Learned Helplessness-A Devil that Prevents Us from Learning Well

【Abstract】Nowadays， many students in this fiercely competitive society feel stressed in their academic process. A portion of them suffer from a negative psychological symptom called learned helplessness， thus they are impeded by their attitude and mind state. This article aims to learn more about learned helplessness， and illustrate its impacts on the learning process. At the last part of this article， it will discuss the ways to prevent learned helplessness in academic process.

【Key words】learned helplessness; academic performance; attribution; negative emotion

【作者簡介】王佳音，福建師范大學(xué)外國語學(xué)院。

1.Background

In this modern society， people attach more and more significance to their psychological states. With more and more people having a tight schedule， people suffer from anxiety， depression and so on. Many people may have such experience that we have made a lot of efforts， but it seems that we can never achieve the result we expect. Therefore， we hold a pessimistic attitude towards life. Such symptom may have a bad impact on our learning process.

Learning is a complicated process which is closely connected with emotion， so it is impossible to learn something well without a good emotion control.

Nowadays， we can find that quantities of students who suffer from some negative emotions cannot do well in their studies. Highschool learning is one of the most important stages in peoples life. However， many mental problems would arise in students learning process， such as learned helplessness， low self-efficiency and negative attribution in their academic achievements. Learned helplessness is the most influential one which may trap students in vicious circle of learning.

Researches about learned helpless is quite important in learning process. In our country， the related researches are mainly theoretical ones introduced from abroad， and the researches are still not complete.

2. Introduction of learned helplessness

2.1 Definition of Learned Helplessness

Learned helplessness is behavior exhibited by a subject after enduring repeated aversive stimuli beyond their control. It is characterized by the subjects acceptance of their powerlessness： discounting attempts to escape or avoid the aversive stimulus， even when such alternatives are unambiguously presented. Upon exhibiting such behavior， the subject is said to have acquired learned helplessness.

2.2 Researches on Learned Helplessness