Personal Responsibility

Personal responsibility, also called individual responsibility, is the belief that human beings choose and control their own actions and destiny. For this reason, it is generally socially accepted that an individual's actions are their own responsibility and that they should be held morally and legally responsible for the outcomes of those actions. While this is a murky area (both legally and psychologically) and lacks any one true definition it is a convention that is generally socially accepted. Psychologists hold the view that because humans are heavily influenced by their upbringing and past experiences they may not always be fully responsible for their actions and that these other factors need to be taken into consideration. These are referred to as mitigating circumstances.