Free will and determinism Flashcards
The debate
Are people able to decide for themselves if they should act in a certain way, or is our behavior the result of forces over which we have no control?
Free will
The belief that humans are essentially self-determining.
There are other forces that may influence us, but we can choose to reject them.
→ Humanistic Approach
Determinism
All behaviour is caused by internal or external forces and is therefore predictable.
Hard determinism
Hard determinism suggests that all human behaviour has a cause, and in principle it should be possible to identify and describe these causes.
Free will is an illusion
soft determinism
All human behaviour has a cause, however there is some room for flexibility
People have a certain degrees of control over the way they behave, but only within the realms of what they know.
Biological (hard) determinism
All human behaviour is innate and by our genes/hormones/brain chemistry
Nestadt et al (2010) found that 68% of identical twins shared OCD as opposed to only 31% of non-identical twin.
Suggests that people’s genetic make up can make them vulnerable to OCD.
environmental (hard) determinism
Behaviour is caused by forces outside the individual i.e. conditioning
E.g. Behaviourist approach to phobias suggests that phobias are acquired through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning.
This suggests that, at least to some extent, our behaviour is, determined by our environment
Psychic (hard) determinism
All human behaviour is the result of childhood experiences, and innate drives (ID, Ego and Superego) E.g. The psychodynamic explanations of gender identity, which suggests that gender identity is acquired during the Phallic Stage of development.
The successful resolution of Oedipus/Electra complex is based on the successful identification with the same-sex parent, which means that behaviour is determined success/unsuccessful identification with your parents
causal explanations
Deterministic approaches are considered more scientific because scientific research is based on the belief at all events have a cause.
Deterministic approaches all us to infer cause and effect, which is in line with science.
Strength-Free will has good face validity
The concept of free will has good face-validity because we feel like we make our own choices on a daily basis.
• We seem to exercise free will with choices that we make:
• Who chose what you wore today?
• Who chose the music you listen to?
Roberts (2000) internal Locus of Control →
More likely to be mentally healthy less risk of depression.
Even if we DON’T have it, BELIEVING we do is important..
Limitation-Free will counter evidence
Neurological studies in 1985 (Libet) & 2008 (Soon) have suggested that brain activity determined the outcome of a choice, way before the participants made a decision
-In the study participants had to press a button, but choose what hand they used
• Before they consciously were aware of what decision they made their brain activity suggested their brain had already decided
> Who or what is making these decisions?
strength-determinism is consistent with science
Determinism is consistent with the aims of science. o If human behaviour is orderly & obeys laws makes universality possible, and places Psychology in line with the other natural sciences
-Assuming that behaviour is determined and predictable it means that we can do something proactive with our research
• For example, this predictability has lead to the development of treatments, therapies, behavioural interventions for different mental health conditions;
> For example, psychoactive drugs for Schizophrenia, or anti-depression drugs for Depression.
limitation-determinism is not consistent with justice system
Determinism not consistent with the justice system
• Thinking of the idea of responsibility, we assume that criminals are responsible for their actions
• i.e. If a criminal has free will to make a choice to behave in a way that they have then we can punish their guilt
• But if their behaviour is determined, then is it fair to punish guilt?
• “It’s not my fault…
compromise
Is there a compromise?
There’s lots of pros and lots of cons for both free will and determinism
• So does Soft determinism offer a nice compromise between the two positions?
> Interactionist approach would rely on soft determinism to provide a middle ground
• An example is Social Learning Theory
• Bandura suggests “Reciprocal determinism”:
You influence your environment
AND
You are influenced by your environment
• Each impacts the another based on behaviours we chose to perform
• So although environmental factors are KEY to learning in
SLT, we are free to decide who or what we pay attention to/copy/do
paradigm shift exam question
A paradigm is a shared set of assumptions about how behaviour should be studied
+ eg. a focus on causal explanations.
A paradigm shift occurs when members of a scientific community change from one established way of explaining behaviour to a new way,
due to new evidence. For example,
the shift to a focus on free will in the 60s, the cognitive revolution in the 70s and most recent the shift to an emphasis on cognitive neuroscience.
