Learned Helplessness in College

There is no doubt that all students in college have at some point felt stressed or overwhelmed by their classes and workload. Students may feel that they have done all that they could to study or get through their many assignments, yet still find themselves struggling. When people believe that they lack control over the events that are happening to them, or that their efforts have no effect, psychologists call it Learned Helplessness. The term was originally used in experiments with animals, where the animal thinks that they cannot escape a situation where they are constantly harmed, even if the threat goes away (Nuvvula, 1). Unfortunately, it is now a term that can also describe how humans are unable to take initiative for their actions.

People who experience repeated abuse and other situations often develop a sense of helplessness if they believe nothing they do could change it. From a psychodynamic standpoint, early childhood experiences play a crucial role in shaping this mindset. Individuals who have experienced childhood neglect and violence tend to show predispositions to developing behaviors associated with learned helplessness because they grew up learning that their actions had little impact on their environment. If a young student constantly comes home from school for their parents to criticize them on their grades and work ethic, for instance, that child may believe that there is nothing they can do to earn their parents’ happiness.

Mental health has a great impact on learned helplessness as well. Those who struggle with repressing thoughts or with low self-worth are significantly more prone to experiencing learned helplessness. Thomas L. Boyd, a researcher from the University of South Carolina, explains that learned helplessness consists of three main parts: slowly failing to respond to external factors, constant negative expectations for the future, and feelings of helplessness (Boyd, 1). An example of this may be constant worry that something unpleasant will happen, and that there is nothing that can be done to stop it. College students may experience this phenomenon by blaming an external factor for their failures. Studying for hours and days endlessly to receive a bad grade on an exam could change a student's perspective on themselves. They might believe that there is nothing they can do to change their circumstances and thus be unwilling to find a resolution.

Self-efficacy is the level of confidence that a person feels when they take on a challenge or a task. Thus, with learned helplessness, people lose confidence in their ability to handle challenges (Cooks-Campbell, 1). People need to believe that what they do will make a difference. Instead of saying, “This test is hard, I will fail it no matter what I do”, a better approach would be, “This test is hard, so I will make a study plan and obtain help from others,”. With more positive thoughts, a person will be in a better place to find motivation and take initiative. In trying to overcome learned helplessness, a person must understand that they are failing to learn control. According to Cooks-Campbell, “...our brains are wired to panic under pressure...there is a part of the brain that jumps in to regulate this response when it assesses that the situation is under control. With learned helplessness, that controllability mechanism never kicks in” (2).

One of the most important things an individual can do to reverse the effects of learned helplessness is to find an interest in life that a person is good at doing and keep striving and working on that interest until confidence starts building. Starting with little tasks that you are comfortable working on and excel at gives a sense of confidence. These effects of confidence in one area of your life can transfer and boost confidence in all areas of life. Then, tackling harder tasks will be more alleviating for the mind. Overall, learned helplessness is possible to reverse, and it is important to take control of life if change is wanted.

 

Works Cited

https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-3514.42.4.738

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5141652/

https://www.betterup.com/blog/learned-helplessness

Links to an external site.