Yes, it is a theory of depression that says if you have repeated experiences of being unable to escape negative events then you will become passive and will no longer even try to escape them. The symptoms of depression are taken to result from this giving-up.

I totally do this at work, when I'm working for compulsive re-writers. Why even bother trying when I know that no matter how much I work on the thing, that it will be completely re-written?

My dad's response to questions like this is to give completely absurd directions. Really detailed, absurd instructions. Bonus if he can make the questioner do something stupid. "Well, first you need to stick your finger in your ear, palm parallel to the floor. Tilting sideways, slowly turn in a circle, mooing like a hoarse cow...."

sarameg's dad is my dad, apparently.

Okay, I don't mind questions like, "Do you have any tape?" or "Where is the extra tape?"

I teach a lesson every year on how to ask for help. I tell them saying, "I don't get it" isn't asking for help.

Was it supposed to be a grand unifying theory of depression, or describing one sort, Rick?

It started off as a grand unifying theory. Then it turned out not to predict all symptoms of depression very well, and not to describe all kinds of depressed people very well, and in the way of most scientific theories there was a retrenchment and the theorists suggested that it applied to only a small subset of cases. Most people in the field (including me) now see learned helplessness as a particular symptom of depression, not a cause of depression. But the pendulum could swing back.

learned helplessness as a particular symptom of depression, not a cause of depression

Is it used outside of depression? The people I know who do it seem very happy.

Most people in the field (including me) now see learned helplessness as a particular symptom of depression, not a cause of depression. But the pendulum could swing back.

::keeps an eye on pendulum in case it's necessary to duck::

I think -- does it cover the scenario where if something isn't done right the first time, the subject becomes passive aggressively unable to ever do it right, regardless of the complexity?

Yes, it is a theory of depression that says if you have repeated experiences of being unable to escape negative events then you will become passive and will no longer even try to escape them.

I see those as pretty separate things, though - the first example of "learned helplessness" often has (IME) a fair portion of "and then someone else will do it instead." The second - I'd call that learned apathy, I guess.

To me, learned helplessness is what annoying females do so that they can simper and let some big strong man take care of them.

All kinds of ~ma, Stephanie. Peaberry should do what's right and emerge in time to meet her daddy.

learned helplessness is what annoying females do so that they can simper and let some big strong man take care of them

My (unschooled) interpretation of the thing I'm now calling learned helplessness is less calculated than your average simpering chick, and is more like my parents' abject refusal to remember certain things about computers, or even to remember where the instructions are, or the teenager who just can't remember how much soap goes in with the laundry ... in theory, it does work out more easily for them, since there's an expert around who takes it (often impatiently) off their hands, but it's very "Well, she's so good at it!" more than a verbalised "Don't want to!" or "Shouldn't have to!"