Final answer:
Learned helplessness is a psychological condition where a person subjected to inescapable negative experiences feels powerless to change their situation, leading to passivity, and has been studied as a factor in human depression and behavior.
Step-by-step explanation:
The concept of learned helplessness represents a state where an individual has been conditioned through adverse experiences to believe they lack control, leading to passivity and resignation in situations where they could otherwise make a change. This was first demonstrated through experiments by Martin Seligman with dogs, which showed that animals which had been subjected to inescapable electric shocks later did not attempt to escape them even when it was possible. This phenomenon has also been linked to human behavior, notably as an explanation for certain depressive symptoms and for understanding the impact of abusive environments on future behavior.
Learned helplessness can occur from a repeated history of controllessness over negative or harmful situations and is emulated in various real-life scenarios like persistent failure in school or chronic depression. It is also cited as a cause of why some individuals remain in abusive relationships or do not attempt to improve their adverse living conditions.