determinism and free will Flashcards

1
Q

free will def

A

Free will is when we have full control over our behaviour

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2
Q

determinism def

A

the view that we never have control over our behaviour, dictated by forces out of our control

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3
Q

Which approach assumes free will? and why?

A

humanistic

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4
Q

The three types of determinism are…

A

biological, environmental, psychic

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5
Q

what is psychic determinism

A

behaviour is caused by the unconscious mind, repressed childhood experiences, dictated by unconscious impulses

psychodynamic approach

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6
Q

what is environmental determinism

A

all behaviour is caused by our environment, b is dictated by the stimuli we are exposed to.

behaviourist approach

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7
Q

what is biological determinism

A

all behaviour is caused by biological factors, dictated by physical factors ie genetics

biological approach

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8
Q

a scientific approach to psych involves studying …….

and link to determinism

A

causal/cause and effect relationships, and making reliable predictions

and therefore science studies behaviour in terms of cause and effect

determinism allows us to study behaviour scientifically

We can only make reliable predictions about behaviour if determinism is true

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9
Q

is evidence of the scientific approach a strength/limitation of free will or determinism

A

strength of determinism and limitation of free will

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10
Q

If we assume free will what happens to the predictions about behaviour

A

we can’t make predictions, because there’s no way to know how people will decide to act.

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11
Q

what is falsifiability

A

the idea that we are able to disprove a prediction about our behaviour

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12
Q

If we carry out research which shows that genes weren’t responsible for Angus’ behaviour, does that falsify determinism?

A

No, because his behaviour may be determined by something else.

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13
Q

is free will and determinism unfalsifiable or falsifiable and why

A

unfalsifiable

free will because it doesn’t allow for predictions about behaviour.

determinism because we can only falsify claims about specific causes for behaviour.

and we cannot falsify the general idea that behaviour has a cause.

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14
Q

A scientific approach to psychology emphasises causal explanations. Explain how this relates to Free Will and Determinism. [6 Marks]

A

A scientific approach to psychology emphasises causal explanations. For psychology to be considered scientific, it needs to follow the experimental method. A key part of the experimental method is testing cause and effect relationships. For example, the hypothesis that the suprachiasmatic nucleus causes changes in melatonin levels throughout the day could be tested by removing the suprachiasmatic nucleus. If this does not have an effect on melatonin levels, then the hypothesis that there is a cause and effect relationship between the suprachiasmatic nucleus and melatonin will have been falsified. In this way, cause and effect relationships are vital to the statusof psychology as a science, because without cause and effect relationships, it is impossible to test hypotheses, meaning that they are unfalsifiable.

Since free will is incompatible with cause and effect, free will is unfalsifiable. If our decisions are made by free will, then they don’t have any other cause. Therefore, we cannot test the causes of our decisions. If this were true, then all psychological explanations of our decisions would be unfalsifiable. So free will is incompatible with a scientific approach to psychology.

Furthermore, determinism is also unfalsifiable, because although we could test and falsify any specific claim about what causes our decisions, we cannot test or falsify the claim that our decisions are caused by something. There would always be the possibility that our decisions are caused by something else, that hasn’t yet been tested or even discovered. Therefore, while free will is incompatible with a scientific paradigm because it makes any cause and effect analysis of our decisions impossible, it is also true that a cause and effect analysis of determinism is impossible.

Note: a paragraph about causal explanations could be used as an evaluation paragraph.

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15
Q
A
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