It is, by any measure, a thoroughly rotten experiment. Here is this beautiful German shepherd, lying in one corner of a metal box, whimpering. He is receiving painful electric shocks, stimuli that should leave him howling in pain. Oddly enough, the dog could easily get out. The other side of the box is perfectly insulated from shocks, and only a low barrier separates the two sides. Though the dog could jump over to safety when the whim strikes him, the whim doesn’t strike him. Ever. He just lies down in the corner of the electric side, whimpering with each jarring jolt. He must be physically removed by the experimenter to be relived of the experience.

What happened to that dog?

A few days before entering the box, the animal was strapped to a restraining harness rigged with electric wires, inescapably receiving the same painful shock day and night. And at first he didn’t just stand there taking it, he reacted. He howled in pain. He urinated. He strained mightily against his harness in an increasingly desperate attempt to link some behaviour of his with the cessation of the pain. But it was no use. As the hours and even days ticked by, his resistance eventually subsided. Why? The dog began to receive a very clear message: There was no way out. Even after the dog had been released from the harness and placed into the metal box with escape route, he could no longer understand his options. Indeed, most learning had been shut down, and that’s probably the worst part of all.

Source: Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School, 2008, J. Medina

Learned Helplessness is a term coined by Martin Seligman to describe both the perception of inesapability and its associated cognitive collapse. Or, in simple terms, how when you perceive you can’t escape you lose the ability to behave as if you have options – or learnt helplessness. These experiments were started in the late 1960’s and the results are similar with most animals, including humans.

Earlier I came upon this excellent modern day experiment on YouTube. It was conducted live on a class room of students and the results are discussed with them. Quite remarkable and well worth the time to watch:

What areas of your life could you have learnt to be helpless? Is it possible that you have limiting beliefs that are holding you back from exercising options? Or have you made limiting decisions because you felt you couldn’t do anything else? Now that you’ve read this post it could be a good time to do a bit of navel gazing and consider areas of your life where you’ve been limiting you behaviour. When would now be a good time to start re-exploring your options?

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