Final answer:
Learned helplessness is a psychological phenomenon where an organism, such as a dog, believes it has no control over negative events. It has been linked to human depression and a lack of initiative.
Step-by-step explanation:
The subject of this question is Biology. The concept being discussed is known as learned helplessness. Learned helplessness refers to a psychological phenomenon where an organism, in this case a dog, has experienced repeated negative events and comes to believe that it has no control over the situation.
For example, in the experiments conducted by psychologist Martin Seligman, dogs were subjected to electric shocks they could not escape. Later, when given the opportunity to escape the shocks, most of the dogs failed to even try, showing a sense of learned helplessness. This concept has been linked to human depression and the tendency to remain passive in future situations.