Determinism in psychology. What is it, principles, definition, types, forms

Updated July 24, 2021 624 Author: Dmitry Petrov
Hello, dear readers of the KtoNaNovenkogo.ru blog. Everything that happens in the world is not accidental, but is subject to certain reasons. Any case is a confluence of reasons and circumstances.

This is precisely the essence of determinism - a concept that is found in different areas of our lives. Closely related to it are words such as determinant, determinacy, and deterministic.

We will understand what they mean and in what areas of knowledge they are used.

The principle of determinism in psychology

Determinism, used in psychology, determines the dependence of a person’s mental phenomena on a group of factors that can be expressed in heredity, as well as microsocial relationships, and the subject’s previous experience. At the same time, determinism can be expressed in various forms, which is due to the diversity of views on the phenomenon and its long-term evolution.

The principle of determinism in psychology consists of the following provisions:

• mental phenomena are caused by objective reality;
• the main influence on the psyche is formed by the activity of the human brain;
• Each mental phenomenon has its own cause, therefore, when studying mental processes, it is necessary to establish the reasons that caused them;
• The psyche is also determined by lifestyle and social connections.

Definition of the concept and content of the theory

Determinism in psychology is the dependence of the phenomena of mental processes on certain factors that form them. The concept of “determinism” comes from the Latin determinare - “to limit, delineate, determine,” which speaks of the main idea of ​​​​this doctrine - the interconnection and mutual determination of processes and phenomena.

The theory of determinism originates from a philosophical doctrine that recognizes the pattern of interconnection between phenomena of the objective world.

This approach to scientific knowledge as a result of evolution has become the most important component of scientific methodology, which formed the goal of research to identify patterns and causes of ongoing processes. Determinism is used both to study nature, society and the human psyche.

Definition

Determination is the dependence of the phenomena of psychological processes on the specific circumstances that shape them. The concept of “determinism” comes from the Latin “determinare”, which translates as to determine, to limit, which reflects the main idea of ​​this direction in psychology – the relationship between phenomena and processes.

The theory of determination originates from the teachings of philosophy, which recognizes the regularity of the interdependence of the phenomena of the objective world. This approach has become the most important component of scientific methodology, which set itself the goals of research to identify the causes and patterns of ongoing phenomena. Determination is used to study nature, society and the human psyche.

Main directions:

• Mechanistic determination. It arose in the 17th century during a period of active development of science. The principle of determinism was most developed in the research of R. Descartes: he separated body and soul.
• Biological determination. Appeared in the middle of the 19th century. Charles Darwin and Bernard are considered the founders of the movement. According to their ideas, life is purposeful and every organism strives for self-preservation and survival.
• Mental determination. The author is considered to be W. Wundt, who put forward a theory about the closedness of the causal series: some phenomena of consciousness cause others.
• Macrosocial determination. Prerequisites in the teachings of J. Locke, who argued that a person is born as a blank sheet on which humanity writes its own writings. This direction is focused on the study of psychological reasons in human social life.
• Microsocial determination. The psyche is determined by the interpersonal interaction of people: social experience, communication and interaction with another person, etc. The prerequisite was the work of Freud, in which he argued that personal characteristics are formed in the family.

Authors of determination:

• Outstanding philosopher and psychologist S.L. Rubinstein developed an approach in psychology that is based on the philosophical principle that external causes act through internal conditions. Accounting believed that the development of an individual’s brain activity directly depends on external environmental factors. The formation of the nervous system occurs as a result of the interaction of the individual with the outside world.
• According to the teachings of L.S. Vygotsky, the certainty of mental processes is based on causality. Nothing happens by chance, there must always be a reason. Thus, manifestations of human will are based on the principles of necessity and regularity.
• K. Hoefer believed that any phenomenon is formed under the influence of preceding conditions, phenomena and laws of nature.

  
  Determination in psychology.

