Free will and determinism Flashcards
What is the free-determinist debate?
This debate highlights whether behaviour is because of free will or is a product of set internal/external influences that determine what we do.
What is free will?
Suggests humans are self-determining and are free to choose their own thoughts and actions. It does not deny there are biological and environmental forces but claims we are able to reject these because we are in control of behaviour.
What is Determinism?
Proposes that free will has no place in explaining behaviour.
What 2 sides of determinism are there and what do they do?
Soft Determinism: William James (1890) suggested scientists can explain what determines our behaviour but this does not detract from the freedom we have to make conscious choices.
Hard Determinism (fatalism): Suggested that all human behaviour is caused and we should be able to identify its causes. This concludes that everything we do is dictated by internal/external forces we cannot control.
What are the types of determinism and key points of them?
Biological determinism: Biological approach suggests that our biology determines our behaviour e.g. effect of genes on mental health.
Environmental determinism: Skinner suggested free will is an illusion and said behaviour is due to conditioning. Therefore, although we think that we are acting independently, our choices are the sum of reinforcement contingencies.
Psychic determinism: Freud believed that free will is an illusion and emphasises the influence of biological drives. He saw human behaviour as being determined by conflicts and repressed childhood. Freud’s ‘slip of the tongue’, which seem random, are explained by Freud as unconscious desires.
What are the strengths for free will vs determinism?
Practical value of free will: Thinking we do exercise free choice can improve mental health even if it does not. Rebecca Roberts (2000) study looked at adolescents who had a strong belief in fatalism. The study found that these adolescents were at significantly greater risk of developing depression. Therefore, people who hold an external locus of control are less likely to be optimistic. Therefore, even if we do not have free will, believing that we do has a positive impact on behaviour.
What are the limitations of free will vs determinism?
-The Law: A limitation of determinism (and strength of free will) is the position of the legal system on responsibility. Fatalism suggests that every behaviour is that individual choice is not the cause of behaviour. This is not consistent in the court of law, as offenders are held responsible for their actions. The main principle of the legal system is that the defendant exercised their free will in committing a crime. Therefore, determinist arguments do not have real-world value.
-Research evidence: One limitation of free will (and strength of determinism) is that brain scan evidence does not support it. Libet (1983) instructed participants to choose a random moment to flick their hand. Participants said when they felt the conscious will to move. Libet found that unconscious brain activity leading up to the conscious decision to move came around half a second before the participant consciously felt they had to move. This suggests that our basic experiences of free will are determined by a brain before awareness.
-However, this does not prove that our actions are determined by the brain as it is expected for there to be time before the action came into conscious.
