托福口语 Task 3

In psychology, the concept of 'learned helplessness' refers to a condition in which an individual, after experiencing repeated failures or uncontrollable negative events, begins to believe that their actions have no effect on outcomes. This belief leads to passivity and a lack of effort, even when opportunities for success become available. Learned helplessness often develops in situations where a person perceives a lack of control, regardless of the actual circumstances.

Professor: Let me give you an example from a classic experiment with dogs. In the first phase, dogs were placed in a harness and given electric shocks. One group could press a panel to stop the shocks, while the other group received shocks that were not avoidable—they had no control. In the second phase, all dogs were placed in a shuttle box with a low barrier. They could easily jump over the barrier to escape the shocks. Dogs from the first group quickly learned to jump over. However, dogs from the second group—the ones that had experienced uncontrollable shocks—initially whined and then simply lay down. They did not even try to jump, even though jumping would have stopped the shocks. They had learned that their actions were futile, so they gave up.