jump over the barrier to avoid the shock. This demonstrates how prior experiences of uncontrollability can extinguish the motivation to act, even when escape is possible.