Modern determinism has absorbed all previous theories and approaches, up to the ancient one. For example, the specifics of causation are difficult to comprehend without the interconnection of different processes, phenomena or objects. Movement and matter have the ability to move, transform, information is transferred and transformed from one form to another.

Evolution of the principle

In relation to psychology in the development of determinism, several eras stand out. The first period of the emergence of determinism was the pre-mechanical stage. Initially, determinism manifested itself as the recognition of natural and cosmic laws as fundamental ones, subordinating both natural natural phenomena and human life.

The representative of this stage was the Greek philosopher Democritus, who believed that man, like all surrounding nature, consists of atoms. From the point of view of Democritus, the soul becomes the source of energy for the body. The ancient Greek philosopher was a representative of universal determinism.

He believed that human moral principles cannot be inherited or given by nature; they are the product of social influences. Aristotle interpreted the reason for the existence and activity of man and nature differently. He came to the inseparability of the soul from the living body as a system that has an integral organization and purposefulness of the human soul.

With the collapse of antiquity, religious worldviews arose. The representative of the spontaneity of the soul and the hidden abilities for movement and activity inherent in it was Augustine, who founded theological psychology.

It is based on the opposite of determinism, indeterminism, which recognizes exclusively personal experience as a criterion of reliability. Such idealistic ideas are still opposed to the materialistic view of what is happening in the world and the human psyche.

Mechanistically, determinism arose with the active development of science in the 17th century. The rationalist philosopher Spinoza rejected the dualistic understanding of man, which divided him into spiritual and physical components. Spinoza described the essence of human psychology with the help of the created doctrine of affects.

Spinoza identifies 3 main affects: desire, pleasure, displeasure. Also representatives of the movement were English and French materialists, some of whom considered man to be a “machine of an organic body” or simply an organized system. The weakness of this direction created the preconditions for turning to biology to explain the certainty of the human psyche.

C. Darwin and C. Bernard significantly influenced biological determinism. They talked about the purposefulness of life as a result of the desire to survive, to preserve forms that allow them to counteract the influence of the environment.

This helped move to probabilistic determination, the representative of which was the psychologist Francis Galton, who believed that human behavior can manifest itself in connection with patterns. The researcher also relied on a general biological approach, which stated that the adaptation of a species can be achieved through individual manifestations that are determined by genetics.

Based on this, Galton concluded that the mental differences of each person are also due to genetic characteristics.

At the next stage of the development of determinism in psychology in the 20th century, mental determinants were identified that regulate the relationship between the natural and the social; at the same time, the psyche began to be considered an independent phenomenon, which, although dependent on the external environment, significantly influences a person’s vital activity and his social life.

The categories of the psyche were image, action and motive, which were considered by Helmholtz, Darwin and Sechenov.

Subsequently, microsocial determinism began to develop, which saw the determination of the human psyche in interpersonal relationships. For example, Freud drew attention to mental deviations due to a traumatic relationship with his mother.

The new determinants of determination were group action and cooperation; the individuality of consciousness is formed by the transfer of external influences from microsocial relationships into one’s inner world.

A prominent representative of this trend was Vygotsky, who identified signs as psychological tools that originate in interaction with other people and are later transferred to a person’s consciousness.

He also included consciousness in the world of culture, giving it importance in the formation of the human personality. At the same time, Vygotsky spoke about the inseparability of individuality and the social environment, which is refracted before the characteristics of individuals and in itself has the character of a clash and conflict of characters.

Marxist philosophy contributed to a new form of determinism, which defined human consciousness as dependent on objective conditions, cultural and economic factors. It also contributed significantly to the development of determinism regarding human psychosocial functioning.

The Marxist principle of dialectical materialism was subsequently used by many psychologists, including L.S. Vygotsky, a Soviet psychologist who agreed that by changing the real world, independent of consciousness, with its objective activity, its subject changes itself.

Determinism evolved from idealistic ideas to biological ones, which denied unconscious internal forces and motives, a special type of organization of human mental activity, as well as materialistic ones.

