Psychology: Crushing Learned Helplessness
Crushing Learned Helplessness
What exactly is learned helplessness and how do we defeat it? I think this reddit post sums it up very nicely.
So, combing through a couple of informative videos I learned about something called learned helplessness. It's essentially a condition in which an individual learns that there is nothing he/she can do to stop an uncomfortable stimuli, and therefore he stops trying to escape said stimuli altogether.
They actually performed some experiments on this with dogs. It was quite cruel, but portrayed a grim reality:
They had 2 groups of dogs; the first group was placed in an enclosed space, and then repeatedly shocked through external stimuli. There was nothing they could do to escape the shocks. After an unrelenting, …show more content…
As the shock stimuli approached, the dogs that had jumped over the fence before did so without hesitation. On the other hand, the dogs that were unable to escape the shocks didn't even flinch. They were shocked, they yelped, and sat down again. Even though these dogs could clearly see how the others were escaping, relatively effortlessly, they could not be bothered to do the same. Countless repetitions yielded the same results.
Eventually, it was found that by physically moving the dogs across to the fence, and forcing them to jump, that they started to change their behavior. Nonetheless, they had to repeat this process 2 to 3 times for the dogs to fully grasp this concept and start jumping over the fence on their own.
I believe that this may just be one of the biggest reasons behind the prevalence of blue pill in society. Individuals often believe that there is nothing they can do to avoid the pain, misery, and confusion of their lives. Why? Because they think it's normal. They don't even realize that there is a fence they CAN jump.
But that is not the case. You can choose to jump that fence. You can choose to escape that mediocrity you've lived in so long, but only if you understand that you have the ability to do so. The only difference is that nobody is going to move you, or babysit you through the process until you learn. That is completely up to
What exactly is learned helplessness and how do we defeat it? I think this reddit post sums it up very nicely.
So, combing through a couple of informative videos I learned about something called learned helplessness. It's essentially a condition in which an individual learns that there is nothing he/she can do to stop an uncomfortable stimuli, and therefore he stops trying to escape said stimuli altogether.
They actually performed some experiments on this with dogs. It was quite cruel, but portrayed a grim reality:
They had 2 groups of dogs; the first group was placed in an enclosed space, and then repeatedly shocked through external stimuli. There was nothing they could do to escape the shocks. After an unrelenting, …show more content…
As the shock stimuli approached, the dogs that had jumped over the fence before did so without hesitation. On the other hand, the dogs that were unable to escape the shocks didn't even flinch. They were shocked, they yelped, and sat down again. Even though these dogs could clearly see how the others were escaping, relatively effortlessly, they could not be bothered to do the same. Countless repetitions yielded the same results.
Eventually, it was found that by physically moving the dogs across to the fence, and forcing them to jump, that they started to change their behavior. Nonetheless, they had to repeat this process 2 to 3 times for the dogs to fully grasp this concept and start jumping over the fence on their own.
I believe that this may just be one of the biggest reasons behind the prevalence of blue pill in society. Individuals often believe that there is nothing they can do to avoid the pain, misery, and confusion of their lives. Why? Because they think it's normal. They don't even realize that there is a fence they CAN jump.
But that is not the case. You can choose to jump that fence. You can choose to escape that mediocrity you've lived in so long, but only if you understand that you have the ability to do so. The only difference is that nobody is going to move you, or babysit you through the process until you learn. That is completely up to