Learned helplessness is considered to be a form of giving up, which is a common coping pattern that has limited value. It is considered to be a passive behaviour to what are thought to be unavoidable events. Seligman and colleagues conducted a research study on learned helplessness which caused him to change his perspective on what is was a product of. He originally thought it was a result of conditioning; however, his current model suggests that people’s cognitive interpretation, how they perceive the event, determines learned helplessness. Seligman also believes learned helplessness is also more likely to appear in people who have traits of pessimistic explanatory style meaning they blame themselves for setbacks rather than situational factors.
