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Preferred term

learned optimism  

Definition

  • Learned helplessness refers to the maladaptive passivity shown by animals and people following experience with uncontrollable events. Learned helplessness also refers to the cognitive explanation of this phenomenon: The individual learns in one situation that responses and outcomes are independent, represents this learning as an expectation of helplessness, and then generalizes this expectation to other situations to produce passivity even if outcomes objectively can be controlled. [Source: Encyclopedia of Applied Developmental Science; Learned Helplessness and Learned Optimism]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/learned_optimism

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