Question. The principle of determinism.

Definitions

What does the principle of determinism in psychology say? A scientific principle is based on a number of concepts that scientists operate with.

Determinism in psychology

There are three key methodological principles of psychology: determinism, systematicity and development.

The principles of consistency and development are clear to understand.

Systematicity means the presence of connections between various manifestations of the psyche, and development and types of processes occurring.

The concept of determinism is not so clear. This is the recognition of a direct relationship between phenomena and the factors that give rise to them.

That is, when studying any mental phenomenon, it is necessary to analyze the conditions of its occurrence. Only in this case can we talk about creating a complete picture of the present. Not all scientists agree with this opinion.

Deterministic approach

This is a scientific approach, according to which all occurring processes are not random, but have a specific reason.

Determinism considers causality as a set of circumstances that determines all processes. At the same time, it is recognized that it is impossible to explain all phenomena by causality alone.

Other forms of determinism that are key:

systemic - individual elements of the system depend on the characteristics of the whole;
feedback - consequences have a direct impact on the cause that caused them;
statistical - the same reasons can lead to different consequences, subject to statistical regularities;
target - the task set determines the result that will be achieved in the process of activity;
self-determinism is a demonstration of the ability to direct oneself and manage one’s actions in accordance with existing needs.

Determination of behavior

What does the determination of behavior imply? A person’s behavior is determined not only by his individual character traits and the current situation in which he operates, but also by the specifics of the social environment around him.

The immediate environment (family, friends, acquaintances) influence the formation of a system of values and life attitudes.

It is in the process of socialization of a child in the family and in society that he learns moral and ethical standards and comprehends the principles of behavior. His personal qualities are supplemented by information coming from outside.

In addition to the immediate environment (microenvironment), a person is also influenced by society as a whole (macroenvironment). Political, economic, sociocultural and historical processes form social norms, rules of behavior, typical processes and phenomena.

This leads to the development of certain behavioral stereotypes, habitual views and opinions in a particular society.

To become a full-fledged citizen and achieve social well-being, you must comply with these stereotypes and rules.

Cultural determinism holds that all human behavior is explained solely by sociocultural causes . It is the level of a person’s culture that determines his emotional reactions, behavior, etc.

Thus, internally, the “I”, under the influence of life in society, is supplemented and transformed into a “I-image” . The inner “I” is understood as the entire set of individual personality traits - temperament, character, values, ideas about oneself and the world.

But often a person in the process of his social life encounters phenomena that conflict with his inner personality.

In this case, the “I-image” comes first - this is the social behavior that a person demonstrates in order to effectively interact with others .

That is, he says and does exactly what members of his social group expect of him. Even if it goes against his internal position.

Determinism and freedom of behavior are possible only if a person knows how to adapt to the requirements of the environment and accept all existing rules without internal discomfort.

Determinants of mental development

Studying the problem of an individual’s mental development involves analyzing three main factors:

Biological . This is a key factor influencing the course of mental processes in any individual. It is the properties inherent in nature that become the foundation for the further development of the psyche. The influence of the biological factor is manifested in the following aspects: heredity, congenital characteristics, level of maturation of the nervous system. Heredity refers to a set of qualities that are passed on to a child from his parents. Congenital characteristics are characteristics inherent in a particular organism depending on the course of intrauterine development and the process of childbirth. The development of the nervous system depends on the growth and formation of connections between nerve cells.
Social. A set of external conditions that surround an individual in his social environment. Under the influence of these conditions, a process of socialization occurs, which is of great importance.
It is as a result of socialization that all key skills develop, among which speech development is of paramount importance.
In parallel with socialization, individualization also develops - the separation of oneself from society, the awareness of one’s own exclusivity.
Personal activity. As a result of the full mental development of an individual, the ability to carry out purposeful activities is formed. This activity is manifested in building communications with other members of society, joining social groups, obtaining education, mastering professional skills, etc. As a person grows up, his mental development constantly reaches new levels. As consciousness becomes more complex, activity becomes enriched. Positive activity allows you to socialize in society: take a certain position, build personal relationships, create a circle of friends, etc.

