Internal restraints are heavily based in the perception of control. An excellent model of the formation and nature of some of these restraints is Seligman's concept of learned helplessness.102

learned helplessness

Lessons in which helplessness is learned are among the most damaging for any living creature. An experiment done with dogs demonstrates what happens. Dogs exposed to uncontrollable shock will, after a time, give up trying to get away. They lie helplessly and make no further attempt to escape. Even when placed in a different situation where they could escape, they don't even try. What happens with these dogs has been repeated in similar experiments with humans. The response in people is basically the same.

When a human is faced with an uncontrollable situation, fear, anxiety or frustration develops depending on the intensity of the unavoidable negative stimuli. As attempts to control the situation fail, the person learns that control is impossible and depression sets in. Punishment will now be taken indefinitely, with no further attempt to escape. Once one learns he is helpless, no further effort will be wasted in trying to control the situation. When later confronted with other problems, there is a tendency to generalize the prior lessons of helplessness by giving up more easily. Even if the problem is accidentally solved, a person who has learned he is helpless is unlikely to be able to make the cause and effect connection. His ability to learn has been diminished.

One particularly relevant experiment was done with inner city schoolchildren.103 The children were chosen because their teachers