TOEFL Speaking Task 3

In psychology, the term 'learned helplessness' describes a condition in which an individual, after repeated exposure to uncontrollable negative events, stops trying to change their situation, even when escape becomes possible. This phenomenon occurs because the person believes that their actions have no effect on outcomes, a belief formed through past experiences. Learned helplessness can lead to passivity, reduced motivation, and difficulty learning new coping strategies, often affecting academic, social, or professional performance.

Professor: Let me illustrate this with an experiment conducted on dogs. In the first phase, a dog was placed in a chamber where it received mild electric shocks. But pressing a lever did nothing—shocks stopped randomly, regardless of the dog's actions. After several trials, the dog stopped trying to avoid shocks; it just lay down and whined. In the second phase, the same dog was moved to a new chamber with a low barrier. When a shock occurred, the dog could easily jump over the barrier to escape. However, instead of jumping, the dog remained passive, whimpering, and did not attempt to escape. Even when the experimenter showed it the way, it took repeated encouragement for the dog to learn to jump. This shows that the dog had learned that its efforts were futile, so it gave up, demonstrating learned helplessness.