The principle of determinism is a fairly common term, which indicates that the human psyche is primarily determined by its way of life, and, as a consequence, is able to undergo various changes in parallel with how the lifestyle changes. If in animals the development of the psyche proceeds in a simple way through natural selection, then more complex laws are in force with respect to man - the law of social development, etc.
Theory of determinism
For the first time in science, reasoning on this topic came from the theory of Marxism, where a materialistic explanation of many social phenomena is given, as well as some real laws of the development of society. It was this material that served as the basis for the further course of scientific thought in relation to certain specific properties of the human psyche and consciousness.
First of all, the principle of determinism is related to the theme of nature and the essence of psychic phenomena. Developing directly during the process of mastering a dialectical-materialistic worldview, the approach determinism in psychology was of great importance. During the bitter philosophical struggle that took place in the twentieth century, the notion of determinism was also at the forefront. He rapidly gained popularity and supplanted many earlier concepts, for example, an introspective methodology and the corresponding approach.
The concept of determinism was a real breakthrough: if earlier the psyche was considered a kind of separate phenomenon that practically can not be influenced from outside and does not manifest its essence in human life, now the psyche has been recognized as plastic, flexible, changing and open for research. In place of subjective self-observation came an objective approach, which immediately raised a lot of psychological research. This is what made it possible to learn what is capable of influencing a person, quantitatively and qualitatively characterize all open types of stimuli, to determine reactions and behavior, and to make a comparative characteristic of all the results obtained.
The scientist LS Vygotsky brought to science the most important cultural and historical concept. It is this treatment that drew attention to the specificity of higher mental functions. The most important in this connection is the idea that the natural mechanisms of mental processes change in the course of ontogenetic development of a person that occurs under the influence of various social and historical factors as a result of the fact that a person absorbs the products of human culture in the course of his interaction with others.
The doctrine of determinism continued its development within the framework of the idea of scientists that not only a person with specific features of the psyche is opposed to the outside world, but a person in action who is able not only to perceive reality but also to transform it. Thus, social determinism implies a person's ability to perceive social actions,
Realization of the principle of determinism
One of the options, allowing to consider the principle of determinism, not on theory, but in practice, is to solve the problem of how the psyche relates to the activity of the brain. It was believed that the psyche is one of the many functions of the brain, and various studies have been carried out to identify the mechanisms of brain activity, the results of which eventually become mental phenomena. Thus, at a certain stage determinism determined the physical laws in relation to the psyche.