# Learned helplessness Learned helplessness is the behavior that people exhibit after enduring repeated negative events beyond their control. After suffering negative events over and over, many end up accepting their powerlessness. They stop trying to escape or avoid the negative events, event when they have obvious opportunities to do so. In reality, [[Neuroscience]] has helped better understand this effect. In reality, the brain's default state assumes that it doesn't have control, and the presence of "helplessness" is what is learned first. ## References - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness