Item Detail
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10878
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1
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0
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English
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Toward a Theory of Human Agency
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BYU Studies
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Autumn 1975
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16
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165-83
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"It would be pretentious to attempt a definitive analysis of human agency in a single lecture, for the topic touches every aspect of human experience and, in addition to its breadth, does not lend itself to simple interpretations. One is easily intimidated by the complexity and mystery that infect this domain of inquiry, for agency is not only the key characteristic of human beings but may well be the supreme quality of God himself. These and related topics provide enough substance for several books. For today's purpose, I will simplify and examine only self-regulation. Because this is a complicated topic in itself, I have subdivided further and will propose interpretations primarily of self-control, which is but one aspect of self-regulation. Self-control would not be a matter for scrutiny if it were not for the persuasiveness of its opposite, namely, a lack or loss of self-control. Today, we are often taught and we too often act as though everything controls our behavior except the self or the conscious will. Within the LDS Church this is less often so, but then we are too often guilty of the reverse error, that is, assuming that people are always 100 percent responsible for their own acts. I thus find myself the man in the middle--trying to persuade my professional colleagues that there is such a thing as self-control while at the same time attempting to convince my fellow Saints that human agency has limitations and, in some cases, is nonexistent." [Publisher's abstract]