Recognition of the existence of consciousness and the separation of psychology into a separate science made it possible to discover the unconscious aspects of the human psyche, as well as the important role of the microsocial sphere in human change.

What is indeterminism?

Indeterminism is a philosophical doctrine that denies either the objectivity of causality or its value in knowledge from the point of view of science. Representatives of the doctrine are opponents of determinism and believe that the human will is an autonomous force that is not subject to any laws or reasons.

The ideas of historical indeterminism began to spread in the second half of the 19th century in a number of philosophical schools (philosophy of life, neo-Kantianism). These concepts try to reveal the qualitative specificity of social cognition and the historical process, giving the leading importance to chance in them.

Scientific confirmation of these ideas in social cognition appears after the creation and development in the 19th-20th centuries of a statistical theory based on probability theory.

As a result of numerous studies in the field of social sciences, chance is recognized as an independent beginning of society, the constructive role of chance is affirmed as a factor of human freedom and the irreversibility of social changes, as well as the most important condition for the emergence of something new in the historical process.

Indeterminism can be theological or naturalistic. The first type denies the sufficient usefulness of nature in participating in human activities and the lives of other creatures; integrity and evolution are explained by the existence of God. Naturalistic indeterminism comes from the recognition of the natural as self-sufficient in the world system.

Also in the history of philosophy, 2 types of indeterminism have developed: objective and idealistic. The first type denies any interpretation of causality, both from the point of view of the person himself and from objective understanding. The idealistic direction considers regularity and causality to be relevant from a subjective point of view. At the same time, the objective attributes of determinism at the global level are denied.

Categories of determinism

Determinism in psychology is a direction that refers to mental processes, as well as to all phenomena in the world, from the point of view of causality. It is a connection between phenomena, where one of them is called a cause, and the other is a consequence.

The first phenomenon, due to certain factors, influences the second, thereby giving rise to the category of consequence. Causality is unidirectional and irreversible, which indicates the preceding nature of the cause, which will necessarily be followed by the effect, but not vice versa.

The next categories of determinism are necessity and chance. These concepts are concretizing in the sphere of interdependence of world phenomena and processes. Necessity fixes the pattern of phenomena, which comes from their very existence; randomness speaks of determining the connection between phenomena relative to external circumstances.

Necessity is something that must necessarily happen under given conditions, but in a form that is determined not only by the very essence of the phenomenon, but also by external circumstances, which can develop differently. The difference in the forms of realization of necessity relative to the initial process acts as an accident.

The next categories of determinism are reality and possibility. Reality can be understood as objective reality, matter. In a specific sense, reality can be limited to the existence of a certain object located in certain conditions.

In relation to this concept, we can introduce the category of “possibility,” which is the result of the dialectical relationship between the present and future states of reality. Possibility is the prerequisites and directions for changing reality that exist in its present.

Opportunity can be abstract and real. The latter refers to the transformation of a possible category into the sphere of reality under the influence of certain conditions. An abstract possibility can be realized theoretically, based on the laws by which reality exists, but, based on existing conditions, cannot be transformed into another category.

For a possibility to become a reality, it is necessary to have some conditions and the operation of the laws of the object itself. This realization in human life depends on the subjective factor, that is, human activity.

Determinism and great scientists

Mechanical determinism is a science in which it is possible to equate living beings with automata, according to the theory that all bodies are things. They are able to move, have qualitative and other indicators, and have sensations.

This theory belongs to Thomas Hobbes. But Rene Descartes believed that matter and spirit are different things. Thus, according to his theory, the spirit has creative energy, but thinking has its own laws. But matter is the “building material” of the world - it is a kind of mechanism that consists of interconnected components. Most Enlightenment figures were inclined to take this view of determinism.

