Free Will and Determinism

Question 1

Free will

Answer 1

• Free will: the notion that humans can make choices and are not determined by biological or external forces.
• Believing in free will does not deny that biological and environmental forces exert some influence on behavior, but we can reject them as masters of our own destiny
• Perhaps we have “free wont” not free will.

Question 2

Determinism

Answer 2

• Determinism: the view that an individual’s behavior is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces rather than individual will to do something.
• Free will had no place in explaining behavior.

Question 3

Hard determinism

Answer 3

• Suggests all human behaviors had cause and it should be possible to identify and describe these causes.
• This position is compatible with aims of science and always assumes everything we think and do is dictated by internal or external forces we cannot control.

Question 4

Soft determinism

Answer 4

• All events, including human behavior, have causes, but behavior can also be determined by our conscious choices in the absence of coercion.
• Philosopher William James 1890 first proposed soft determinism – a feature of the cognitive approach.

Question 5

Biological Determinism

Answer 5

• The belief that behavior is caused by biological influences we cannot control.
• Autonomic nervous system and stress/anxiety, many behaviors and mental disorders have genetic basis Nature-Nurture debate.

Question 6

Environmental determinism

Answer 6

• The belief that behavior is caused by features of the environment (such as systems of reward and punishment) that we cannot control.
• ‘Choice’ is the sum total of reinforcement contingencies that act upon us throughout life.
• Behavior is shaped by agents of socialization.

Question 7

Psychic determinism

Answer 7

• The belief that behavior is caused by unconscious conflicts that we cannot control.
• Freud: free will is an illusion and human behavior determined by unconscious conflicts, repressed in childhood.

Question 8

Scientific emphasis on causal explanations

Answer 8

• Science relies on knowledge of causes and formulation of laws in order to predict and control events in the future.
• In psychology, lab experiments enable researchers to stimulate conditions and remove all other extraneous variables to precisely control and predict human behavior.

Question 9

Evaluation: the case for determinism

Answer 9

• Prediction and control of human behavior has led to development of treatments, therapies, and behavioral interventions (eg psychotherapeutic drug treatment for schizophrenia).

Question 10

Evaluation: the case against determinism

Answer 10

• Hard determinism is not consistent with operation of legal system.
• Despite scientific credentials, determinism is unfalsifiable.
• Is the deterministic approach to human behavior as scientific as it appears?

Question 11

Evaluation: the case for free will

Answer 11

• Everyday experiences give the impression that we exercise free will. This provides face validity to the concept (qualia).
• People with internal locus of control tend to be mentally healthy.
• Even if we do not have free will, the fact we think we do may have positive impact on our mind and behavior.

Question 12

Evaluation: the case for free will

Answer 12

• Everyday experiences give the impression that we exercise free will. This provides face validity to the concept (qualia).
• People with internal locus of control tend to be mentally healthy.
• Even if we do not have free will, the fact we think we do may have positive impact on our mind and behavior.

Question 13

Evaluation: the case against free will

Answer 13

• Neurological studies of decision-making reveal evidence against free will.
• Libet (1985) and Soon et al (2008) demonstrate that brain activity determines outcome of simple choices may predate our knowledge of making such a choice.
• Even the most basic experiences of free will are determined by the brain before we become aware of them.