free will and determinism Flashcards
biological determinism
biological approach emphasises the role of biological determinism - biological factors control our behaviour
eg - influence of autonomic nervous system influence of genes on mental health
determinism
the belief that someone’s behaviour is controlled by internal or external forces but not someone’s own will to do something
environmental determinism
the belief that our behaviour is due to our environment
behavioural approach
behaviour is the result of conditioning
free will
the notion that humans can make choices and their behaviour/thoughts are not determined by biological or external forces
this does not deny that there may be biological and environmental forces however, we are able to reject such forces
hard determinism
all human behaviour has a cause and it should be possible to identify and describe these causes
everything we think and do is dictated by internal or external forces
psychic determinism
freud
human behaviour is determined by unconscious conflicts, represented in childhood
no such thing as an accident
soft determinism
behaviour may be predicted but there is also room for personal choice from a limited range of possibilities
scientific emphasis on causal explanations
every event in the universe has a cause can be explained using general laws (hard determinism)
knowledge of causes and the formulation of laws are important as they allow scientists to predict and control events in the future
lab experiment - the ideal of science as it enables researchers to demonstrate causal relationships
research evidence evaluation
limitation - free will
even our most basic experiences of free will are actually determined by our brain before we are aware of them
brain scan evidence supports determinism
unconscious activity seen in brain scans leading up to a decision to move came around half a second before the participant consciously felt they had decided to move
research evidence counterpoint
brain scan evidence is not surprising
the action comes before the conscious awareness of the decision to act, doesn’t mean that there was no decision to act
the decision to act took time to reach consciousness
our conscious awareness of the decision is simply a ‘read-out’ of our unconscious decision marking
suggests this evidence is not appropriate as a challenge of free will
the law evaluation
strength - free will
limitation - determinism
position of the legal system on responsibility
the hard determinist stance is that individual choice is not the cause of behaviour
not consistent with the way in which our legal system operates
- offenders are held responsible for their actions
