13b Michell Motivation notes Flashcards
Why is a motivational concept necessary to explain behaviour?
Because belief alone is not sufficient to explain the occurrence of bodily movements. Cognition is policy neutral. E.g. I might believe that conforming to the Atkins diet will cause me to lose weight, but this belief could be used equally to explain either my conformity to that diet or my failure to so conform, depending upon whether I wanted to lose weight or to avoid losing weight.
Cognition is ______-neutral while behaviour always embodies some ______.
Cognition is policy-neutral while behaviour always embodies some policy.
What is the belief-desire model of explaining behaviour
a) P believes that doing A leads to B
b) P desired B
These premises explain P doing A
What is psychological determinism?
Psychological determinism is the thesis that all behaviour is caused: behaviour only comes about because it is brought about by antecedent conditions.
Whats is the idea of free will?
Free will is the idea that behaviour, at least to some extent, is uncaused and freely chosen.
There can be no ________ of free will. If a system possessed free will, then it would be _________ to understand how it worked.
There can be no mechanism of free will. If a system possessed free will, then it would be impossible to understand how it worked.
Accepting psychological determinism means recognising that people always do what they do because they are caused to by a confluence of ______ and ________ causes
Accepting psychological determinism means recognising that people always do what they do because they are caused to by a confluence of internal and external causes.
Why does the idea of goal-directedness fail as a scientific concept?
It implies that people do a behaviour IN ORDER THAT something will happen. This is inconsistent with determinism. It implies that an effect could be a reason for a cause’s happening.
Events never happen in order to bring about their ______.
Events never happen in order to bring about their effects.
To locate the reason for an event’s occurrence in its effects is a form of explanation known as ________.
To locate the reason for an event’s occurrence in its effects is a form of explanation known as teleological.
In what sense may teleological explanations be logical if NOT taken literally?
By stating that P did A in order for B to happen may simply mean:
P did A because P believed that A would cause B.
Why does the fact that desire involves a desired object make it inconsistent with determinism?
Because a person with a desire for an object will act for the sake of attaining the goal. It’s a teleological explanation.
In what way is desire a dispositional concept?
To say that P desires B is to say that under certain conditions P will work to achieve B. If P desires B, P is disposed to act in a certain kind of way. The concept of desire, instead of telling us what something is, tells us what something will do.
Dispositional concepts are confusing because they masquerade as ______ or _______ of things. They are not. They are nothing more than a ______ _______ to behaviour.
Dispositional concepts are confusing because they masquerade as properties or states of things. They are not. They are nothing more than a useful guide to behaviour.
What did Hume’s analysis of causation conclude about cause and effect?
Cause and effect are always logically distinct occurrences. One does not entail the other.
