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Determinism states that society, much like nature works in an orderly fashion and not as random chain of events (Cooper, Heron, Heward, 2007). A man does not simply decide his fate but instead it has been decided for him by his environment. Keep in mind that environment is not just our outside world but can fit many descriptions including the womb, biological cell changes, and various outside influences (Herbert & Weintraub, 2013). In other words a child on the Autism Spectrum behaviors are in control and not him or her. If the child is placed in certain situations their reactions are easily predetermined. This goes in sharp contrast of free will which states that man is the pilot of their faith and not the environmental factors around them. By accepting determinism society must therefore accept that the murderer is not able to stop themselves from killing but is compelled too because of their environment. Free will gives society a reassurance that law and order is able to take place not that there is a lack of culpability by the criminal or a way to easily prevent crime by a person. This means that a person must accept that it is one or the other, that the world can not be ruled by both environmentally predetermined destiny and freedom to determine ones destiny.
Subscribing to Behaviorism
B.F. Skinner wanted to have a better understanding of why people within society behaved certain ways (Cooper, Heron, Heward, 2007). He used scientific experiments to better understand why people acted and reacted as they do (Cooper, Heron, Heward, 2007). In ABA behavior analysts also follow this in a way by collecting data and graphing the results to determine both success and failure for various programs for clients. With this in mind how can a qualified analyst do this if he or she believes that the behavior may not be determined by environmental factors but also by the clients own free will? If this is the case then there is little to possibly no reason to attempt ABA. By this logic then instead of determining the function a behavior is serving an analyst should tell the parents or caregiver to punish the client more.
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