‘To what extent can I determine my own destiny?’ Discuss in the light of theories, ideas and research encountered in the course.
Do I act as I do through choice or are my actions influenced by factors beyond our control? This uncertainty has concerned psychologists for decades, consequently giving rise to the 'Autonomy versus Determinism' debate. By definition, autonomy is the belief that we are free to make decisions and thus control all of our actions, however determinism contradicts this view by suggesting that all of our actions are entirely determined by the external and internal forces operating on them. Nowadays It is now commonly documented by most psychologists that it is a combination of both autonomy and determinism that determines our behaviour however this leads to another question, 'to what extent can I determine my own destiny‘? In order to answer this question this essay will firstly explore the autonomy versus determinism debate and consider how and why human action is determined and also if determinism prevents autonomy. This debate will be explore through different psychological perspectives. The trimodal theory by Richard Stevens will show how these perspectives can be integrated in an attempt to try and understand human action.
The determinist view that our behaviour is the result of some previous experience suggests that we have no free will to control our actions. As a result humanistic social psychologists have wholly rejected this idea and instead clearly supported the idea of autonomy. Autonomy basically means that we are free to choose what we do and that our behaviour is not constrained in any way. Carl Rogers (Wetherell, Still 1996:101) and Abraham Maslow (Stevens1 1996:152) enthusiastically believed that people implement choice in their behaviour and that the idea that we are not in control of our behaviour deprives us of our human characteristics. Rogers sees our personal world as being unique and believes it is sustained and improved by exercising autonomy. Maslow also supporting autonomy believes in a hierarchy of human needs i.e. when our basic needs such
as food, sleep, security, love, self esteem are met it is then that we can focus more fully on developing our personal potential which leads to self-actualisation. Maslow found that ‘peak experiences’ (moments of high excitement, deep meaning etc) were times of in...
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... (1996) Trimodal theory as a model for interrelating perspectives in psychology. In: Sapsford, R (Ed) Issues for Social Psychology. Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, The Open University
Stevens, R., Wetherell, M (1996) The self in the modern world: Drawing together the threads. In: Stevens, R (ed) Understanding the self. Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, The Open University
Still, A (1996) Historical origins of social psychology: In: Sapsford, R (Ed) Issues for Social Psychology. Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, The Open University
Thomas, K (1996) The psychodynamics of relating. In: Meill, D., Dallos, R. (Eds) Social Interaction and Personal Relationships. Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, The Open University
Toates, F (1996) The embodied self: a biological perspective. In: Stevens, R (ed) Understanding the self. Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, The Open University
Wetherell, M., Maybin, J (1996) The distributed self: a social constructionist perspective. In: Stevens, R (ed) Understanding the self. Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, The Open University
Wetherell, M., Still, A (1996) Realism and relativism. In: Sapsford, R (Ed) Issues for Social Psychology. Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, The Open University
Abraham Maslow arranged human needs into a hierarchy of five needs, starting with the most important needs which are physiological needs such as, hunger, thirst, and warmth. He then went all the way up to the least important which is self-actualization that is known as the fulfillment of unique potentials. His hierarchy of needs is depicted in a pyramidal form with the most important needs at the bottom as a base and the least important towards the top. According to Maslow, self-actualization is becoming what we believe we are capable of being he also believed that self -actualization is as important as physiological needs. Many people desire to reach self-actualization because
Myers, David G. “Chapter 14: Social Psychology.” Psychology. 10th ed. New York, NY US: Worth
When looking at a person’s life, there are many factors to consider, social strains, biology, free will, and up-bringing to name a few. Each of them is very important, but today I will e discussing the biological factors, and the free will. Free will is the ultimate or final decider of one’s life path, and although factors of determinism might give one their foundation or starting point, free will takes you the rest of the way. That being said, it is important to remember that free will and determinism are not mutually exclusive. When one evaluates each position in its purest form it is easy to see their strength and weakness.
In summary, the idea of self-reliance will continue to bewilder the minds of our current and future generations. In fact, this is due to the lack of a definite answer to the question. Nevertheless, I am persuaded that whether an individual be a believer or non-believer in having control of their destiny, there are forces or uncontrollable factors in life that have the ability to control a minute percentage of one’s destiny.
Somerville, John. The Strange Case of Modern Psychology. The Journal of Philosophy. Vol. 31. October 1934. pp. 571-577.
The philosophical problem of personal identity pertains to questions that arise about ourselves by virtue of our being persons. There is no single question that will sum up the problem, but rather a multitude of questions that are loosely connected to each other. Within this essay, the four most prominent problems will be explained and addressed. One of the most familiar is the question of “Who am I?” This regards to what makes one a unique individual. Another familiar question is, “What is it to be a person?” This concerns the necessary criteria for something to count as a person as opposed to a non-person. There is also the problem of persistence, relating to personal identity over time. An example of this would be to glance upon an old photograph of a childhood class, point and say, “That's me.” The questions arises of, “What makes you that one instead of one of the others?” The last problem to be explained is the one of evidence. How do we find out who is who? There are two separate sources of evidence used often in philosophy: first-person memory, pertaining to one remembering an action or event and therefore being the person who did such, and physical continuity, where if the one who performed the action or witnessed the event looks like you, then it is you.
