Final answer:
Victims often become emotionally attached to their abusers due to learned helplessness, a state of passivity that arises from the belief that they are powerless to change their situation. This condition was extensively studied by Martin Seligman, whose experiments with dogs have shed light on human behaviors, including those related to abuse and mistreatment.
Step-by-step explanation:
Victims sometimes becoming emotionally attached to people who mistreat them can be due to learned helplessness. This phenomenon, as described by psychologist Martin Seligman, occurs when an individual learns that they are powerless to change a situation and thus become passive. This learned state can contribute to the development of emotional attachments even in negative or abusive relationships, where the victim feels unable to alter their circumstances.
The concept of learned helplessness was thoroughly investigated by Seligman through experiments with dogs in the 1960s. In these experiments, dogs subjected to inescapable electric shocks eventually stopped trying to avoid the shocks, demonstrating passivity when later given the opportunity to escape. This behavior has been compared to human responses to uncontrollable adverse events, leading to feelings of powerlessness and potential emotional attachment to individuals who perpetuate such negative experiences, including those who mistreat them.
Learned helplessness has substantial implications in the understanding of human behavior, particularly regarding the response to abuse or mistreatment and its role in the development of psychological disorders such as depression.