Final answer:
Learned helplessness is a psychological condition where repeated punishment without reinforcement leads individuals to feel powerless and passive, often ceasing all efforts to change their situation. Psychologist Martin Seligman's experiments with dogs in the 1960s are seminal in the study of this concept, which has implications for understanding human depression.
Step-by-step explanation:
Repeated punishment without reinforcement for alternative behaviors often leads to a psychological phenomenon known as learned helplessness. This term describes a state in which an individual experiences a sense of powerlessness, arising from a persistent failure to succeed in certain situations. The concept of learned helplessness was developed through experiments conducted by psychologist Martin Seligman in the 1960s, where dogs were subjected to electric shocks without a means of escaping. Eventually, when given a chance to avoid the shocks, the dogs did not take any action to escape, demonstrating a lack of initiative and passivity akin to symptoms observed in human depression. Seligman suggested that learned helplessness could play a significant role in human depression, as experiencing uncontrollable negative life events might lead humans to also become helpless and give up trying to change their circumstances, which could then lead to depression.