The notion of personal autonomy is a characteristic that many individuals seek to find throughout their life. The term autonomy originates from the Greek words auto (self) and nomos (law) and means self-management (Senturan, Kose, Sabuncu, & Ozhan, 2012). Individuals who experience the characteristic of autonomy during their lives will often have an intense desire for their personal freedom and will set moderate goals for themselves that will enhance their well-being and independence. Radel, Sarrazin, Pelletier, and Milyavskaya (2011) describe autonomy as being a basic psychological need that has the potential to represent an individual’s propensity towards a slate of self-governance as defined by their behavioral aims. An autonomous attitude is seen as having the ability to resist influence or coercion, to defy an authority or seek freedom in a new place, or to strive for independence (Sahakian, 1965).
Rice, D., Haralambos, M. (2000) Psychology in Focus: AS Level, Reprint (2002), Ormskirk, Causeway Press Ltd. p155-172
In this journal I noticed many similarities between Maslow’s Self-Actualization and the Self Determination Theory (SDT). SDT refers to human potential that every person possesses (Deci, Ryan, & Guay, 2013, p.109). In this theory it helps a person understand him or herself. Flourishing and actualization is seen as a natural human potential (Deci, Ryan, & Guay, 2013, p. 10). Similar to the holistic-dynamic theory, SDT uses a meta-theory that assumes that individuals are inherently inclined to be proactive and move towards a greater refinement and integration in self-functioning, which mimics individual 's potential to achieve self-actualization. The substitute for the word self-actualization is fully functioning in SDT. Full function is linked to demonic well-being (Deci, Ryan, & Guay, 2013, p. 110). The Self-Determination Theory has three basic needs, again similar to Maslow’s concept of hierarchy of needs. The three needs are competence, autonomy, and relatedness (Deci,
Hergenhahn, B.R. (2009). Social and Theoretical Psychology: Conceptual and Historical Issues 1. An introduction to the History of Psychology. 1 (1), p1-28.
The self is an important component of free will. It can be assumed that the self is the entity within a person making a decision without having causal determination (Gomes, 2007). The self can be described as the entity that gives one the sense that they are making a free choice. One of the limitations to many free will studies is that the definition of freedom is broad. For researchers, it is hard to decipher between a free choice and a random choice. Gomes (2007) explains that an action is considered free when one decides on A when they could have chosen otherwise. When faced with a choice there are internal and external factors that can influence the chooser, however, this does not mean that these factors cause or determine what
Freedom, or the concept of free will seems to be an elusive theory, yet many of us believe in it implicitly. On the opposite end of the spectrum of philosophical theories regarding freedom is determinism, which poses a direct threat to human free will. If outside forces of which I have no control over influence everything I do throughout my life, I cannot say I am a free agent and the author of my own actions. Since I have neither the power to change the laws of nature, nor to change the past, I am unable to attribute freedom of choice to myself. However, understanding the meaning of free will is necessary in order to decide whether or not it exists (Orloff, 2002).
Is how we act is predetermined by a number of factors beyond our control or are we simply able to make choices that are not determined by our dispositions or desirers. This notion of freewill has been debated by theorists for centuries. Hard Determinists say that how we act is due to a combination of genetic factors and the environment around us. A similar notion is Fatalism where how is act is predetermined by a higher power. However Compatabalists think that how we act is a combination of freewill and what environmental and genetic endowments have been bestowed to us. This paper will critically discuss these theories and how human beings are capable of freewill.
He thought that there had to be more to humans than simply rewards, punishments, and subconscious urges according to behaviorists and psychoanalysts. Maslow introduced humanistic psychology as an area to focus on the potential of people to become all that they can be. Other psychologists helped develop different elements of humanistic psychology, but Maslow is largely considered to be the father of the humanist movement in psychology. He steadfastly believed that people are motivated to reach certain needs. When one need is accomplished, a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on. At the top of this hierarchy Maslow believed was the possibility of self-actualization; every person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a level of self-actualization. This was, however, seen as a rare achievement only reached by very few people since according to his theory; all lower-level needs had to be met before self-actualization could take place. Unfortunately, advancement is often disrupted by failure to meet the lower level needs. Life experiences may cause an individual to fluctuate between levels of the hierarchy. According to Maslow, only one in a hundred people achieve full self-actualization due to our society rewarding
Calkins described the self as being “related in a distinctive fashion both to itself and its experiences and to environing objects, personal and impersonal” (Calkins,1930, p45). This characteristic of self psychology is aligned with other popular systems of psychology such as functionalism.