THRIVING MINDS PODCAST
THRIVING MINDS PODCAST
Professor Selena Bartlett, Neuroscientist, Brain Health is Everyone's Business
Episode #210. Don’t Break Their Spirit. Learnt helplessness in the AI era. Professor Selena Bartlett
10 minutes Posted Feb 15, 2026 at 3:00 am.
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What happens when we mistake compliance for strength? In this episode of Thriving Minds, Professor Selena Bartlett explores a powerful and confronting conversation with a man who was proud of the physical punishment he received as a child. He believed it made him disciplined. He believed it taught him consequences. He believed it made him better. But beneath that story lies a deeper question: when does discipline build character, and when does it condition helplessness? Drawing on neuroscienc...