The environmental nature of personal helplessness

This article presents a retrospective analysis of the views of researchers on the emergence of the phenomenon of helplessness. The characteristic of personal helplessness, which is different from learned helplessness, is considered as a state that is investigated as a deep personal level of education defining features of cognitive, motivational, emotional, and volitional human spheres. Personal helplessness is a system characteristic of the subject giving the specifics of their life in general. The ideas about the nature of learned helplessness of the supporters of this theory can be reduced to such factors as its occurrence beyond the control of negative events, pessimistic attributional style, as well as an external locus of control (D. Hiroto). Among the assumptions and factors of the formation of personal helplessness, environmental (psychological and social) (D.A. Tsiring, I.V. Ponomareva), and congenital conditions (D.A. Tsiring) are classified. It is assumed that the innate personal helplessness conditions can be determined by a number of individual features, many of which are genetically determined: neuropsychological, neurodynamic, sexual, constitutional, sensomotor organization, as well as age-related features. Environmental factors inducing personal helplessness can include traumatic events. The role of traumatic events in the development of personal helplessness is similar to their role in the formation of the whole person as personal helplessness affects a number of personality characteristics. Besides one of the main environmental factors of personal helplessness formation can be violations in family relations. Family is considered as a general environmental factor of personal helplessness formation. Such social factors as a change of the socio-political situation in the country and, more specific, the change in the financial state of the family, a new job of one of the parents and other are also relevant. Personal helplessness formation risk is growing when different environmental factors work together. Social and economic instability, impossibility or person’s incapability to find a fast way out of a given situation, person’s feeling of the events being uncontrolled, loss of control over events and inability to foresee further actions can lead to personal helplessness formation. Understanding of the nature of personal helplessness phenomenon, factors that determine its formation let one help prevent personal helplessness of the individuals with high risk of its formation.

Keywords

Authors

References