Free will and determinism

Question 1

What is the debate of free will and determinism?

Answer 1

Is our behaviour a matter of free will or are we internally/externally influenced (determinism)?

Question 2

What are most psychological approaches?

Answer 2

Mostly determinist
- different approaches disagree on the precise cause of human behavior

Question 3

What do different approaches suggest?

Answer 3

• Biological approach: internal cause of human behavior
• Behaviorist approach: external cause of human behavior
• Humanistic approach: embraces the concept of free will

Question 4

What is free will?

Answer 4

Suggests humans are self determining and free to choose own thoughts and actions
- Belief doesn’t deny biological and environmental influences
- Implies that we’re able to reject these forces
- View advocated by humanistic approach

Question 5

What are the 2 types of determinism?

Answer 5

Hard and soft determinism

Question 6

What is determinism?

Answer 6

Proposes that free will has no place in explaining behavior

Question 7

What is soft determinism?

Answer 7

James
- Important feature of the cognitive approach
- Its the job of scientists to explain what determines our behavior
- Also still have freedom to make rational choices everyday

Question 7

What is hard determinism?

Answer 7

All human behavior has a cause
- Possible to identify and describe these causes
- Everything we think and do is dictated by internal/external forces that can’t be controlled

Question 8

What are the types of determinism?

Answer 8

• Environmental
• Biological
• Psychic

Question 9

What is environmental determinism?

Answer 9

Skinner described free will as an illusion
- All behavior is a result of conditioning
- May think we’re acting independently
- Our ‘choices’ merely the sum total of reinforcement contingencies that have acted upon us all our lives

Question 10

What is biological determinism?

Answer 10

Emphasized by the biological approach
- Influence of the autonomic nervous system on the stress response
- Influence of genes on mental health
- Still recognizes the influence of the environment on our biological structure

Question 11

What is psychic determinism?

Answer 11

Freud also believed free will was an illusion
- Emphasized the influence of biological drives and instincts
- Human behavior determined by unconscious conflicts, repressed in childhood
- No such thing as an accident
- Even a ‘slip of the tongue’ can be explained by the influence of the unconscious

Question 12

What is the scientific emphasis on causal relationships?

Answer 12

Most of the principle of science is:
- every event in the universe has a cause
- Causes can be explained using general laws (hard determinism)
- Knowledge of causes and the formulation of laws are important
- Allow scientists to predict and control events in the future
- In psych, lab experiments: ideal as it enables researcher to demonstrate causal relationships

Question 13

Who speaks about strengths of free will?

Answer 13

Roberts et al

Question 14

What are strengths of free will?

Answer 14

• Practical value
• Exercise free will on a daily basis
• Even if we don’t thinking we do improves our mental health

Question 15

What did Roberts et al say?

Answer 15

Looked at young people who have a strong belief in fatalism (fate)
- Significantly higher risk of depression
- People with an external LOC are less likely to be optimistic

Question 16

Who speaks about limitations of free will?

Answer 16

Libet et al

Question 17

What are limitations of free will

Answer 17

• Brain scan evidence
• Supports determinism

Question 18

What did Libet et al do?

Answer 18

• Instructed participants to choose a random moment to flick their wrist
• Measured activity within their brains (readiness potential)
• Participants had to say when they felt the conscious will to move
• Found that the unconscious brain activity leading to the conscious decision to move came a half a second before

Question 19

What can Libet et al’s study be interpreted as?

Answer 19

Our basic experiences of free will are actually determined by our brains before we’re aware of them

Question 20

What are limitations of determinism?

Answer 20

• Position of the legal system responsibility
• Hard determinism: an individuals choice isn’t the cause of behavior
• Not consistent with today’s legal system
• Offenders held responsible for their actions
• Main principle of our legal system: a defendant exercised free will in committing the crime
• Suggests determinist arguments don’t work in the real world