The principle of determinism in psychology

The principle of determinism is a scientific approach according to which all observed phenomena are not random, but have a specific cause.

The principle of determinism (in psychology) [lat. determinare - to determine; principium - basis, beginning] - recognition of the need to study the natural dependencies of mental phenomena on the factors that generate them. D. p. is a natural and necessary dependence of mental phenomena on the factors that generate them. D. p. includes causality as a set of circumstances that precede the effect in time and cause it, but is not limited to this explanatory principle, since there are other forms of d. p., namely: system d. p. (dependence of individual components of the system on the properties of the whole), feedback type action (the effect affects the cause that caused it), statistical action (for the same reasons, effects that are different within certain limits arise, subject to a statistical pattern), target action.

(the goal that precedes the result, as a law, determines the process of achieving it), etc. The development of scientific knowledge about the psyche is associated with the development of various forms of dynamic process. For a long time, it was oriented towards mechanical dynamic process, which represented the conditioning of mental phenomena by material factors or according to the pattern of interaction objects in the world of mechanics, or according to the model of the operation of technical devices (machines). Despite the limitations of this view (mental phenomena were considered only as consequences of external influences), it gave psychology its most important teachings: about reflex, associations, affect, etc. In the middle of the 19th century. biological psychology arose, which discovered the unique behavior of living systems (Darwin’s doctrine of natural selection) and established the view of the psyche as a function necessary for their survival. If mechanical D. represented the psyche as a side phenomenon (epiphenomenon), now it has acted as an integral component of life. Later, when it was established that this component has an independent causal significance, psychological causality arose, which, however, received an inadequate theoretical interpretation in the doctrine of special mental causation, supposedly opposed to material (W. Wundt). A different understanding of psychological dynamic behavior developed in the works of naturalists (G. Helmholtz, F. Donders, I.M. Sechenov, etc.), who showed that mental phenomena (image, reaction of choice, etc.) caused by the influence of external objects on the body are formed according to laws different from physical and biological, and on this basis act as special regulators of behavior. The introduction into psychology of the ideas of natural scientific psychological psychology led to its isolation into an independent field of knowledge that studies processes that are subject to their own laws. A new form of dynamic psychology was developed by Marxist philosophy, according to which the activity of people’s consciousness is rooted in their way of life. This created the methodological prerequisites for the implementation of D. p. at the level of the psychosocial organization of human activity. The basic principle of explaining the human psyche from the standpoint of dialectical materialism is determined by the position that, by changing the real, consciousness-independent world with its objective activity, its subject changes itself. Thanks to this activity, both the “external” (products of material and spiritual culture, in which the essential forces of man are embodied) and the “internal” (the essential forces of man, formed in the process of their objectification in these products) are simultaneously generated. In this regard, the “self-causality” of the individual can be comprehended, the idea that the individual is the cause of himself in his relationships with the world. The possibility of self-causality is based on the idea of synchronic causation, according to which each time slice of an individual’s life contains events that are absolutely new in relation to the events of the past (the irreducibility of the present to the past); It is precisely such innovations that constitute the source of self-causality (V.A. Petrovsky).

M.G. Jaroszewski

Determinism in psychology (from the Latin determinare - to determine) is a natural and necessary dependence of mental phenomena on the factors that generate them. Determinism includes causality as a set of circumstances that precede the effect in time and cause it, but is not limited to this explanatory principle, since there are other forms of determinism, namely: system determinism (dependence of individual components of the system on the properties of the whole), feedback-type determinism (effect influences the cause that caused it), statistical determinism (for the same reasons, effects that differ within certain limits arise, subject to a statistical pattern), goal determinism (the goal that precedes the result, as a law, determines the process of achieving it), etc.

