Trapped. Caged. Free.

She sat on the bench, looking so very young.  A little girl.

I watched her eyes, her hunched shoulders and her clasping hands.

She reminded me of my dog when we scold him.  He cowers down to the floor and he's never been abused. 

She has.

I see Seligman's theory of learned helplessness play out in front of me.

And yet, she will not be kept down!  She will continue trying to jump out of the trap.  She will fight.

My heart climbed the gate and went to her.  I wanted to protect her and defend her.

A little girl with a little girl.

Her anger scares people.

Her opposition and attitude makes them mad.

Her crude coping skills do not line up to the standards of those in control.

Learned helplessness

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Learned helplessness is a mental state in which an organism forced to endure aversive stimuli, or stimuli that are painful or otherwise unpleasant, becomes unable or unwilling to avoid subsequent encounters with those stimuli, even if they are escapable, presumably because it has learned that it cannot control the situation.^[1] Learned helplessness theory is the view that clinical depression and related mental illnesses may result from a perceived absence of control over the outcome of a situation.^[2] Organisms that have been ineffective and less sensitive in determining the consequences of their behaviour are defined as having acquired learned helplessness.^[3]

An example of faulty conditioning is long term depression, a syndrome which American psychologist Martin Seligman has termed ‘learned helplessness’. He discovered the phenomenon in an unexpected fashion. He and his colleagues were testing a particular learning theory on dogs, which involved giving electric shocks to dogs that were strapped down and therefore couldn’t avoid them. Later in the experiment, the dogs were put in open boxes from which they could escape, when given a shock, if they learned to jump over a barrier. But, to the researcher’s surprise, the dogs made a cursory attempt to get away, by running to quiet whining while suffering the series of shocks.
Finally the researchers realized what had happened. The dogs were reacting to their previous experience of being strapped down and unable to escape the pain of electric shocks. They had been totally unable to control what was happening to them. What they had learned, as a result, was that any actions of their own had no effects and that therefore they were helpless. That piece of learning was applied to any new situation too, even where they weren’t helpless, as in the second box.
From this, Selingman came to see the same syndrome operating in people suffering from reactive depression, the type of depression that ensues as a reaction to some clear external stress, such as loss of a relative, or lover, or being sacked from a job. According to Seligman, people who suffer a series of such setbacks about which they can do nothing learn that they have no control over any of the events in their lives’ that, whatever they do, things will turn out badly in the end. Therefore they give up trying. They see themselves as failures, and lose all motivation and interest in life, at the same time putting themselves down and wallowing in misery.
- See more at: http://theunboundedspirit.com/seligmans-theory-of-learned-helplessness-and-long-term-depression/#sthash.3hYCMEgQ.dpuf

An example of faulty conditioning is long term depression, a syndrome which American psychologist Martin Seligman has termed ‘learned helplessness’. He discovered the phenomenon in an unexpected fashion. He and his colleagues were testing a particular learning theory on dogs, which involved giving electric shocks to dogs that were strapped down and therefore couldn’t avoid them. Later in the experiment, the dogs were put in open boxes from which they could escape, when given a shock, if they learned to jump over a barrier. But, to the researcher’s surprise, the dogs made a cursory attempt to get away, by running to quiet whining while suffering the series of shocks.
Finally the researchers realized what had happened. The dogs were reacting to their previous experience of being strapped down and unable to escape the pain of electric shocks. They had been totally unable to control what was happening to them. What they had learned, as a result, was that any actions of their own had no effects and that therefore they were helpless. That piece of learning was applied to any new situation too, even where they weren’t helpless, as in the second box.
From this, Selingman came to see the same syndrome operating in people suffering from reactive depression, the type of depression that ensues as a reaction to some clear external stress, such as loss of a relative, or lover, or being sacked from a job. According to Seligman, people who suffer a series of such setbacks about which they can do nothing learn that they have no control over any of the events in their lives’ that, whatever they do, things will turn out badly in the end. Therefore they give up trying. They see themselves as failures, and lose all motivation and interest in life, at the same time putting themselves down and wallowing in misery.
- See more at: http://theunboundedspirit.com/seligmans-theory-of-learned-helplessness-and-long-term-depression/#sthash.3hYCMEgQ.dpuf

