TOEFL Speaking Task 3

In psychology, the concept of 'learned helplessness' refers to a condition in which an individual repeatedly faces an unavoidable negative situation and eventually stops trying to escape or change it, even when opportunities to do so become available. This learned response is often a result of past experiences where efforts were futile, leading to a general belief that actions do not influence outcomes. Learned helplessness can affect motivation, learning, and emotional well-being.

Professor: Let me illustrate this with a classic experiment involving dogs. In the first phase, dogs were placed in a harness and given mild electric shocks. Some dogs could press a panel to stop the shocks, while others could not—the shocks stopped only when the first group pressed the panel. After this phase, all dogs were placed in a shuttle box with a low barrier dividing it. When a shock was administered, the dogs that had control earlier quickly jumped over the barrier to escape. However, the dogs that had no control earlier initially tried to escape but soon gave up, lying down and whining, even though the barrier was low enough for them to jump over. They had learned that escape was impossible, so they stopped trying, demonstrating learned helplessness.