Free will and Determinism

Question 1

What does the free will- determinism debate ask?

Answer 1

Is our behaviour a matter of free will or a production a set on internal /external influences that determine what we do?

Question 2

What is free will?

Answer 2

• notion suggests that human beings are essentially self-determining and free to
  choose their own thoughts and actions
• advocated by the humanistic approach

Question 3

What does a belief in free will not deny but imply?

Answer 3

• does not deny that they may be biological & environmental forces that exert some influence on behaviour
• implies that we are able to reject these forces if we wish because we are in control of our thoughts/ actions

Question 4

What is determinism?

Answer 4

• this is the view that an individuals behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces rather than an individuals will to do something

Question 5

What are the two versions of determinism?

Answer 5

hard and soft determinism

Question 6

What is hard determinism?

Answer 6

• referred to as fatalism
• the view that all human behaviour has a cause & it should be possible to identify & describe these causes
• everything is dictated by external & internal factors that we cannot control

Question 7

What is soft determinism?

Answer 7

• William James (1890) the view that behaviour may be predictable (caused by internal/external factors) but there is also room for personal choice from a limited range of possibilities -restricted free will
• important feature of the cognitive approach

Question 8

What are the three types of determinism?

Answer 8

• biological
• environmental
• psychic

Question 9

What is biological determinism?

Answer 9

• The belief that behaviour is caused by internal biological factors (genetics, neurochemistry, brain structure) influence that we cannot control
• e.g. influence of ANS on stress response or genes on mental health

Question 10

What do modern biological psychologists recognise?

Answer 10

• recognise the mediating influence of the environment on our biological structures

Question 11

What is environmental determinism?

Answer 11

• The belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment (e.g. learning, schools, experiences) we cannot control
• Skinner described free will as an illusion - all behaviour is a result of conditioning
• experience of choice is just a sum total of our reinforcement history

Question 12

What is psychic determinism?

Answer 12

• The belief that all behaviour is caused by unconscious instincts and drives that we cannot control- free will an illusion
• cause of human behaviour is rooted in childhood experience

Question 13

What is the basic principle of science?

Answer 13

• every event in the universe has a cause & that causes can be explained using general laws (hard determinism)
  -knowledge of causes & formulation of laws are important as they allow scientists to predict & control events in the future

Question 14

What experiment is ideal for science?

Answer 14

• lab experiments as it enables the researcher to demonstrate causal relationships- by controlling extraneous variables

Question 15

What is a strength of free will?

Answer 15

• practical value
• common-sense view is that we exercise free choice in our everyday lives on a daily basis
• thinking we do have free choice can improve our mental health

Question 16

What study did Roberts do to support practical value of free will?

Answer 16

• Roberts et al (2000) looked at adolescents who had a strong belief in fatalism
• study found that those adolescents were at significantly greater risk of developing depression.
• seems that those who exhibit an external, rather than internal LOC are less likely to be optimistic

Question 17

What is a limitation of the notion of free will?

Answer 17

• Libet et al (1983) instructed p’s to choose a random moment to flick their wrist while he measured activity in their brain (‘readiness potential’)
• p’s had to say when they had a conscious will to move
• found that unconscious brain activity leading up to the conscious decision to move came around 0.5s before the p’s consciously felt they had decided to move
  -experiences of free will actually determined by our brain

Question 18

What is a counterpoint for free will limitation?

Answer 18

• Libet’s findings showing that the brain is involved in decision- making is not surprising
  -just because action comes before the conscious awareness of the decision to act doesn’t mean that there was no decision to act
• decision took time to reach the consciousness
• conscious awareness of decision simple a ‘read-out’ of our unconscious decision-making
• not appropriate challenge

Question 19

What is a limitation of determinism ( strength of free will)?

Answer 19

• the position of the legal system on responsibility
• hard deterministic 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
• main principle of legal system is that defendant exercised their free will in committing the crime- real world - deterministic arguments not valid