Learned Helplessness, Fear of Failure, and Failure of Success

Learned helplessness

Learned helplessness is considered a negative motivational condition that psychologists have been studying for decades and suggest that this condition can be unlearned. Yet in my opinion, it is not absolutely unlearned.

My first cousin attempted to sing in front of his sixth grade class and the tragedy ended with everyone having a strange fixed sympathetic look (reality sunk in). Obviously, this affected his future attempts at singing. This negative motivational condition (sense of helplessness) had a great impact on his childhood and adulthood. He accepted that he cannot sing and never tried to correct the sense of helplessness.

Many factors affect events that generate helplessness. I think it depends on individual whether the sense of helplessness can or cannot be corrected. I grew up quiet and shy in a collective society. I felt that speaking up was an unthinkable behavior and I felt that there was nothing I could change. I found myself in a very different world when I first left home and enter college. Exposed to the open-discussion learning environment, my sense of helplessness has gradually disappeared. In my case, the learned helplessness is undone.

Fear of Failure

The feeling of failing is a very negative motivational condition. The consequence of amotivation can have tragic consequences. A common phenomena in the Asian culture, is the common occurrence of student suicide because of the low academic achievements (reported on my previous posting). The students chose death rather than punishment or chastisement from their parents. Occasionally, even the students with high grades fold from the pressure and take their own life. Most recent research suggests that the fear of failure has a greater impact on females than males, which is reflected by the reported suicide cases in Hong Kong.

On the contrary, failure can be a positive motivation if we take the “fear of failure” as a motive to perform well at work and at school. For example, I arranged adult programs at the library. Some programs attract more library patrons than others. I evaluated the low attendance programs and examined what and why the program failed. Was the date and time a bad choice? Or was the program less appealing to the community? I did not want to fail again. The evaluation of the failing programs and the fear of failure served as the guidelines for future programming.

Fear of Success

I have seen people “withdraw” themselves because of the fear of success. I had a classmate who was always at the top of the class. She was praised by teachers, neighbors, and parents. Everyone in the class envied and admired her success. To be accepted to the #1 rank at secondary school was everybody’s dream, but not hers. Her grades suddenly dropped while attending sixth grade. It was unlikely she would be accepted into the best secondary school in town. The fact was that she did not want to attend the best school. The idea of continuing competition with the best students in town for the next six years terrified her. She intentionally regressed and became an average student.

I personally believe these three motivational conditions cannot be corrected without great effort, support and possibly psychological assistance.