This maybe isn't what you're referring to, but here's an old Scott Alexander post on this topic, "Epistemic Learned Helplessness": https://web.archive.org/web/2

This maybe isn't what you're referring to, but here's an old Scott Alexander post on this topic, "Epistemic Learned Helplessness": https://web.archive.org/web/20170329000721/http://squid314.livejournal.com/350090.html https://web.archive.org/web/20170329000721/http://squid314.l... (using a web archive link since the current page tries to force a login)