The development of scientific knowledge about the psyche is associated with the development of various forms of determinism. For a long time it was oriented towards mechanical determinism, which represented the conditioning of mental phenomena by material factors, either according to the model of the interaction of objects in the world of mechanics, or according to the model of the operation of technical devices (machines). Despite the limitations of this view (mental phenomena were considered only as consequences of external influences), it gave psychology its most important teachings: about reflex, associations, affect, etc. In the middle of the 19th century. biological determinism arose, which discovered the unique behavior of living systems (Darwin’s doctrine of natural selection) and established the view of the psyche as a function necessary for their survival. If mechanical determinism represented the psyche as a side phenomenon (epiphenomenon), now it has acted as an integral component of life. Later, when it was established that this component has an independent causal significance, psychological determinism arose, which, however, received an inadequate theoretical interpretation in the doctrine of a special mental causality, supposedly opposed to material (W. Wundt).

A different understanding of psychological determinism developed in the works of natural scientists (G. Helmholtz, F. Donders, I.M. Sechenov, etc.), who showed that mental phenomena (image, reaction of choice, etc.) caused by the influence of external objects on the body are formed according to the laws , different from physical and biological, and on this basis act as special regulators of behavior. The introduction of the ideas of natural scientific psychological determinism into psychology led to its isolation into an independent field of knowledge that studies processes that are subject to their own laws. A new form of determinism was developed by Marxist philosophy, according to which the activity of people's consciousness is rooted in their way of life. This created methodological prerequisites for the implementation of the principle of determinism at the level of psychosocial organization of human activity. The basic principle of explaining the human psyche from the standpoint of dialectical materialism is outlined by the proposition that, by changing the real world, independent of consciousness, with its objective activity, its subject changes itself. Thanks to this activity, both the “external” (products of material and spiritual culture, in which the essential forces of man are embodied) and the “internal” (the essential forces of man, formed in the process of their objectification in these products) are simultaneously generated.

Theory - briefly

The basis of the psychological approach lies in the philosophical theory according to which there is a universal relationship and interdependence between the phenomena of the surrounding reality.

The first aspects of determinism were formulated by the ancient Greek atomistic materialists.

The principle was then considered by representatives of the classical school of philosophy.

In the 17th century, the presence of causality in all phenomena in society was determined. With the development of science comes the understanding that any event or phenomenon is a pattern of some causes .

Currently, the theory is actively used to explain the development and functioning of various phenomena.

In the social sciences, the approach allows one to analyze the patterns of social development, the degree of influence of social norms and principles on human behavior.

In special sciences, the principle is used to designate constant connections in various processes, mechanisms, equations, etc. That is, processes or mechanisms that can be described and predicted in a strictly unambiguous manner are deterministic.

The presence of the aspect of probability, variability, instability indicates the action of the opposite principle - indeterminism (the absence of patterns and dependencies in nature, in society).

Description of probabilistic determinism

After unambiguous determinism, a theory of probabilistic causation of phenomena appeared. Its appearance coincides with the peak of development of theories about thermodynamics and statistical physics. The concept of hard causality, over time, showed its imperfection, especially when probabilistic methods and research theories appeared. Statistical patterns were primary; they became the beginning of models of the probabilistic world. The probabilistic method of study undermines the authority of unambiguous causality, the main idea of which is: external causes are omnipotent.

Forms of determinism

Determinism manifests itself, first of all, in the form of causality, causation as a set of factors and circumstances that preceded a certain event in time and determined its formation.

Along with the form of causality, determinism can manifest itself in the following forms:

system determinism is a position that advocates an understanding of the dependence of individual system components on the properties of the system itself;
determinism of the feedback type - the effect influences the cause that caused it;
statistical determinism – the occurrence, for similar reasons, of effects that differ within certain limits and are subject to statistical laws;
goal determinism - the goal determines the process aimed at achieving it.

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Acting as a general scientific principle, in various sciences the principle of determinism organizes different constructions of knowledge.

This is a concept in philosophy and psychology

In philosophy, determinism refers to concepts that recognize the conditionality, determinacy ( determinism ) of all existing phenomena:

human inner world;
environment;
some primary reality (God, nature or space).

