Which term refers to the belief that individuals cannot control what happens to them?

• A. Optimism
• B. Determinism
• C. Pessimism
• D. Fatalism

Answer: (D)

The idea being tested is about the sense of control or agency people have over events. Fatalism is the belief that outcomes are predetermined by fate or forces beyond a person’s influence, so individuals feel they cannot change what happens to them. This focus on inevitability and lack of personal control is what sets fatalism apart.

Differences to other terms: optimism and pessimism describe expectations about how things will turn out, not whether a person can influence those outcomes. Determinism is the view that events follow causal laws or prior conditions; it describes the structure of causation in the world, but it doesn’t inherently claim that people are powerless to act or alter their futures.