Seligman’s Theory of Learned Helplessness and Long-Term Depression

An example of faulty conditioning is long term depression, a syndrome which American psychologist Martin Seligman has termed ‘learned helplessness’. He discovered the phenomenon in an unexpected fashion. He and his colleagues were testing a particular learning theory on dogs, which involved giving electric shocks to dogs that were strapped down and therefore couldn’t avoid them. Later in the experiment, the dogs were put in open boxes from which they could escape, when given a shock, if they learned to jump over a barrier. But, to the researcher’s surprise, the dogs made a cursory attempt to get away, by running to quiet whining while suffering the series of shocks.
Finally the researchers realized what had happened. The dogs were reacting to their previous experience of being strapped down and unable to escape the pain of electric shocks. They had been totally unable to control what was happening to them. What they had learned, as a result, was that any actions of their own had no effects and that therefore they were helpless. That piece of learning was applied to any new situation too, even where they weren’t helpless, as in the second box.
From this, Selingman came to see the same syndrome operating in people suffering from reactive depression, the type of depression that ensues as a reaction to some clear external stress, such as loss of a relative, or lover, or being sacked from a job. According to Seligman, people who suffer a series of such setbacks about which they can do nothing learn that they have no control over any of the events in their lives’ that, whatever they do, things will turn out badly in the end. Therefore they give up trying. They see themselves as failures, and lose all motivation and interest in life, at the same time putting themselves down and wallowing in misery.
Seligman put his theory to the test. He subjected students to the unpleasant experience of being in a room where a loud, discordant sound was coming from a piece of equipment. No matter what knobs they turned, they couldn’t turn it off – which was as the experimenter intended. On a later occasion, the students were waiting in another room where they did have the power to control the annoying drone coming from the equipment. But they didn’t even bother to try.
The only way to help people who suffer ‘learned helplessness’ depression, says Seligman, is to concentrate on showing the depressive person that he can operate on his environment and be effectual – perhaps by giving him simple tasks in therapy at which he can succeed, develop confidence and then move on to harder ones. The aim is to break the conditioned conviction that nothing ever works.
Source: The Manipulated Mind: Brainwashing, Conditioning, and Indoctrination, by Denise Winn - See more at: http://theunboundedspirit.com/seligmans-theory-of-learned-helplessness-and-long-term-depression/#sthash.3hYCMEgQ.dpuf

Seligman’s Theory of Learned Helplessness and Long-Term Depression

An example of faulty conditioning is long term depression, a syndrome which American psychologist Martin Seligman has termed ‘learned helplessness’. He discovered the phenomenon in an unexpected fashion. He and his colleagues were testing a particular learning theory on dogs, which involved giving electric shocks to dogs that were strapped down and therefore couldn’t avoid them. Later in the experiment, the dogs were put in open boxes from which they could escape, when given a shock, if they learned to jump over a barrier. But, to the researcher’s surprise, the dogs made a cursory attempt to get away, by running to quiet whining while suffering the series of shocks.
Finally the researchers realized what had happened. The dogs were reacting to their previous experience of being strapped down and unable to escape the pain of electric shocks. They had been totally unable to control what was happening to them. What they had learned, as a result, was that any actions of their own had no effects and that therefore they were helpless. That piece of learning was applied to any new situation too, even where they weren’t helpless, as in the second box.
From this, Selingman came to see the same syndrome operating in people suffering from reactive depression, the type of depression that ensues as a reaction to some clear external stress, such as loss of a relative, or lover, or being sacked from a job. According to Seligman, people who suffer a series of such setbacks about which they can do nothing learn that they have no control over any of the events in their lives’ that, whatever they do, things will turn out badly in the end. Therefore they give up trying. They see themselves as failures, and lose all motivation and interest in life, at the same time putting themselves down and wallowing in misery.
Seligman put his theory to the test. He subjected students to the unpleasant experience of being in a room where a loud, discordant sound was coming from a piece of equipment. No matter what knobs they turned, they couldn’t turn it off – which was as the experimenter intended. On a later occasion, the students were waiting in another room where they did have the power to control the annoying drone coming from the equipment. But they didn’t even bother to try.
The only way to help people who suffer ‘learned helplessness’ depression, says Seligman, is to concentrate on showing the depressive person that he can operate on his environment and be effectual – perhaps by giving him simple tasks in therapy at which he can succeed, develop confidence and then move on to harder ones. The aim is to break the conditioned conviction that nothing ever works.
Source: The Manipulated Mind: Brainwashing, Conditioning, and Indoctrination, by Denise Winn - See more at: http://theunboundedspirit.com/seligmans-theory-of-learned-helplessness-and-long-term-depression/#sthash.3hYCMEgQ.dpuf

