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The IUP Journal of English Studies

The Traits of Reciprocal Determinism in Helen Macdonald's H Is for Hawk

Article Details

Pub. Date	: March, 2019
Product Name	: The IUP Journal of English Studies
Product Type	: Article
Product Code	: IJES41903
Author Name	: Justy Joseph and B Padmanabhan
Availability	: YES
Subject/Domain	: English Studies
Download Format	: PDF Format
No. of Pages	: 8

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Abstract

Determinism is the philosophical position that for every event, including human interactions, there exist conditions that could cause no other event. Albert Bandura, through his idea of reciprocal causation, accepts the chances of a person's behavior being conditioned. Keith E Rice suggests that reciprocal determinism considers how what we do and who we spend time with-our behavior-impacts upon and changes the life conditions in the environment we experience and how we respond cognitively and emotionally, and possibly psychologically too, as a person to the environmental feedback we then receive. This paper attempts a study of Helen Macdonald's heart-wrenching, talon-sharp memoir H Is for Hawk based on reciprocal determinism and triadic reciprocal causation.

Introduction

Understanding human behavior is likely never to become a reality. Behavioral sciences attempt an investigation of human and animal behavior through controlled and naturalistic observation. There were studies conducted regarding the determining factors of human thoughts and actions. Thus the philosophical idea "determinism" gained importance in behavioral studies. Determinism is the philosophical position that for every event, including human interactions, there exist conditions that could cause no other event. The roots of the notion of determinism surely lie in a very common philosophical idea of sufficient reason "that everything can, in principle, be explained, or that everything that is, has a sufficient reason for being and being as it is, and not otherwise" (Hoefer 2016).