Learned helplessness was put forward by American psychologist seligman when he studied animals in 1967. He did a classic experiment with dogs. At first, the dog was kept in a cage. As soon as the buzzer rings, give it an uncomfortable electric shock. After many experiments, when the buzzer sounded, the dog could not escape the electric shock. Before the electric shock, the door of the cage was open. At this time, before the electric shock appeared, the dog did not escape but fell.

1, American psychologist Sally, when studying animals in 1967, found that he initially locked the dog in a cage and gave the dog unbearable electric shock as soon as the buzzer rang. The dog couldn't escape the electric shock in the cage, and ran wildly in the cage, crying with fear. After many experiments, when the buzzer rang, the dog lay on the ground, barking in horror and not running. Later, the experimenter opened the cage door before the electric shock. At this time, the dog not only did not escape, but fell to the ground groaning and trembling, and the electric shock appeared. It could have fled voluntarily, but desperately waited for the pain to come. This is learned helplessness. Why are they like this? They don't even have the instinct to "run, run and cry". Because they already know that it is useless, and it is a manifestation of "learned helplessness" in educational activities. This study shows that repeated strong electric shocks to animals will cause helplessness and despair. 2. The research on this kind of "learned helplessness" was strengthened in 1960s. Martin Seliman of the University of Pennsylvania electrified the caged dog with a powerful and lasting current from the floor of steel grating, so that the dog stopped trying to escape and "learned" to be helpless. Seliman, Steven Meyer and James Gill wrote in a paper: "When a normal, untrained dog is trained to escape in a box, the following behaviors are normal: during the first electric shock, the dog runs wildly, poops and screams in horror until it quickly climbs over an obstacle, and so on, until the electric shock can be effectively avoided. Furthermore, Seliman tied up the dogs so that they could not escape when they were electrocuted. When the dogs were put back into the shuttle box where they could escape the electric shock, Seliman found that when the shuttle box was first shocked, the dogs reacted like untrained dogs. But it soon stopped running and waited silently until the electric shock was over, and the dog did not cross the obstacle to avoid the electric shock.