This phenomenon, called learned helplessness, is quite generalized; the animal has trouble coping with all sorts of varied tasks after its exposure to uncontrollable stressors. Such helplessness extends to tasks having to do with its ordinary life, like competing with another animal for food, or avoiding social aggression. One might wonder whether the helplessness is induced by the physical stress of receiving the shocks or, instead, the psychological stressor of having no control over or capacity to predict the shocks. It is the latter. The clearest way to demonstrate this is to “yoke” pairs
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