determinism and free will Flashcards
free will def
Free will is when we have full control over our behaviour
determinism def
the view that we never have control over our behaviour, dictated by forces out of our control
Which approach assumes free will? and why?
humanistic
The three types of determinism are…
biological, environmental, psychic
what is psychic determinism
behaviour is caused by the unconscious mind, repressed childhood experiences, dictated by unconscious impulses
psychodynamic approach
what is environmental determinism
all behaviour is caused by our environment, b is dictated by the stimuli we are exposed to.
behaviourist approach
what is biological determinism
all behaviour is caused by biological factors, dictated by physical factors ie genetics
biological approach
a scientific approach to psych involves studying …….
and link to determinism
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
is evidence of the scientific approach a strength/limitation of free will or determinism
strength of determinism and limitation of free will
If we assume free will what happens to the predictions about behaviour
we can’t make predictions, because there’s no way to know how people will decide to act.
what is falsifiability
the idea that we are able to disprove a prediction about our behaviour
If we carry out research which shows that genes weren’t responsible for Angus’ behaviour, does that falsify determinism?
No, because his behaviour may be determined by something else.
is free will and determinism unfalsifiable or falsifiable and why
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.
A scientific approach to psychology emphasises causal explanations. Explain how this relates to Free Will and Determinism. [6 Marks]
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.