GRE考试作文备考资料（3）

 　　选择的自由性

　　Some people may say choice is not free. They may say that if we do not reflect carefully on our actions, we are not taking responsibility for them, leaving the cause of the action to some other force. When looking at the word responsibility in the one side of the argument, one may still draw up a few questions that need to be explained. If we are ignorant of our own responsibility in taking a course of action, how are we to know that we are not reflecting carefully on our actions? What are the standards of responsibility when reflecting on our actions? What if we do something that we do not know is wrong? To answer these criticisms, ignorance of our actions is natural and cannot affect our ability to rationalize to the best of our ability. In a given situation where it is impossible to know what is best, we have the ability to do what we think is best in that given situation. Assuming that an individual has the power to think about and carefully consider choices, they do have a free will within them that they can bring out in any situation, even if the person has no knowledge of what to do in that certain situation.
　　选择理论的十大公理
　　The Ten Axioms of Choice Theory：
　　1. The only person whose behavior we can control is our own.
　　2. All we can give another person is information.
　　3. All long-lasting psychological problems are relationship problems.
　　4. The problem relationship is always part of our present life.
　　5. What happened in the past has everything to do with what we are today, but we can only satisfy our basic needs right now and plan to continue satisfying them in the future.
　　6. We can only satisfy our needs by satisfying the pictures in our dream.
　　7. All we do is to behave.
　　8. All behavior is Total Behavior and is made up of four components 1: acting 2, thinking, feeling and physiology 3.
　　9. All Total Behavior is chosen, but we only have direct control over the acting and thinking components. We can only control our feeling and physiology indirectly 4 through how we choose to act and think.
　　10. All total behavior is designated by verbs and named by the part that is the most recognizable.
　　弗洛伊德观点： 影响决策的三大要素
　　Sigmund Freud proposes three aspects of our personality structure that directly effects our decisions. The elements that Sigmund Freud talks about are the Id, Ego 5, and Super Ego. These three elements play an important role in our decisions and support the view of not having free will.
　　The Id is the source of our basic drives and all of our psychological energy. Sigmund Freud also states that we all are born with this element. The Id is also refereed 6 to the pleasure principle, which also represents self-gratification. The Id has two basic drives—sex and aggression 7. The Id is the part of us that is seeking pleasure through the immediate 8 satisfaction of its needs. In reference to the Id, it is always trying to satisfy every impulse whenever and wherever, it knows no limits.
　　The second element of our personality is the ego; Freud relates this as the reality principle. The ego is the practical side of our personality; it is aware of what?s possible and impossible and is able to accept limits and to act in a practical way. The ego?s main purpose is to figure out appropriate ways to satisfy the id?s desire.
　　In a sense, the ego is like congress and the id the president. The president can not take major actions without the approval of congress. In short, the id supplies the power and the ego suppliesthe control. The reaction of the two acts as a driving force in which our decisions are made, thus eliminating free will.