With the advent of probability-theoretic research methods, the concept of causality was recognized as imperfect. The primary ones turned out to be statistical patterns that express the “average” states of a set of quantities. They became the fundamental basis of models of the probabilistic world.

is completely opposed to deterministic views - this is a philosophical direction whose followers completely deny the causality of phenomena and their connection.

In psychology

Determinism in psychology explains the peculiarities of the formation of the human psyche.

It is a model consisting of three factors that influence the events that occur:

surrounding reality;
personal qualities of a person;
behavior.

Article “The concept of “determinism” in personality psychology”

The concept of “determinism” in personality psychology.

Determinism (in psychology) (from Latin determinare - to determine) is a natural and necessary dependence of mental phenomena on the factors that generate them. Determinism includes causality as a set of circumstances that precede the effect in time and cause it, but is not limited to this explanatory principle, since there are other forms of determinism, namely: system determinism (dependence of individual components of the system on the properties of the whole), feedback-type determinism (effect influences the cause that caused it), statistical determinism (for the same reasons, effects that differ within certain limits arise, subject to a statistical pattern), goal determinism (the goal that precedes the result, as a law, determines the process of achieving it), etc.

Evolution of the principle

The modern purpose of determinism is to organize knowledge in various sciences. There are several stages in the development of this principle in relation to psychology. One of them is associated with hylozoism, a teaching that came to us from ancient times. Its meaning was that nature is a single material whole, endowed with life, while there was no division of all things into living and nonliving.

The next stage in the evolution of determinism was determined by the development of biology and was expressed in the division of all matter into living and nonliving. A revolutionary hypothesis was put forward about the existence of an inextricable connection between soul and body, as well as biological and mental elements.

This is how probiological determinism arose, suggesting that the driving factor is not so much external circumstances as an orientation towards the ultimate goal. It was later used as the basis for a theological concept, but was subsequently rejected as untenable.

The further development of determinism is associated with the name of the ancient philosopher Augustine, who argued that the soul is a source of inexhaustible knowledge, which is extracted from it by willpower aimed at realizing a specific goal. The scientist paid great attention to the so-called internal experience as the only correct means of understanding the human psyche. All these theories can be attributed to the so-called pre-mechanical determinism.

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The theory of determinism acquired a new form in the era of the development of manufacturing production. The so-called mechanical determinism explained all ongoing processes from the point of view of causal-mechanical relationships. In its development it went through several stages:

Descartes viewed the human body as a mechanism operating in accordance with the principles of rationality. Instead of the soul, the scientist assumed the existence of consciousness as an independent entity. This is how a dualistic, that is, dual picture arose, dividing a person into two halves.
Spinoza, on the contrary, developed the doctrine of the unity of substance. He highlighted the phenomenon of affect, which could manifest itself in joy or sadness. Spinoza completely denied chance, thereby giving reason to consider his approach fatalistic.
In the 18th century, French and English scientists considered a person as a bodily machine, organized according to the principle of a hierarchical system with mental properties distinguished by degree of complexity.
In the last century, scientists began to attach great importance to the biological component. Determinism began to be used in the development of concepts that explain the correlation between occurring phenomena and the structural features of a living organism.

The biological principle of determinism was developed in the 19th century, after Bernard’s theories of physiology and Darwin’s natural selection became widely known. The principle established the relationship between the selection and preservation of life forms most successfully adapted to the external environment, as well as their ability to proactively activate mechanisms that ensure the stability of biological processes. In other words, determination began to be viewed not as a rigid sequence between cause and event, but as a probabilistic value.

This approach prompted scientists to think about the possibility of using statistical methods in psychology, which gave science a new round of development. The famous work of the Belgian Adolphe Quetelet made it possible to determine the subordination of the behavior of a group of people to certain patterns.

This concerned acts of a social nature, such as marriage, divorce, etc. At the same time, the scientist considered a certain average person, from whom other individuals deviate in one direction or another.

