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, begins to believe that their actions have no effect on outcomes. As a result, they stop trying to change their situation, even when opportunities for relief become available. This passive behavior is learned, not innate, and often persists despite changing circumstances. Learned helplessness was first demonstrated in animal experiments, but it also applies to human behavior, particularly in academic, professional, or personal settings where people face chronic failure or lack of control.

Professor: Let me give you a classic example from my own research. I worked with a group of college students who were struggling with math. In the first phase, I gave them unsolvable puzzles, no matter how hard they tried, they failed. After several sessions, they gave up quickly, even on later easy puzzles. In the second phase, I told them they could take a break and use a calculator for a simple addition task, but most of them just sat there and said, 'Why bother? I'm not good at math.' They didn't even attempt the task, even though the calculator would have made it easy. This shows learned helplessness: they had learned from repeated failure that their efforts were useless, so they generalized that belief to new situations, ignoring the fact that conditions had changed and success was possible.