The Level of learned helplessness among the undergraduates of the University of Kelaniya

Abstract

The current research aimed to identify the level of learned helplessness among the undergraduates of the University of Kelaniya. Accordingly, the research consisted of three objectives, two hypotheses and three research problems and the research was carried out for two years. The randomly selected sample included 200 undergraduates representing all the five faculties of the University of Kelaniya. A questionnaire which was based on Likert-Scale was administered to collect the data concerned. The data collected was quantitatively analyzed. As the results, a significant level of learned helplessness among the undergraduates of the University of Kelaniya, and a significant difference in the level of learned helplessness between male and female undergraduates could be found. The study made the possible suggestions so as to minimize the learned helplessness among undergraduates. The researcher suggested several topics for future researches such as effects of learned helplessness, attribution style and learned helplessness, biology of learned helpless people, academic achievements of learned helpless undergraduates, overcoming undergraduates' learned helplessness and culture and learned helplessness.