Determinism allowed psychology to rise to a new qualitative level. The assumption of the constancy of the average number, that is, the set of characteristics of the average individual, made it possible to prove the existence of a reality comparable to the physical one. In other words, psychology, using mathematical tools, can:

Predict the likelihood of a particular phenomenon, for example, social unrest, revolutions.
Analyze the behavior of large groups of people using variation statistics methods.
Predict the probability of the birth of people with genius abilities.

The principle of determinism in the history of psychological concepts

Leafing through the chronicle of the history of science, we see strong, constant (in scientific language - invariant) rods passing through it, on which various theoretical structures are supported. Among these cores, the principle of determinism, or causality, is of particular importance. The term determinism comes from the Latin word “determino” (“I determine”) and means that to explain a phenomenon means to discover the factors that generate and determine it, that is, its causes (or determinants). Scientific knowledge is, first of all, knowledge of causes. Thanks to him, science, as I. P. Pavlov said, is distinguished by “prediction and authority.” In other words, based on reliable information about the causes, it is possible to predict what changes they will make, for example, in the body, in the mental structure of a person. Thanks to such a forecast, it is possible, within certain limits, to gain power over the mental process, control it, and change its course. An ancient Greek philosopher once said that he would be ready to give up the Persian kingdom (and in that era Persia was the richest country) for one causal explanation. This philosopher, Democritus, for the first time in history expressed the idea that all nature consists of the smallest indivisible particles, atoms, the movement of which serves as the cause of all things. Even before Democritus, another ancient Greek sage, Thales, was able, by studying the movement of the celestial bodies, to predict a solar eclipse. The idea of determinism is strong because it presupposes a certain pattern in the course of events. They arise and replace each other not chaotically and arbitrarily, but only under the influence of factors that are accessible to reasonable explanation and experimental verification. Thought is scientific to the extent that the principle of determinism serves as its compass. Ancient psychologists understood this well. Thus, the already mentioned Democritus taught that differences in sensations (for example, sound, smell) depend on which atoms “fly” into the sense organs, and on how these organs themselves are structured. We have before us a purely deterministic explanation. Subjective sensations have objective grounds (differences in the structure of atoms, in the structure of a bodily organ). Our modern views on the mechanism of the occurrence of sensations - visual, auditory and others - are much more complex than Democritus. However, the general principle that he defended, the principle of causality (determinism), remained equally unshakable in science two and a half thousand years later. We explain the subjective fact (the sensation we experience) by the influence of external stimuli on a specially organized nervous system (organs of vision or hearing). At the same time, causality does not at all mean the passive and indifferent nature of the psyche itself. The fact is that the psyche, in turn, turns out to be a powerful causal factor under certain conditions. This was well explained by another great ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle. Answering the question about why some people are moral and others are immoral, he said: “Everything that we have from nature, we receive only in the form of possibilities and subsequently transform them into reality.” How does such a transformation of possibility into reality occur? What factors (determinants) does this depend on? According to Aristotle, it depends on a person’s actions. But isn’t it obvious that a person’s action depends on himself, on his personality, on his psychological orientation towards good or unjust deeds. “A person becomes just,” wrote Aristotle, “by doing just deeds, and moderate by acting with moderation, and without such activity, let it never occur to anyone to become a good person.” So, knowledge about the psyche acquired an increasingly scientific character thanks to the strengthening of the principle of determinism. The human soul was now thought of not only as a product of natural forces or elements. On the contrary, it was assumed that it itself, being a substance inseparable from the body (this is exactly how Aristotle imagined it), influences a person, prompting him to act one way or another, to commit moral or immoral acts. Man is not only a being determined by external forces or factors. He himself is able to determine (determine) his behavior, his character. It was already clear from this that in psychology the interpretation of the principle of determinism was not identical to that used in the sciences of inorganic nature (where neither a solar eclipse nor an earthquake depend on man). Subsequently, more and more new forms of causal explanation of the psyche arose. Thus, in modern times (in the 17th century), the organism, whose activity, as previously believed, was regulated by the soul, began to be considered as a special mechanism, independent of the disembodied soul, working automatically, like, for example, a clock. This is how a previously unknown form of determinism appeared, which gave psychology a number of important theories, in particular, the theory of reflex as a machine-like reaction to an external impulse. But consciousness and will, as truly human mental powers, did not fit into this scheme and therefore remained outside scientific explanation. A sharp turn in the interpretation of determinism is associated with the appearance in the middle of the last century of the teachings of Darwin, who introduced a fundamentally new type of causal explanation, proving that it is impossible to understand the behavior of an organism without its heredity, variability and natural selection, without adaptation to the environment in which it must survive. This created another form of explanation of the psyche from the standpoint of determinism. Consciousness began to be considered as an important tool for controlling behavior, a tool through which the body adapts to the environment. there . Marxism showed that there is a special form of determination of the phenomena of consciousness, conditioned by man's dependence on the action of social forces. The modern scientific and technological revolution has introduced a lot of new things into the principle of determinism. First of all, this is due to the ability of machines (computers) to perform those intellectual operations that were previously considered an attribute of only the human brain. Even this cursory review suggests that determinism, the basic explanatory principle of psychology, has undergone fundamental changes over the centuries. Other principles and categories of psychology also experienced profound transformations.

