From: Dominique Dinh
Email: tmnguyen@ix.netcom.com
Course: CD169: Motivating Children and Adolescents in Educational Settings
College: SJSU
Instructor: Dr. Matusov
ClassWeb: http://www.ematusov.com
ChildrenObservations: No
Date: 23 May 1997
Time: 05:04:14
Remote Name: sjx-ca58-31.ix.netcom.com
This paper focuses on what causes learned helplessness, and what effects learned helplessness has on a person. Through extensive literature review I found out that learned helplessness is a sypmtom that one can develop through experience. It is preventable and also treatable. We are the teachers need to understand more about this learning disability and what we can do to help those children who are diagnosed with this learning disability.
For this final paper I chose to focus on the topic of learnrd helplessness. I know that learned helplessness is a very important issue, but I do not have many ideas and knowledge on this subject. Therefore, I believe it would be an interesting topic for me to focus on. I want to focus my attention on what causes learned helplessness, and what effects learned helplessness has on a person. I also want to find out what one can do to help a person who identify with learned helplessness.
According to Stipek (1993), learned helplessness is "not trying as a consequence of a belief that rewards are not contingent upon one's behavior" (p. 227). Learned helplessness usually occurs when a child experiences too much achievement failures. As a results, that child would have a tendency to give up on a task easily once he/she encounters difficulty. Along with the child often used simple or less mature techniques to solve the problems. Therefore, he/she might fail to finish the task again. So with all of these failures, that particular child might end-up withdrawing from te class because, to him or her, school does not offer many joys except boredom (Stipek, 1993).
Learned helplessness children blame their failure on lack of ability and external causes, such as the task is being too difficult. Learned helplessness children often attribute their failures to something that they are unable to control. Furthermore, when they succeed, they do not believe] that they are capable to do te task. Instead, they usually attribute their successes to external causes, something that goes beyond their control. Sometimes learned helplessness children evn blame their success on luck (Stipek, 1993). For example, one might think "I am very lucky to pass that test", or "I passed the test because I was lucky". Others with learned helplessness might think that the tasks were easy or they did good because the teacher helped them.
Another study showed that when a person develops the expectation that many events are uncontrollable, he/she would be at risk of developing helplessness (McKean, 1993). For example, a child might think that "if I keep failing and not success, ehy o I have to try?"
Baucom, Sayers and Tierney (1993) stated that women with low masculinity are more susceptible to learned helplessness in relation to depression. It was found that learned helplessness cold lead people into depression. Kofta, Sedek, and Tyszka (1993) showed that pre-exposured to the unsolvable discrimination problems led to an increase innegative mood. Therefore, learned helplessness children express many affective distresses. The learned helplessness theory suggested that people would more likely to become passive and distress when they encounter a difficult task (Matute, 1994). However, Romney (1994) stated that not everyone who is suffering from low self-esteem is depressed. Although self-esteem and depression suggest that loe self-esteem is central to depression in psychiatric patients. Helplessness children consider challenging tasks as a threat to their self-esteem (Milich, 1994).
People learn to be helpless if they think that they are incapable to control important events and by blaming the results on the internals, global and stable causes. For example, "It's me." or "It will affect everything I do." or "it is last forever." And by attributing uncontrollable negative outcomes tointernal and lasting causes, people might perceive that future events will also be uncontrollable (McKean, 1993). Helplessness is manifested in behavioral, cognitive, and affective domains Behavioral effects would include passivity, giving up, and procrastination. Cognitive effects include decrease in problem solving ability, frustration, and lower the self-esteem. Affective deficits usually feature dysphoria or depressed mood following a negative outcome (McKean, 1993).
Matute (1994) stated that the conditions of uncontrollable reinforcement do not lead to learned helplessness. She found that instrumental uncontrollability tradition and the introduction of failure feedback were relevant to the demonstration f learned helplessness in humans. However, there was no theory that could support her finding.
According to Princeton-Pen longitudinal study the mai reason for children to give up so easily or avoid engaging in any task is because they have little control over the outcomes of the achievement situations (Griffith III & Martinek, 1994). Griffith III & Martinek (1994) found that students who attribute their failure to lack of ability and that their effort would not produce positive results. These students lacked persistence, or put little effort to accomplish the task. They stated that learned helplessness may become more differentiated and stable with age. It seems that younger children were more affected by the behavior or the present of their classmated when performing learning tasks. Griffith and Martinek also foubd that the low self-perceptions of the learned helplessnes students reinforce from the public display of a student's low skills.
