Download Know that the Buck starts and Stops with You

The Choice is Yours
Chapter 2
Have you ever had the
question…
• Why am I the way I am?
• The answer may be in the issues
between determinism vs. free will
– Determinism – we are governed by
outside forces
– Free will we are a result of the choices we
make
Determinism
• Everything that occurs in nature has a cause
• Behaviors may be the product of a causal
relationship, and therefore, determined
• The belief in cause and effect relationships
• According to determinism, all human
actions are caused by something, even if
we are oblivious to these causative factors
Free Will
• Humans can and do typically ignore
determining factors (such as genetics
or environmental influences) and freely
choose how and when to act.
Determinism vs. Free Will
• Theories of personality on the determinism side
– Biological (Genetic Determinism)
– Freudian (Psychic Determinism)
– Behavioral (Environmental Determinism)
• Theories of personality on the free will side
– Cognitive Behavioral
– Humanism
– Existentialism
Proactivity
• Think of the word, responsibility
when you look at proactivity
• The most important paradigm
guiding the behavior of effective
individuals
• As human beings, we are
responsible for our lives
• Best said in the poem, Invictus
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me
Black as the Pit from pole to pole
I thank whatever gods maybe
For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate
How charged with punishment the scroll
I am the Master of my fate
I am the Captain of my soul.
-- William Earnest Henley
Locus of Control
• External locus of controls
– See themselves as victims, buffered and abused
by eternal events over which they have no
control
– Passive in that “things are done to me”
• Internal locus of controls
– See themselves as responsible for their ultimate
outcomes in their lives
– They espouse to Invictus philosophy
• Do the Student Locus of Control Inventory
on page 26
Three ways to increase
proactivity
• Focusing on Your thoughts (negative vs positive)
– More than 80% of the things we worry about
never happen
• Focusing on Your Language
– Using “I” statements instead of “The devil made
me do it”
• Focusing on Your Actions
– Making promises and keeping them
– Setting small goals and working to achieve them.
Irrational Self-talk
• Catastrophizing
• Automatic thoughts (by Ellis) or Self-talk
– Self-talk is circular, beginning with events
in the environment.
– Environmental events to sensory input
perceptions to interpretations, cognitions
or self talk to the emotional-physical
systems
Cognitive Restructuring
• Get irrational beliefs such as everyone has to like
me and change that to a more realistic belief, “it’s
okay.”
• Challenge irrational beliefs by asking:
– Is there any reason to think that this belief is true?
– Is there evidence that this belief might not be
true?
– If I reject this belief, what is the worst that could
happen to me
– If I reject this belief, what good things might
happen as a result?
Exercise on page 31
Correlation vs Causation
• Just because two things occur
together, that alone does not offer
proof that one has caused the other
• Spurious correlation – perceiving a
correlation or relationship between
things that really does not exist.
Optimism
• Do scale on page 35
• How to become an optimist
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Look for evidence
Generate other alternatives
Realistically assess the implications
Evaluate usefulness
Face the problem squarely
Develop a plan
Accept the reality of the situation
Learn to grow from adversity
Assignment
• Exercises on page 41
– Answer short answer questions
– Choose one essay on page 42