Psychological Determinism

BY calli

psychological determinism

Definition:

The theory that all aspects of a person's psychological makeup arise from specific causes or forces, as previous experiences or instinctual drives, which may be conscious or unconscious.

Skinner's concept of psyclolical determinism was one which disagreed with internal causes of behavior. Skinner argued that all behavior was determined by patterns of punishment and reinforcement throughout one's life.

Psycological determinism is based off the ideas that decisions are made based on past expiriences that a person has been through. The theory suggests that actions in the future can be predicted by past expiriences and that people that have been through similar experiences, can often tend to do similar things.

IMPLICATIONS

The theory

Does this make everyone predictable?

Questions raised

However, psychological determinism raises many questions.

Human instincts? Other animals?

Are personality traits based only on expieriences?

How are genetics involved?

How can randomness factor in?

How can religion factor in?

Accountability and ethics?