“This isn't going to change”,
“Nothing good happens to me”,
“No matter what I do, things just happen and that´s it”
Dogs could learn that they had no control over an adverse situation, and this interfered with their subsequent ability to learn new ways to escape trauma (Seligman, 1975).
Group 1 was introduced in a metal cage in which they received electric shocks of approximately 6.0 milliamps of intensity every 5 seconds, which could be interrupted by pressing a panel with the nose (snout).
Group 2 was also introduced in a metal cage and received electric shocks in the same amount, duration and intensity as Group 1, with the difference that they did not have any control over the discharge, since pressing the panel did not interrupt the same.
Group 3, being the control group, did not receive any downloads.
The 3 groups were subjected to an escape-avoidance training, where before the electric shock a signal was emitted (decrease of the lights) that indicated the moment to jump the barrier to avoid the electric shock.
In case they will not execute that behavior, the dog would receive the discharge, to which he could escape by jumping the barrier. If the dog did not jump the barrier after 60 seconds under the discharge, the experiment was stopped.
Group 1 and Group 3 (control) showed a good performance in the experiment, jumping the barrier without difficulties.
Group 2 was significantly slower to respond and 6 out of 8 dogs did not escape at all, remaining inert.
It was not the discharge itself, but the inability to control, which prevented the dogs from learning to escape.
Based on the results of the experiment, a first theory about Learned Helplessness emerged, defining it as:
A psychological state that appears frequently when events are uncontrollable, when no matter what we do, the same will always happen (Seligman, 1975).
Basically, when the dog faces an event (electroshock) that is independent of its responses (jumping, barking, running), learns that this event is exactly independent of its responses .
Extrapolating this theory to human behavior, Seligman (1975) began to illuminate the impact that impotence can generate on a behavioral, cognitive and emotional level.
This first approach to the theory of learned helplessness, allows us to understand to some extent why sometimes adverse situations can lead to a pit of despair, however, the issue does not end here.
In 1971, Donald Hiroto prepared an experiment to induce Impotence Learned in humans following the parameters of the experiment with dogs, substituting electrical discharges for the emission of a loud noise (Seligman, 2004).
At the end of the experiment, Hiroto contacted Seligman to communicate the results:
Of these results, strikingly similar to those of the experiment in dogs, new questions emerged:
Who gave up immediately and who were the ones who never gave up and why?
Why is defenselessness chronic in some people and not in others?
Why do some people generalize helplessness to all areas of their lives and others do not?
Garber and Seligman (1980) reported that they found the answers to these questions when they reformulated the theory by adding attributional analysis. This means that they began to take into account the explanation given by each person to the lack of relationship between the response issued and the result obtained.
This led to the so-called Explanatory Style, which is defined as:
A cognitive variable of personality that shows how human beings explain to themselves the reasons for events. In this way, the explanatory style allows us to understand the diversity of responses that people can give to uncontrollable events (Buchanan and Seligman, 1995).
Here Seligman begins to notice that not only adversities can induce the learned helplessness, since any situation where there is no relationship between the behavior and the result, can generate it. In this way, failure and trauma are no longer under the microscope, achivements and success come to accompany them.
This reformulated theory "not only refers to negative events but also when there are positive events where there is no contingency between the response and the result can produce helplessness, that is, we not only refer to failures but also to events where there is no contingency" (Garber and Seligman, 1980, p.12).
Therefore, if when you achieve a good result you think it has been a matter of luck, pay attention to what follows.
According to Seligman (2011), Explanatory Style is composed of two dimensions that allow you to determine if your style is pessimistic or optimistic:
Is the cause of the event permanent or transitory?
Will it affect your life forever or momentarily?
As you can see, pessimistic style is composed of permanent patterns for negative events and transitory patterns for positive events. On the other hand, people with optimistic style attribute transitory causes to failures and permanent causes to achievements and successes.
Is the cause of the event universal or specific?
Does it affect all areas of your life or only one in particular?
As you can see, pessimistic style is made up of universal patterns for adverse events and specific patterns for pleasant events. On the contrary, optimistic style people attribute specific causes to the failures and universal causes to the triumphs.
In this way, the explanation that each individual attributes to the lack of relationship between the response and the result, influences expectations about uncontrollable situations that arise a future.
It should be noted that Explanatory Style can be influenced by society, temperament, and life experiences that you accumulate, whether they are successes or failures. In addition, this theory suggests that pessimism is an important risk factor for depression.
Now the question is:
Can anyone stop being pessimistic?
The answer is: Yes, you can!
Seligman (2011) reports that optimism and hope are beliefs that generate positive emotions about the future, and that can be developed. If you are a person who until now uses a pessimistic style, there are two things you can do:
Search psychological support by a professional and start using the ABCDE model proposed by Seligman.
A psychologist can help you without any doubt, to transform those pessimistic guidelines and beliefs that detract well from your life. As for the ABCDE model, it is a method developed from the ABC model proposed by Albert Ellis as part of cognitive psychotherapy, and basically consists in learning to detect and refute pessimistic thoughts, through a record.
When you realize that you are developing a pessimistic thinking, put the ABCDE model into practice.
Reality is that there are many situations in life that can be adverse. When these are presented, pay close attention to what you think about them and what you say to yourself, this internal dialogue is the key to identify if we are seeing things with the glasses of pessimism. If so, do not stay inert and helpless, seek professional help, surround yourself with people who give you a different perspective and remember that the important thing is not if you have control over the situation.
The important thing is to believe that you have the capacity to face it.
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