One timeless issue in the History of Psychology is whether psychology should adopt a humanistic versus a mechanistic viewpoint. Humanistic psychologists value the subjective inner world of consciousness, arguing that free will in people may limit psychology's ability to predict behavior. In contrast, mechanistic psychologists endow humans with machine-like qualities, emphasizing determinism, and argue for an objective scientific psychology that can predict lawful human behavior. Consider the thought experiment first proposed by William James (1955):

"Imagine being in love with your sweetheart. One day, you discover the truth about your sweetheart. Your sweetheart looks, feels and acts human, yet the sweetheart is not a conscious human being but a technologically advanced, artificially intelligent machine programmed to respond to the students' behavioral expressions of love."

Now answer the following:

1) Explain how you know the people in your life are conscious humans and not machines.

2) Describe a psychological test that can detect consciousness in another being.

3) Explain why psychology should adopt a humanistic or a mechanistic model, and what are the methodological implications of each perspective for the field of psychology?

4) Which perspective (humanism or mechanism) do you favor, and how might your answer reflect your future career interests?

5) Now that you know the truth about your sweetheart, could you still love him or her? Why or why not?