Formation of a deterministic view in the ancient period

Understanding the causality of certain phenomena appeared in the ancient period among ancient peoples. This was facilitated by the development of political and public life, especially in Ancient Greece. Views about causation were expressed by Democritus and Leucippus.

In ancient India, ideas of cause and effect were closely related to karma and rebirth. Here, one can observe the relationship between a person’s behavior and his quality of rebirth in a future life.

In Ancient China, Lao Tzu studied deterministic processes especially carefully. He called this process “Tao”. It exists constantly, in everything and everywhere. Tao represents inaction, does not depend on time, creates the universal unity of the world.

The formation of the deterministic direction originates in Ancient Greece. Ancient philosophers, in their works, examined in detail the laws of the world. It was called differently: “nike”, “logos”, “homeomerism”, “nous”, “atoms”, “chance”, “vortex”, four types of cause according to Aristotle.

Foundations of modern determinism

Already in the 20th century, a new model of ideas about the universe began to form. In the mid-twentieth century, a new idea about synergetics appeared, and the physical and mathematical foundations of self-organization phenomena were developed. Modern determinism is a combination of individual ideas of all ideas about causality, starting from the ancient period. The new approach derives three categories of time dependence of cause and effect:

the cause appears first, then the effect, strict sequence - this is the classical model;
there is a gap between cause and effect, but they are closely connected by the conditions of short-range action, the final speed;
cause and effect appear simultaneously: when the process of cause is just beginning, its effect immediately arises, then the cause is “extinguished” by its effect.

Origin of the term "determinism"

The question of the cause of this or that phenomenon has always worried people. Over time, the concept of determinism was filled with new questions, developed, and enriched. But no scientific name was given for the constant questions about cause-and-effect relationships.

The word “determinism” was first recorded during the Middle Ages. It denoted a type of logical explanation of a concept, which is the antonym of the word “generalization.” Already in the 16th and 17th centuries, this word received a new meaning - conditionality. In the 17th century, determinism was the name given to causality and regularity. At the same time, the foundation is laid for the formation of mechanistic determinism. Since this period, the concept has been used in all branches of science to explain the dynamics, patterns, and universality of certain categories and objects.

There is another point of view - the opposite of the theory of causality, which is called indeterminism. Indeterministic supporters did not agree with the causal, natural conditionality of various phenomena in the natural environment and human society. The basic concepts of this direction: causeless randomness of phenomena, human free will, arbitrariness. The concept of indeterminism in philosophy was found in antiquity and modernity. The founder and successor of thoughts about chance and causelessness are the indeterminists: D. Hume, B. Russell, H. Reichenbach, and others.