Learned Helplessness
Synonymous with “depression” or “lack of motivation” — the feeling of no escape or way to change the unfortunate predicament one is in. In psychology, this phenomenon occurs in many animal tests. The ones practiced today are reviewed quite tediously for ethical concerns, but this was not always the case.
This man’s name is Martin Seligman. His work has been incredibly famous; infamous, if you will. His work, however, has also led to a vast increase in the knowledge regarding the treatment of depression and also has given us insight into what distinguishes pessimists from optimists. His experiments shocked dogs and would be deemed very unethical today, although this research has led to very important discoveries in the field, which often occurs in science. His experiments, however, led to “confinement-in-a-box”, a form of torture, and further investigation by the CIA.
The test itself involved classically conditioning dogs to expect a shock upon a tone. The control would have been a dog that has not learned this. When placed in two different chambers, separated only by a barrier that was fairly easily escapable, with one having an electrified floor and the other not, the results showed us that dogs who had learnt this shock-tone association would not bother escaping from the electrified floor chamber. This is the phenomenon of learned helplessness being displayed since we know that the electrified floor is obviously causing them a great deal of trauma, but in the previous condition when the association was learned, there was no means of escape.
It obviously is painful seeing images like these, especially knowing that our kind were the ones who inflicted this pain. A more ethically correct version of a learned helplessness that is used regularly today includes the forced swim test for rats. A rat is submerged in a tub of water where it is possible for them to drown. This is done on two occasions, the latter being shorter than the former by a few minutes. The dependent measure in this case would be the amount of time the rat tries to climb and swim in the water or the lack of this thereof. If the rat gives up and accepts its fate of drowning for a time, it is removed. The construct of learned helplessness, a model for depression, is still accurately measured without the rat itself being physically harmed; an evidently superiorly ethical model.
At the time, Seligman’s work may have been deemed ethical due to the value in the results and its follow up studies which have helped many people who suffer from depression today. It is always important to evaluate the risk:benefit ratio when looking at experiments. It is very interesting to see how the progression of ethics within science and psychology specifically have changed the way we look at the same constructs.
Student Number: 260550797
References
No-Bid Military Contract Winner Martin Seligman and His Response to Allegations on His Connection to Torture. (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2016, from http://www.opednews.com/articles/No-Bid-Military-Contract-W-by-Kevin-Gosztola-101018-272.html
What Causes Learned Helplessness? (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2016, from http://psychology.about.com/od/lindex/f/earned-helplessness.htm
