TOEFL Speaking Task 3

In psychology, the concept of 'learned helplessness' refers to a condition in which an individual, after repeated exposure to uncontrollable negative events, stops trying to change their situation even when opportunities for escape or improvement later become available. This learned passivity arises because the person has generalized their past powerlessness to new contexts, believing their actions have no effect. Learned helplessness can lead to decreased motivation, anxiety, and depression, and it is often studied in both animal and human experiments.

Professor: Let me give you a classic example from a study with dogs. Researchers placed dogs in a chamber with a low barrier they could easily jump over. But first, they subjected them to electric shocks with no way to escape—no matter what they did, the shocks continued. After several sessions, they moved these dogs to a new chamber where they could avoid the shock by simply jumping over the barrier. However, the dogs didn't even try. They just lay down and whimpered, accepting the shocks passively. In contrast, dogs that had never experienced uncontrollable shocks quickly learned to jump over the barrier to escape. The previously shocked dogs had learned that their actions were futile, so they gave up despite the new opportunity—this is learned helplessness in action.