ABSTRACT
Route map
This chapter introduces three key debates in psychology that shape the kinds of approach psychologists use to understand human nature. The chapter is divided into four main sections. It begins with an overview of how issues arise in psychology and the ways in which psychologists choose a position in debates. It then goes on to look at reductionism and its value, free will and determinism and the nature-nurture debate. These topics have been chosen because they affect the fundamental purposes and methods of psychology, and psychologists' views of human nature. Understanding the nature of these debates, and where different psychologists stand in regard to them, is critical for evaluating the theories in psychology that we'll see later in the book. In addition, understanding the debates will help us to evaluate the claims about psychology that are made in everyday life.
