"Success requires persistence, the ability to not give up in the face of failure. I believe that optimistic explanatory style is the key to persistence."
-Martin Seligman.

"Habits of thinking need not be forever. One of the most significant findings in psychology in the last twenty years is that individuals can choose the way they think."
-Martin Seligman

Martin Seligman's experiment inolved a really unethical issues. His experiment involved 150 dogs. 75 of them were the controlled group and the other 75 were the experimental group. The controlled group were tested first. They put each dog at a time in a box with a metal platform that gave electric shocks. And there was a another box beside it and the dog could jump to the other safe box. The dog was in when the electricity was turned on, the dog started barking running and bumped in all the box. Eventually the dog would jump to the other box. Then the electric shock from the other box was turned on and the process was repeated.
The Experimental group were tied up to an electric leash. The electric leach was turned on and the dog started barking runing like crazy but he could not escape beacuse he was tied up. They repeated that process for the every dog fro about 2-3 times. Then the dog just stopped trying and just sat there crying. The dog learned to be helpless and thought there was no way out. Those same dogs were put on the shocking box were you could escape. The electric shock was turned on but the dog did not make a move. He sat there helpless on a corner while he was being shocked.

This picture is a clear example of learned helplessness. There are many people around the world that learned to be helpless. For example sometimes you don't succeed in something and you never try again because you think that is impossible so you learn to be helpless. This guy probably did not receive any education or moral principles therefore he is built up to be an ignorant. He thinks that he can't do anything good in his life so he thinks that he is helpless, hence he does not try to do anything for himself.

Martin Seligman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Seligman

http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness

http://ematusov.soe.udel.edu/final.paper.pub/_pwfsfp/00000062.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFmFOmprTt0