Running Head: INDUCING LEARNED HELPLESSNESS

Inducing Learned Helplessness:

Using the Applications of Intrinsic Motivation for Educational Purposes
Lauren Perkins
Towson University

PSYC 315
Jessica Stansbury
21 November, 2015

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It can be considerably difficult to get students actively involved in their learning

environment. One way professors may be able to improve the active involvement of their
students is by tapping into what intrinsically motivates them. Many of todays students are taught
using lectures, power points, class discussions and videos. While these techniques may be
affective for most students, there are still groups of students who require more in order for them
to become actively involved. One way to do so is to incorporate games or activities into lesson
plans. This will help to break up the lectures and actively engage the students into learning
without any external factors.
Learned Helplessness
Learned helplessness is based on both cognitive motivation and attribution approaches.
Studies have helped experimenters understand that learned helplessness relies on the type of
attribution that the person makes to overcome their problems. According to Abramson and his
associates, they found that many individuals attribute his or her own lack of control to either
internal or external events (Petri & Govern, 2013). Some situations over which we have no
control are universal; that is, no one else has control over them either. A hurricane destroys your
hometown is beyond your control and that of others as well. This would be considered a external
event. However, if you happen to do poorly on your SATs you might attribute that to an internal
characteristic, such as a perceived lack of intelligence (Petri & Govern, 2013). Due to the fact
that you did poorly on your SATs and your friends did well we perceive ourselves to be
personally helpless, while in the case of the hurricane we are universally helpless. The type of
attribution that we make about our lack of control, either universal or personal, affects our selfesteem (Petri & Govern, 2013). If it is believed that we lack a particular characteristic that others

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may possess which enables them to control their situations, this attribution of personal
helplessness will lead to lowered self-esteem.
There will be motivational deficits in both universal and personal helplessness, but only
when attributions of personal helplessness are made will self-esteem be affected (Petri &
Govern, 2013). When people discover that their actions have no distinct effect on their outcome,
they tend to attribute the outcome to a specific circumstance or global situation. However, if the
attribution is to a specific circumstance (I did poorly on the SATs), the individual is more likely
to demonstrate helplessness in only similar circumstances (Petri & Govern, 2013). The
attributional approach can be applied to many different psychological phenomena, and learned
helplessness is only one example. In order to help us understand how a person perceives cause
and effect we need to be able to understand why that person behaves in that particular way, in
order to do so psychologist rely on the attributional approach (Petri & Govern, 2013). The
activity that I am going to propose should help to explain the attribution of personal helplessness.

Classroom Activity
In order to demonstrate the learned helplessness theory and actively involve students it is
important incorporate the strategies of intrinsic motivation. One way students can accomplish
this is by participating in a classroom activity that invokes learned helplessness. In order to do so
I have borrowed Charlsse Nixon, Ph.D Developmental Psychologist at Penn State Erie, activity
to help explain the phenomenon of learned helplessness.
Students will asked to put away everything but a sheet of paper and something to write
with. After doing so, students will then be handed a worksheet (which they are required to keep

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face down until further notice) with three anagrams that they are required to solve. Students are
then instructed to solve the first problem only, once they have finished the problem they are to
raise their hand until further notice. This step repeats itself two more times until all of the
anagrams are complete. Once the anagrams are complete, the professor is to go over the answers
for each anagram. However, at this point students are also made aware that there were two
different worksheets. The right side of the room was given a worksheet where the first two words
were different than those on the left side, but the last word was the same for each. Those who
were on the right side of the room had words that were easy to solve but, those who were on the
left side were given a worksheet where the first two anagrams were impossible to solve.
The object of this activity is to induce learned helplessness within only a few minutes. To
make this possible, the key is having the students raise their hand once they completed the task.
In doing so, the students who then were unable to complete the task are forced to start doubting
their own intelligence. This taps into the attribution of personal helplessness theory thus, can
result in a lowered self-esteem. It is important to have a class discussion after the activity and
encourage the students to participate and share their experiences. In doing so, I am sure that
many of the students on the left side will express feelings of frustration, lack of intelligence in
comparison to their peers, and self-doubting. All of which is probably triggered by seeing the
other students raise their hand signaling they had finished that problem. This activity will serve
as a great way to not only explain the theory of learned helplessness but, to also actively involve
the class using properties of intrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic Motivation

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Malone describes three components of intrinsic motivation in his article Toward a Theory
of Intrinsically Motivating Instruction, each of which, must be met in order for the Inducing
Learned Helplessness activity to be an interactive and educational experience for the
participating students. The first component of intrinsic motivation is fantasy. Fantasy differs in
two ways. Malone (1981) states that there are two different types of fantasy: intrinsic fantasy and
extrinsic fantasy. However, they differ as the skills related to the activity are intricately
connected to the fantasy itself, rather than being overlaying skills on to a fantasy situation
(Malone, 1981). The way in which the fantasy is created in this activity is by tapping into the
students problem solving skills thus, also bringing me to the next component which is control.
Control, or lack thereof, can be achieved in this activity when students believe that they
are taking control over their situation by solving their individual task that is given to them. At
this time each student believes that whatever happens next is because of their own success.
However, the true control is within the instructor because he/she actually set one side of the room
up to be unsuccessful. Either way, the control factor keeps the students engaged in the activity
because they want to see how well they do during this activity.
The last component that brings Malones intrinsic motivation principles to an end would
be challenge. Challenge is the most complex of the three principles due to the fact that it is
comprised of four smaller concepts: novelty, surprisingness, complexity, and incongruity. This
activity is complex for students as it presents them with a task that, depending on which side of
the room they are on, may or may not be solvable. The concept of surprisingness is presented to
the students when the instructor provides them with the news that one set of the worksheets
provided is actually not solvable. The third concept of incongruity is present when the students

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act out of character due to the fact that they arent able to solve the anagram. Many students
begin feeling incompetent or frustrated which may not normally be one of their character traits.
The last concept of challenge is novelty. Novelty is demonstrated because many of the students
have never been exposed to the Induced Learned Helplessness activity.
If the activity is done correctly, the instructor should be able to induce a state of learned
helplessness in the students who were given the worksheet that was incapable of being
completed. In doing so, the instructor should also be able to get the class to become actively
involved in their learning by tapping into what intrinsically motivates them. It can be seen how
important the application of intrinsic motivation is when trying to get a class fully engaged in
their learning experience. The concept is almost flawless, if instructors, professors, or teachers
successfully incorporate some form of active learning by using Malones (1981) principles of
intrinsic motivation they should be able to get their student to (on their own) become involved in
their learning. I believe this is why the concept of intrinsic motivation is extremely important in
understanding why gameplay is fun. Intrinsic motivation helps explain why gamers continually
play a game (and enjoy it) without having set any external goals.

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References
Malone, T.W. (1981). Toward a theory of intrinsically motivating instruction. Cognitive Science,
5(4), 333-369.
Nixon, C. (2007, November 2). Learned Helplessness. Retrieved November 23, 2015, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFmFOmprTt0
Petri, H., Govern, J. (2013). Motivation: Theory, Research, and Application. Wadsworth,
Belmont, CA. Sixth edition.