LH

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Learned helplessness is a psychological phenomenon in which an individual, after repeated exposure to uncontrollable negative events, comes to believe they have no control over their situation, even when opportunities to change it arise. This can lead to passivity, low motivation, and depression.

Key Aspects of Learned Helplessness:

1. Origins – First studied by psychologists Martin Seligman and Steven Maier in the 1960s through experiments with dogs. The dogs that were repeatedly exposed to unavoidable shocks later failed to escape even when they had the option.

2. In Humans – People who experience repeated failures, abuse, or negative outcomes may stop trying to improve their circumstances, even when they can.

3. Effects – It can contribute to depression, anxiety, poor performance in school/work, and low self-esteem.

4. Reversal – Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), fostering resilience, and encouraging small successes can help individuals overcome learned helplessness.

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MEANING MAKER V STRING PULLER 

Peter Wollen and his contemporaries, however, held that filmmaking is a collective process and it is not a wise decision to look for the director’s personality as embedded in a series of film texts. One should try and appreciate the director not as a meaning-maker but as a puller of several strings pertaining to a network of meaning which is produced by a larger system (Wollen 1981).11 This group also took the ‘auteur theory’ as a ‘reading strategy’ (Staiger 2003: 45).12

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