Generally comes down to strong external locus of control, learned helplessness due to a host of complex factors that vary per individual (bio/psycho/social elements, conditioning, maladaptive thought/behavior patterns that lead to negative or otherwise distorted appraisal of self, abilities, etc— which perpetuates the underlying sense of powerlessness).
A great read (link below). Keep scrolling— if you click ‘read chapter’ — you’ll hit paywalls. Free is sufficient.
Learn more about Learned Helplessness
Additional potentially useful info:
Locus of control (ultra-basic) infographic-thing:
And, all this said — when evaluating others this way, we must also consider our own blind spots, such as actor-observer bias, for instance, which I’ll explain with a picture [of other people’s text] for the sake of my own laziness right now:
We never really know how complicated another’s circumstances are/how things actually fit together— we’ll speculate, sure— but we can’t be certain we have all of the available facts. We might even make a reasonable enough assessment, but it’s important to look at ourselves, too.
Loads of different mental tightropes to walk when it comes to understanding why humans do what they do or how they personally operate, and how we view and regulate ourselves. How we all grow or stand still. What obstacles may exist and the best ways to overcome them.
As there is no One-Size-Fits-All Answer Net waiting below this intra/interpersonal highwire circus act, it’s best to tread with care.