Learned Helplessness
Martin E. P. Seligman and his collegues, while studying the
relationship between fear and learning, accidentally discovered an
unexpected phenomenon while doing experiments on dogs using
Pavlovian (classical conditioning). As you may observe in
yourselves or a dog, when you are presented with food, you have a
tendency to salivate. Pavlov discovered that if a ringing bell or
tone is repeatedly paired with this presentation of food, the dog
salivates. Later, all you have to do is ring the bell and the dog
salivates. However, in Seligman's experiment, instead of pairing
the tone with food, he paired it with a harmless shock, restraining
the dog in a hammock during the learning phase. The idea, then, was
that after the dog learned this, the dog would feel fear on the
presentation of a tone, and would then run away or do some other
behavior.
Next, they put the conditioned dog into a shuttlebox, which
consists of a low fence dividing the box into two compartments. The
dog can easily see over the fence, and jump over if it wishes. So
they rang the bell. Surprisingly, nothing happened! (They were
expecting the dog to jump over the fence.) Then, they decided to
shock the conditioned dog, and again nothing happened! The dog just
pathetically laid there! Hey, what's going! When they put a normal
dog into the shuttlebox, who never experienced inescapable shock,
the dog, as expected, immediately jumped over the fence to the
other side. Apparently, what the conditioned dog learned in the
hammock, was that trying to escape from the shocks is futile.
Taken from http://www.noogenesis.com/malama/discouragement/helplessness.html
Learned helplessness is a psychological condition in
which an animal has learned to believe that it is
helpless. It has come to believe that it has no control
over its situation and that whatever it does is futile. As a
result, the animal will stay passive in the face of an unpleasant,
harmful or damaging situation, even when it does actually have the
power to change its circumstances. Learned helplessness theory is
the view that depression results from a perceived lack of control
over the events in one's life, which may result from prior exposure
to (actually or apparently) uncontrollable negative events.
Learned helplessness is a well-established principle in psychology.
It can be observed in the effect of inescapable punishment (such as
electrical shock) on animal (and by extension, human) behaviour.
Learned helplessness may also occur outside the laboratory, in
everyday situations or environments in which people perceive
(rightly or wrongly) that they have no control over what happens to
them. Such environments may include repeated failures, prison,
school, war, disability, famine, and drought.
Taken from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness
So have many of the apathetic Singaporeans learned to be
helpless?
"aiyah what can we do, just follow gahmen loh" A common line used
by many Singaporeans, even if they are unhappy with the polices of
the ruling party.
people in a state of learned helplessness view problems as
personal, pervasive, or permanent. That is,
* Personal - They may see themselves as the
problem; that is, they have internalized the problem.
* Pervasive - They may see the problem as
affecting all aspects of life.
* Permanent - They may see the problem as
unchangeable.
Or do some singaporeans end up internalizing the problems they
face?
"I'm not good enough so I earn less"
"I didn't get a chance to go to college coz my A Levels not good
enough, and parents cannot afford overseas uni. What to do? like
that lor"
Again another symptom of learned helplessness. Did government
propaganda and top down culture create these mindsets among
Singaporeans?
Then again, whatever is learned, can be unlearned.....