 Ideally, parents let their children learn how to help themselves. Parents who neglect their children or those who are overly involved achieve the opposite. Their children often learn helplessness and hence believe that they can neither control their life nor change their environment. Learned helplessness was first discovered by two researchers who conditioned dogs to endure electric shocks. Martin Seligman and Stephen F. Meyer conducted their experiment with three groups of dogs. Dogs from the first group were caged and made to wait for a period of time before being released. These dogs were what's known as the control group. The second group were also caged and got electric shocks from below. When they pressed a button, the shocks stopped. They learned that they could stop the pain. The third group of dogs were exposed to the shocks but had no way of stopping them. After the conditioning, all three groups were put into a box that gave shocks on one side but not the other. The first and second group of dogs quickly learned to avoid being shocked by jumping over the wall that separated the two sides of the box. The third group of dogs made no attempt to avoid the shocks. They had developed a cognitive expectation that they could not avoid the pain. Seligman and Meyer attributed this to learned helplessness. Children can also be affected as this oversimplified story attests. This is the story of Joe. While other kids were allowed to run, this cute little boy was put in a walker so he couldn't hurt himself. And so, from early on, Joe learned that the world is a dangerous place. On the rare occasions that his father was home, he told Joe to toughen up and become a strong boy. But without a role model, Joe lacked the motivation to live up to his dad's expectations. He began to feel inferior. Over time, this feeling got stronger. Whenever there was a problem, his mother would jump in to help. Joe began to internalize the belief that he couldn't help himself when confronted with challenges. Whenever he had to make a major decision, he'd ask his mom for advice. Deep inside, he resented her for not allowing him to become more independent. What are your thoughts? How can we help those that fail to see the path out of their toxic life? How can we help them to help themselves? Share your thoughts and your own experiences with learned helplessness in the comments below. If you found this helpful, check out our other videos and subscribe. If you want to support our work, join us on Patreon.com. For more information and additional content, visit SproutSchools.com.