Free Will and Determinism

Question 1

What is free will?

Answer 1

• People are able to choose how to behave; their behaviour isn’t a response to external or biological factors, and isn’t influenced by past behaviour.

Question 2

Evaluations on free will

Answer 2

1) People can explain behaviours in terms of decisions and intentions,
2) Free will is subjective, someone might think they are choosing how to behave, but actually are being influenced by other forces,
3) Some people with psychological disorders, e.g. OCD, don’t appear to have free will; or believe that they can’t control their thoughts and actions.

Question 3

What is determinism?

Answer 3

• The idea that all physical events in the universe occur in cause and event relationships,
• Our thoughts, beliefs, and behaviours are determined by past events and causes,
• Is a scientific view (in biological determinism, etc.,) that implies that complete knowledge of a cause and effect relationship will mean you can predict future behaviour in the same situation.

Question 4

Evaluations on determinism

Answer 4

1) Determinist approach, depending on the type, is very scientific. Other scientific subjects have shown that events in the physical universe operate according to cause and effect relationships that follow certain laws,
2) Determinism is unfalsifiable; it can’t be proven wrong - it assumes that events can be the result of forces undiscovered.

Question 5

What is the difference between hard and soft determinism?

Answer 5

• Hard determinism completely rules out the idea of free will,
• Soft determinism is the viewpoint that we choose our behaviour, but the choices that we make are a result of our own personality traits and intentions, most psychological approaches are soft determinist, just to different degrees.

Question 6

Determinism in the psychodynamic approach

Answer 6

• Freud argued that behaviour is determined by unconscious forces, known as psychic determinism. For example, if you forget to go to a dentist’s appointment, you might consciously think it was an accident, Freud would claim it was actually determined by unconscious influences,
• Freud also acknowledged that behaviours have many causes, including conscious intentions.

Question 7

Determinism in the biological approach

Answer 7

• Behaviours are determined by biological influences, e.g. genetics and brain structure,
• The idea that this is the sole cause of behaviour is known as biological determinism.

Question 8

Determinism in the cognitive approach

Answer 8

• Behaviour is the result of both free will and determinism,
• The approach looks for patterns in how the brain processes external information, and what behaviours this leads to,
• Acknowledges that people use cognitive processes like language to reason and make decisions.

Question 9

Determinism in the behaviourist approach

Answer 9

• Skinner claimed that behaviour is determined by the environment and is the result of punishment and reinforcement, this is known as environmental determinism,
• Everyone has a different history of reinforcement, so knowing this about someone would allow you to predict their behaviour,
• If the environmental conditioning changes then their behaviour will also change.

Question 10

Determinism in the humanistic approach

Answer 10

• Approach falls on the free will side of the debate,
• Believe that individuals are in control of their behaviour and are trying to achieve personal growth.