Positively Dog Training - The Official Victoria Stilwell Podcast
Jul 21, 2026 · 57 min · 13 segments
In this episode, Victoria and Kristina Spaulding discuss learned helplessness and learned control in dogs, exploring their neurobiology, impact of trauma, and…
Kristina SpauldingGuest
Victoria StilwellHost
So learned helplessness is a phenomenon that happens when an animal is placed in a position where their behavior doesn't matter.
So basically, regardless of what they do, things are continuing to happen or not happen.
And so the animal learns that it doesn't matter what they do, they don't have an impact on their environment, and they then tend to stop trying to influence their environment.
And one of the things that is important about learned helplessness is that it is a generalization.
You know, i- if we want to stop the sun from rising, it doesn't matter what we do, it is going to rise anyway.
However, learned helplessness, or sometimes it's called subjective helplessness, is when the animal takes a situation when they don't have control and they generalize it to a situation where they could have control and they still don't try to do anything.
So learned control is what happens when an animal does learn that their behavior matters, or if we want to put it in learning terminology, we would say they learn that their behavior is contingent.
And so sometimes this is called learned mastery, where they figure out that their behavior does matter and they can have an influence on their own experiences.
And so they will continue to try to engage with their environment in a way that has a better outcome for them.
And so a very basic example of that might be, you know, a dog learning that they can communicate with the people in their family and that gets them what they want.
Um, could you give me an example of learned helplessness from a dog's point of view, right? So yes, can't stop the sun from rising, right? But, um, s- I know that there were some pretty horrific studies done.
So learned helplessness is a phenomenon that happens when an animal is placed in a position where their behavior doesn't matter.
So basically, regardless of what they do, things are continuing to happen or not happen.
And so the animal learns that it doesn't matter what they do, they don't have an impact on their environment, and they then tend to stop trying to influence their environment.
And one of the things that is important about learned helplessness is that it is a generalization.
You know, i- if we want to stop the sun from rising, it doesn't matter what we do, it is going to rise anyway.
However, learned helplessness, or sometimes it's called subjective helplessness, is when the animal takes a situation when they don't have control and they generalize it to a situation where they could have control and they still don't try to do anything.
So learned control is what happens when an animal does learn that their behavior matters, or if we want to put it in learning terminology, we would say they learn that their behavior is contingent.
And so sometimes this is called learned mastery, where they figure out that their behavior does matter and they can have an influence on their own experiences.
And so they will continue to try to engage with their environment in a way that has a better outcome for them.
And so a very basic example of that might be, you know, a dog learning that they can communicate with the people in their family and that gets them what they want.
Um, could you give me an example of learned helplessness from a dog's point of view, right? So yes, can't stop the sun from rising, right? But, um, s- I know that there were some pretty horrific studies done.
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