Final answer:
To be powerless is to lack the capacity to influence or change a situation, a concept underscored by the theory of learned helplessness and the 12-step groups' viewpoint on willpower, which suggests that individual willpower is not enough to overcome addiction without acknowledging one's powerlessness and relying on a higher power.
Step-by-step explanation:
To be powerless means lacking the ability or authority to act or influence a situation. When it comes to 12-step groups, willpower is often seen as insufficient on its own to overcome addiction. Instead, these groups promote the recognition of one's own powerlessness over their addiction to foster a sense of surrender and openness to a higher power's guidance and strength. This concept is related to the broader psychological principle of learned helplessness, where individuals who repeatedly face adverse situations beyond their control may eventually stop trying to change their circumstances, as was famously demonstrated in the experiments by psychologist Martin Seligman with dogs in the 1960s. Moreover, theists may argue that power is bestowed by God and that humans experience a will to power as a reaction to feelings of helplessness, in contrast to the efforts to gain control over life's circumstances that are, according to this belief, ultimately governed by a higher power.