If we talk about the vision of determinism in the philosophy of such a scientist as Spinoza, then such a theory has always stood apart in the formulation of the problem

Thus, Spinoza was a follower of Descartes; accordingly, he concluded that in the primary substance, that is, nature and God, categories such as necessity and freedom coincide . He actually believed that causality is the connecting link between everything that exists in the world. However, it does not belong to nature, since it is eternal and the cause of nature is itself. Reason, according to Spinoza, is the original cause of everything that exists, including man.

In ethical issues, Spinoza connected determinism and indeterminism. Thus, he denied such a concept as willpower; according to the scientist, a person in many things depends on affects. However, on the other hand, Spinoza does not deny the existence of freedom as such. But he has a special interpretation of this concept: Spinoza said that a thing or a person is truly free when they fulfill their purpose.

Indeterminism: what is it?

Philosophy has also always contained ideas and theories that deny necessity as the main driving force of nature and the world. concept was , which was based on the theory that all processes are a consequence of “divine arbitrariness.” At the same time, theological ideas associated with the “plan from above” lead to determinism.

Indeterminism as the idea of ​​denying causality manifested itself in theology, as well as in the theories of famous philosophers, for example, Kant or Hume. So, in philosophy there is a theory that cause and effect are subjective. In other words, the person making a certain conclusion does not understand how much it corresponds to reality.

In science, indeterminism began to develop in science with the development of statistics.

Types of determinism

Determinism is an approach that can be considered in different areas and taking into account certain factors, depending on which the phenomenon is classified into certain types:

• psychological determinism (the surrounding culture and social norms further determine a person’s mental state);
• historical determinism (the approach is based on the principle of certainty, which takes into account 2 elements: the predictability of events, based on the real prerequisites for their occurrence and random forms of their implementation, which can be determined using probabilistic statistical laws, as well as the role of people, based on meaningfulness and rationality their goals and actions);

• biological determinism (behavior is controlled by human genes and hereditary characteristics);
• technological determinism (the social development of humanity refers to technical progress);
• materialistic determinism (material production plays a decisive role in determining living conditions. Such forms of social consciousness as religion, philosophy, morality, law are also determined by material production, which must be studied to understand life processes);
• theological determinism (recognition of the existence of a theological system that views human actions as actions determined by God);
• reciprocal determinism (people function as a result of dynamic interactions between their behavior, environment and personal characteristics).

Principle

Determination is scientific knowledge in psychology, the development of which for a long period was oriented towards mechanical determinism, which represents the causality of the occurrence of certain mental phenomena, phenomena, processes by material causes by analogy with the operation of mechanisms. Despite the primitiveness of this ideology, it gave psychology a number of important doctrines (about affects, associations, reflexes, and others).

In the mid-19th century, biological determinism developed. If in the era of the mechanical psyche it was considered as a phenomenon, the formation of which depended solely on external factors, then the biological one perceives the psyche as an integral part of human life.

The formation of psychological determination is carried out with the understanding that the psyche has independent causal significance.

Mechanical and biological determinism is reflected in the need to study mental phenomena, phenomena, processes in inevitable dependence on the factors that provoke them.

Psychological determinism is based on the understanding of the fact that mental phenomena, processes and phenomena, predetermined by the influence of external factors, arise according to laws that differ from physical and biological ones.

The development of the psychological direction entailed the abandonment of the perception of the psyche as a self-contained entity, which made it possible to open up the area of ​​mental development for objective research.

Deterministic approach

The deterministic approach recognizes the fact that events or phenomena occurring in a person’s life are due to some reasons.

In psychology, the deterministic approach can be expressed in the following forms:

Forms

Determination in psychology is the relationship of processes and phenomena, which is characterized by the following forms:

Casualities

Considers causation as a complex of circumstances, factors that preceded a specific event in time and influenced its formation.

System

A form that advocates the perception of the dependence of specific system components on the properties of the system itself.

Type of feedback

The effect affects the cause that caused it.

Statistical

The origin of identical causes of effects that are different within certain limits, depending on statistical patterns.

Target

A goal defines the process aimed at achieving it.

