Learned Helplessness

Chris explained the term "learned helplessness" in class. I am in a psychology course in which we also learned this term, so I wanted to give our class more of an explanation of it.
"Learned Helplessness is a passive resignation to aversive conditions, learned by repeated exposure to aversive events that are inescapable o unavoidable. The initial experiment on learned helplessness was conducted by Overmeier and Seligman (1967). Dogs in the experimental group were strapped into harnesses from which they could not escape and were exposed to electric shocks. Later, these same dogs were placed in a box with 2 compartments separated by a low barrier. The dogs then experienced a series of trials in which a warning signal was followed by an electric shock administered through the box's floor. However, the floor was electrified only on one side, and the dogs could have escaped the electric shocks simply by jumping the barrier. Surprisingly, the dogs did not do so. Dogs in the control group had not previously experienced the inescapable shock and behaved in an entirely different manner and quickly learned to jump the barrier when that warning signal sounded and thus escaped the shock. Seligman (1975) later reasoned that humans who have suffered painful experiences they could neither avoid nor escape may also experience learned helplessness. For example, children who fail repeatedly in school my stop doing their school work because they believe that it is impossible for them to succeed. Similarly, people who are abused by their intimate partners may adopt the view that they deserve such treatment and submit to their partners' aggressive behavior. As a result, says Seligman, such people become inactive, withdrawn, and depressed" (152)