托福口语 Task 3

The concept of 'learned helplessness' refers to a psychological state where an individual, after repeated exposure to uncontrollable negative events, begins to believe that their actions have no effect on outcomes, even when opportunities for change later become available. This learned belief leads to passivity and a lack of initiative, as the person fails to recognize new possibilities for control. Learned helplessness is often studied in both animals and humans, and it can significantly impact motivation, problem-solving, and emotional well-being.

Professor: Let me illustrate this with a classic experiment involving dogs. In the first phase, a dog was placed in a chamber where it received mild electric shocks, but it could press a panel to stop the shocks. The dog quickly learned to press the panel. Then, the experiment changed: the shocks became uncontrollable—no matter what the dog did, the shocks continued. After several trials, the dog stopped trying altogether. In the next phase, the dog was moved to a new chamber with a low barrier that it could easily jump over to escape the shocks. However, this dog did not attempt to jump. It just lay down and whimpered, enduring the shocks passively. In contrast, a dog that had never experienced uncontrollable shocks immediately jumped over the barrier to escape. This shows that the first dog had learned that its actions were futile, so even when escape was possible, it gave up without trying.