Practical application of the principle of determinism

Determinism in psychology is an approach to understanding mental processes that is fundamental in understanding the principles of the psyche, which involves a comprehensive study of all facets of human life to understand his behavior.

The most important stage in the practical application of determinism in psychology was the development of the cultural-historical theory of L.S. Vygotsky, Soviet psychologist and founder of the Marxist research tradition of studying the highest psychological functions of humans. This theory was developed in the 20-30s. XX century and considered the social environment as the main source of personal development.

Even at the beginning of development, the child is formed under the influence of both natural maturation processes and cultural ones, which also shape thinking and behavior.

The psychologist believed that the development of thinking and other mental functions can occur in conjunction with external activity with the help of cultural means and social factors. Thanks to this theory, it became known that the source of a child’s development lies in cooperation and creating a dialogue with an adult.

Determination of behavior

The determination of human behavior in psychology comes down not only to personal qualities, but also to the characteristics of the external environment. This is manifested in the inevitable activity of a person in the social sphere, which refracts personal intentions and forms certain roles in the behavior of the individual.

Also, external determination can manifest itself in the form of social coercion, violence, and manipulation. It is society as a whole, its social institutions that influence a person’s activities and life, from the formation of his feelings to family and industrial relations. Society is the framework that influences all manifestations of man.

Internal mental determination influences the public sphere through goal setting. In his cooperation with society, a person consciously sets goals for his life and activities, but they, as well as the method of their implementation, are closely related to the intrapsychic determination of a person. It has an indirect but serious influence on social determination and social behavior.

Black swan and markets

In economics they say that this or that market behavior was caused by certain actions. What's funny is that most of these conclusions are made after everything is over, and then they say the word “deterministic”.

This is a problem not only of the economy, but it manifests itself especially clearly here. Niklas Nassim Taleb, an influential contemporary philosopher and friend of David Cameron, argues that finance is subject to the influence of so-called “black swans” - significant events that affect many people, the scale of which is unpredictable. Most of the spheres of life are not subject to ordering, and therefore, shouldn’t the term “deterministic” be left to pure mathematics? This would allow the word to be used much more precisely.

Determinants of psychological development

Determinism in psychology is an approach that determines the factors that determine human behavior and his internal mental processes. Mental development depends on many reasons, which can be classified into objective and subjective.

Objective determinants of psychological development

These factors determining mental development include macrosocial elements:

• the level of development of society in terms of economics and culture;
• features of raising a child;
• the level of care for a person and the degree to which his need for intimacy is satisfied;
• ethnocultural characteristics.

Objective factors of development also include microsocial and somatopsychic determinants. The first includes the processes of education in the family and other small social groups (kindergarten, school).

Somatopsychic factors include:

• genetic characteristics;
• illness;
• temperament.

Objective determinants differ in that the child is not their active subject and participant in the sense that certain processes do not depend on the characteristics of a particular person, but satisfy the interests of some groups of people (as in economic factors) or are simply an extraneous circumstance (genetic characteristics , illnesses).

Subjective determinants of psychological development

Despite the fact that subjective factors depend on objective ones, they are an important part of the internal logic of human development, especially self-development. These determinants include features of the development of the need-motivational sphere, the formation of a person’s consciousness and self-awareness, and his behavioral style.

Determinism in psychology is the dependence of mental processes on certain determinants, which can be objective and subjective. This approach is used for comprehensive scientific work and has become one of the fundamental psychological principles, highlighting the need for a comprehensive study of psychological phenomena.

Author: Anna Fleyman

Deterministic means predetermined

This word is an antonym (what is it?) for the word chaos. The latter is unpredictable, and a deterministic process is characterized by the fact that its outcome is completely determined by the algorithm , the values ​​of the input variables and the initial state of the system.

Deterministic means predetermined, squeezed into a rigid framework from which one cannot escape.

In the video above, the girl talks quite clearly about a deterministic finite automaton (with a finite number of possible states), which is a good illustration of the meaning of this term: