Learned Helplessness

When it comes to Unit 6, there's A LOT to learn and discuss. But within all the talks of operant and classical conditioning, one topic that really interests me is the idea of learned helplessness. What's learned helplessness? According to HaRav Dovid Meir, learned helplessness is the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events. The classic example is when you (unethically?) take a test subject--a dog, per se--and place it in an enclosed environment. The dog is able to escape, but each time it tries to escape, it's shocked. After a few tries, you choose to let the dog escape without a shock. But each time the dog sees the chance to escape, even if you don't shock it, it may run as far away as possible and cower in fear. Can I apply this to real life? I'm sure I can. When you're a Freshman, and your Seniors include the likes of Avi Goldstein and Sam Rapp, you sort of learn to instinctively hide in a corner and cower in fear when a Senior nonchalantly walks through the hallway with a crowbar and/or a lead pipe. A Freshman's reaction to such a Senior class can definitely be described as learned helplessness.