Determinism

• Determinism is often confused with reductionism but is quite distinct from it - though many deterministic explanations are also reductionist. Determinism proposes that all behaviour has an internal and external cause and is thus predictable.
• Behaviourist approach


  The behaviourist approach sees all behaviour as emotionally determined by external influences that we are unable to control (e.g. operant conditioning).
• Biological approach


  The biological approach advocates a form of genetic determinism in its assumption that much of our behaviour is directed by innate influences.
• Psychodynamic approach


  Psychic determinism is a key feature of the psychodynamic approach insofar as the unconscious forces that drive our behaviour are the ultimate cause of behaviour, and that these are simply rationalised by our conscious minds.
• Cognitive approach


  The cognitive approach suggests that we are the 'choosers' of our own thoughts and behaviours, yet these choices can only operate within the limits of what we know and have experienced.
• Social learning theory


  Social learning theorists, like Bandura, put forward the notion of reciprocal determinism - the idea that as well as being influenced by our environment, we also exert some influence upon it through the behaviours we choose to perform.
• Humanistic approach


  Only humanistic psychology stands alone in its assertion that human beings have free will and operate as active agents who determine their own development.