Personal Control

Not everyone who experiences traumatic events becomes clinically depressed. Some people rise to the challenges of adversity and overcome the stressful events. What determines who will succumb to depression? It may help to look at another perspective on depression, one claiming that depression is caused by the loss of a sense of personal control over one's life. This theory, based on the work of researcher Martin Seligman, is called learned helplessness. On the next screens you will see a demonstration of an experiment that led Seligman to develop this theory. We'll simplify the experiment a bit to emphasize the main points.
Learning to Escape Unpleasant Events
In the 1960s, Martin Seligman and his colleagues studied how animals learn to escape shocks. In one of their experiments, they placed a dog in a shuttle box, a special cage that had a low barrier dividing the cage into two compartments. The floor of each half of the box had an electrical grid that could deliver a painful shock to the dog. The researchers could flip a switch to direct the electrical current to either compartment A or compartment B.
When the researchers turned on the shock in the dog's compartment (A), the dog jumped around frantically until it accidentally jumped over the barrier into the other compartment (B), escaping the shock.
When the researchers switched the shock to compartment B, once again the dog jumped around randomly until it accidentally crossed the barrier to safety. After a few trials, the dog learned to expect the shock and would cross the barrier more quickly after the shock was turned on. This is called escape learning, because the dog was learning to get away from the shock. In terms of learning theory, the dog received negative reinforcement for crossing the barrier whenever the shock was turned on (ending the shock = reward).
Learning to Avoid Unpleasant Events
In another variation of their experiments, the researchers turned on a light a few seconds before turning the shock on. They also used naive dogs that had not yet been tested in the box -- that is, dogs that had not already learned how to escape the shock. How do you think the dogs behaved?
In the early trials, when the researchers turned on the light, then turned on the shock in the dog's compartment (A), the dog jumped around frantically until it accidentally jumped over the barrier into the other compartment (B), escaping the shock.
After fifty trials, the dog learned to jump across the barrier to safety as soon as it felt the shock. But the dog was also learning something else: It was beginning to associate the light with the shock, realizing that the light was a warning that the shock was about to begin. Very quickly, the dog began paying attention to the light. As soon as the light came on, the dog jumped across the barrier, often jumping before the shock came on.
After fifty trials, the dog simply stood by the barrier, waiting until the light came on, and then calmly jumped across the barrier. This is called avoidance learning, because the dog was learning to anticipate the shock and to avoid it completely by responding to the warning signal.
Learned Helplessness
So far, Seligman's research simply replicated what other researchers had already found -- naive dogs will quickly learn to escape unpleasant events and, if possible, to avoid those events entirely. But then Seligman tried something new. He strapped some of the dogs into a hammock and gave them inescapable shocks at random intervals. The next day, when these dogs were tested in the shuttle box, their behavior was very different from that of the naive dogs. Although, like the naive dogs, the dogs would jump around frantically as soon as they felt the shock, after a few seconds they would stop moving, lie down, and begin to whine.
On trial after trial, the dogs failed to escape; rather than jump across the barrier, the dogs passively accepted the painful shock.Seligman concluded that the dogs in the hammock had learned that they could not escape or avoid the shocks; that is, they had learned that they were helpless and that the shocks were uncontrollable. This conditioning was so powerful that when the dogs were placed in a situation in which they could escape the shock, they didn't even try, because they had formed the expectation that they could not control their environment. He called this behavior learned helplessness.
Ethical Issues
Although Seligman's findings have been widely accepted, animal-rights activists have criticized his use of painful, inescapable shocks. Was it necessary for the dogs to be shocked? Did the importance of the results justify the physical and psychological harm to the dogs? Questions such as these prompted the American Psychological Association to develop a set of ethical guidelines for the use of animals in research.