system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What is Learned helplessness and what is a typical example of it in today's society?
gpt
Learned helplessness is esentially when you try something and either fail or are told you failed so many times that you stop trying. A great example from the animal world is that young elephants are often chained with an ankle restraint to a pole. They learn that that ankle restraint is strong enough to stop them from moving. When they get older they still think this. You will sometimes see at circuses full grown elephants with ankle chains tied to a stake that could never restrain a full size elephant. But they don't try because they have been taught it isn't going to work.

One big area of child development is in growth vs fixed mindset. Fixed mindset is the idea that you are either good at something or you aren't. If a kid is told enough times that they are dumb, they will believe it. They won't  try. They'll fet bad grades because they didn't try. Bad grades reinforce what they'd been told. (Ironically, being told you are smart too much can lead to totally different issues and anxieties).

Growth mindset on the other hand emphasizes effort and improvement. You did well on the test, you must have worked hard. You didn't  do well, you can do better next time with more effort, etc. It emphasizes success as a process, and one driven by internal effort (not ignoring that it can be aided no doubt by some people's natural abilities and hindered by natural disabilities) and one that can therefore be changed in the future for better or worse through effort.