free will and determinism*

Question 1

Define free will

Answer 1

The notion that humans can make choices and are not determined by biological or external forces.

Question 2

Define determinism

Answer 2

The view that an individual’s behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces rather than an individual’s will to do something.

Question 3

Define hard determinism

Answer 3

Implies that free will is not possible as our behaviour is always caused by internal or external events blond our control.

Question 4

Define soft determinism

Answer 4

All events, including human behaviour, have causes, but behaviour can also be determined by our conscious choices in the absence of coercion. In contrast with hard determinism.

Question 5

Define biological determinism

Answer 5

The belief that behaviour is caused by biological (genetic, hormonal, evolutionary) influences that we cannot control.

Question 6

Define environmental determinism

Answer 6

The belief that behaviour is caused by feature of the environment (such as systems of reward and punishment) that we cannot control.

Question 7

Define psychic determinism

Answer 7

The belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts that we cannot control.

Question 8

What does a belief in free will imply?

Answer 8

That while there are biological and environmental forces that have some influence on our behaviour we are able to reject them and control our own destiny.

Question 9

What does determinism propose?

Answer 9

That free will has no place in explaining behaviour.

Question 10

What does hard determinism suggest?

Answer 10

All human behaviour has a cause and it should be possible to identify and describe these causes.

Question 11

What makes hard determinism compatible with the aims of science?

Answer 11

It looks to discover the laws that govern thought and action and assumes everything we think and do is dictated by internal or external forces that we can’t control.

Question 12

Who put forward the notion of soft determinism?

Answer 12

Philosopher William James (1890)

Question 13

What does soft determinism suggest?

Answer 13

While it acknowledges that all behaviour has a cause people do have conscious mental control over how they behave. James thought that while it was the job of psychologists to explain the forces that determine our actions, we do have the will to make rational conscious choices in everyday situations.

Question 14

What does biological determinism emphasise?

Answer 14

The role of biological factors in determining behaviour, pour physiological and neurological processes are not under our conscious control (eg. Role of ANS in periods of stress).
Lots of mental disorders are thought to have a genetic basis.
Research has demonstrated the effect of hormones; testosterone in agressive behaviour.

Question 15

What approach shows environmental determinism?

Answer 15

The behaviourist approach; Skinner describes free will as ‘an illusion’ and argues all behaviour is a result of previous conditioning. Our ‘choice’ is merely the sum of reinforcements we have received through our lives.

Question 16

What is psychic determinism and which approach shows this?

Answer 16

HUman behaviour is driven by unconscious conflicts, repressed in childhood. The psychodynamic approach shows this; Freud saw free will as an illusion and emphasised the role of biological drives.
Nothing is an accident, even ‘slip of the tongue’ can be explained by the underlying authority of the unconscious.

Question 17

What basic principle of science does the lab experiment try to replicate?

Answer 17

That every event in the universe has a cause that can be explained using general laws.
Lad experiments allow psychologists to replicate the environment in a test tube in a chemical reaction by removing all extraneous variables to try to control and precisely predict human behaviour.

Question 18

Eval

The case for determinism

Answer 18

Consistent with the aims of science, places psychology on equal footing with more established sciences.
The prediction and control of human behaviour has led to treatments and therapies; eg psychotherapeutic drug treatment to manage schizophrenia.
Mental disorders like schizophrenia doubts the concept of free will as sufferers loose control of their thoughts and behaviour. At least in terms of mental illnesses behaviour is determined.

Question 19

Eval

The case against determinism

Answer 19

Hard determinism is inconsistent with the operating of the legal system; offenders are held morally accountable for their actions.
While is is scientific, determinism is unfalsifiable; argues that the causes of behaviour will always exist even if they haven’t been found yet. This is impossible to prove wrong and shows that determinism isn’t as scientific as it first appears.

Question 20

Eval

The case for free will

Answer 20

It has face validity; it makes cognitive sense, everyday experiences give the impression that we have free will over our choices.
Research shows that people with an internal LoC, tend to be more mentally healthy.
Roberts et al. (2000) showed that teenagers who are more fatalist were at greater risk of developing depression.
Even if we don’t have free will, believing we do has a positive impact on mind and behaviour.

Question 21

Eval

The case against free will

Answer 21

Neurological studies show evidence against free will. Libel (1985) and Chun Siong Soon (2008) showed the brain activity that determines simple choices occur before our knowledge of having made a decision.
The activity related to whether to press a button with the left or right hand occurs in the brain up to 10 seconds before participants reported being consciously aware of that decision.
Even the most basic experiences of free will are decided and determined by our brain before we are aware.

Question 22

Eval

The interactionist approach

Answer 22

May provide the best compromise in the free will-determinism debate. Approaches that include a cognitive element, STL, take the soft determinist position.
Bandura argued that mediation all process ulitmately decide whether or not a behaviour is replicated.