Lecture Notes: Learned Helplessness and Social Relationships

Introduction

• Biggest Fear: Not fitting in, especially during adolescence.
• Activity: Understanding feelings of not fitting in through an activity involving anagrams.
  • Purpose: To induce feelings of frustration and helplessness deliberately.

Activity Details

1. Instructions:
   • Participants were given papers with anagrams.
   • Task: Rearrange letters to form words.
   • Given two distinct lists, only the third word was the same for both.
2. Group Experience:
   • Left side: Given unsolvable anagrams initially.
   • Right side: Solvable anagrams from the start.
   • Both sides given same third word, "CINORAMA" -> "AMERICAN".

Key Concepts

• Learned Helplessness:
  • Concept introduced by inducing it in the left side group via unsolvable tasks.
  • Emotional Reactions: Feelings of stupidity, confusion, frustration.
  • Impact: Reduced confidence, affecting ability to solve the third anagram.

Application of Learned Helplessness

• Academic Literature: Commonly discussed in educational psychology and textbooks.
• Social Scene Application:
  • Example: Rejection in romantic pursuits can discourage future attempts.
  • Importance of understanding its broader implications beyond academics.

Gender and Social Dynamics

• Reviving Ophelia Reference: Cultural pressures on girls.
  • Girls often pressured to be quiet, not express anger, or use their voices.
• Learned Helplessness in Friendships:
  • Example: Sacrificing morals for acceptance can lead to repeated compromises.
  • Victimization: Once victimized, less likely to stand up for oneself in the future.

Conclusion

• Importance of Practice:
  • Necessary for girls to practice dealing with failure.
  • Failure response: Often leads to closing down rather than learning.
  • Moral: Keeping open to learning new ways to handle relationships is crucial.