14.2 Theories of motivation Learned helplessness and attribution training An extreme form of the motive to avoid failure is called learned helplessness, which is a perception that no matter what one does, one is doomed to failure or ineffectuality: " Nothing I do matters".In academic settings, it can be related to an internal, stable explanation for failure:i fail because i am dumb. and that means I will always fail14.2 Theories of motivation • Learned helplessness and attribution training • An extreme form of the motive to avoid failure is called learned helplessness, which is a perception that no matter what one does, one is doomed to failure or ineffectuality:”Nothing I do matters”. In academic settings, it can be related to an internal, stable explanation for failure:I fail because I am dumb, and that means I will always fail