Compared with a group of dogs who had not previously experienced the shocks with no hope of escape and therefore jumped back and forth across the barrier to avoid being shocked, the pre-conditioned dogs continued to receive the painful stimulus. This research provided the basis for the learned helplessness theory. Seligman and his colleagues soon expanded their research to include other organisms and realized that the causes and outcomes of learned helplessness could be applied to humans, both adults and children. He posits that any organism, dogs or humans, stops trying to remove or save themselves from an undesirable or painful situation when they believe that no matter what they do, they cannot have any effect on their environment. Seligman refers to depression as a common example in which humans find themselves in a situation that they feel they cannot control or escape and, like the conditioned dogs, stop trying to improve their circumstances and rather settle into a pattern and existence filled with sadness.
Depression is a belief in one's own helplessness. . . .
In addition to depression, another psychological convention that can be looked at through the learned helplessness paradigm is that of insecure attachment in children. Within the category of insecurely attached children, there are three different subgroups as classified by Mary Ainsworth. Ainsworth developed a procedure for grouping children based on their level of attachment to and their reaction upon separation from their primary care giver who was usually the mother. A stranger would then enter and talk with the mother, followed by the mother's exit and the interaction of the child and the stranger alone. After several minutes the mother returns to the room, only to leave again a short time later.