It has been found that learned helplessness children are often exposed to a significant amount of failure and low teacher expectation during their elementary years (Griffith & Maryinek, 1994). However, one of the texts indicated that learned helplessness did not only occur with tjhose children who have low achievement in school, but also occured among those children who seemed to do very well in school as well ( Stipek, 1993).
The reasons for learned helplessness also depend on the tasks, as in how hard or how easy they were (Pare, 1994). Milich (1994) pointed out that children with ADHD are more likely to be at risk of identify with learned helplessness. He said when these children were confronted with failure, they exhibited several signs that correlated to learned helplessness. However, they would more likely to attribute their success to something internal and failure to the external which they were unable to control.
In order to help the children with learned helplessness, it would be best to prevent it before it develops. To do this, teachers need to pay more attention to theses children in the early grades. The teachers and parents should work together and motivate these children to learn. When a child fails to be successful, he/she should be encourage to try again. The adults can help him/her to develop a high self-esteem by telling him/her that he/she failed because he/she was lack of effort. And when a child succeeded, the adults should also point to him/her that he/she has succeeded because he/she put his/her effort into it. Let the child knows that he/she has the ability to success if he/she works hard. Imply to the child that he/she ffails because he/she needs more practices orusing different strategy (Stipek, 1993). In doing this, adults help children to believe that they have the ability to success if they try. Snd in this way the children would be more motivated to learn and more interested doing the tasks.
Anotherthing teachers should focus on is the level of the tasks. Were the tasks too hard or easy? The tasks should meet the child's ability. The tasks shoud not be too hard or easy. However, teacher should always start with the easy problems first. teachers also need to make sure that these children are learning. They need to get these children to involve in the classroom activities as well ( Stipek, 1993).
Learned helplessness could also be treated and prevented by getting the child ivolved in the classroom activities, paying more undivided attention to the child, and making sure that the child is learning. Encourage and motivate the child to work on the tasks. Choose tasks fit the skill level of the child. Reflect the ability and hard work when the child successes the tasks. Encourage him/her to try again if he/she does not success.
Gerby, Mikulincer, and Weisenberg (1993) found that eating some sugar snacks such as chocolate or engaging in a physical exercise (especially the aerobic) would also reduce learned helplessness in people. These methods work because they lower the level of stress and anxiety when one is exposed to a difficult or unsolvable task.
By doing research on learned helplessness, I found out many interesting and important thongs. Now I know that learned helplessness is a symptom that one develops through experience. And not only those who experience many failures develop it, but it could also be found in those that seem to be very successful as well. It is somethibg that is preventable and perhaps treatable, too. It is interesting to know that earilier school experiences would also have an influence on the development of learned helplessness in people. I have learned a lot from this research.
References
Baucom, D. H., Sayers, D. L., & Tierney, A. M. (1993). Sex roles, interpersonal control, and depression: Who can get their way? Journal of Research in Personality, 27 (4), 377-395.
Gerby, Y., Mikulincer, M., & Weisenberg, M. (1993). Aerobis exercise and chocolate as means for reducing learned helplessness. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 17 (6), 579-592.
Griffith III, J. B., & Martinek, T. J. (1994). Learned helplessness in physical education: A developmental study of causal attributions and task persistence. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 13 (2), 108-122.
Kofta, M., Sedek, G., & Tyszka, T. (1993). Effects of uncontrollability on dubsequent decision making: Testibg the cognitive exhaustion hypothesis. Journal of Personslity and Social Psychology, 65 (6), 1270-1281.
Matute, H. (1994). Learned helplessness and superstitious behavior as opposite of uncontrollable reinforcement in humans. Learning and Motivation, 25 (2), 216-232.
McKean, K. J. (1994). Using multiple risk factors to assess the behavioral, cognitive, and affective effects of learned helplessness. The Journal of Psychology, 128 (2), 177-183.
Milich, R. (1994). The response of children with ADHD to failure: If at first you on't succeed, do you try, try, again? School Psychology Review, 23 (1), 11-18.
Pare, W. P. (1994). Open field, learned helplesness, conditioned defensive burying, nd forced-swim tests in WKY rats. Psychology & Behavior, 55 (3), 433-439.
Romney, D. M. (1994). Cross-validating a causal model relating attributional style, self-esteem, and depression an heuristic study. Psychological Reports, 74 (1), 203-207.
Stipek, D. J. (1993). Motivation to learn. Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon.