Free Will And Determinism

Question 1

Free will

Answer 1

Free will suggests that as human beings we are self-determining and free to choose our thoughts and actions.
Free will implies that we are able to reject these forces as the masters of our own destiny.
This is a view of human behaviour that is advocated by the humanistic approach.

Question 2

Determinism

Answer 2

It proposes that free will had no place in explaining behaviour, though there are hard and soft versions.

Question 3

Hard determinism

Answer 3

Suggests that all human behaviour has a cause and in principle it should be possible to identify and describe these causes.
It is compatible with the aims of science and always assumes that everything we think and do is dictated by internal or external forces that we cannot control.

Question 4

Soft determinism

Answer 4

It is an important feature of the cognitive approach.
Whilst acknowledging that all human actions have a cause, soft determinists also suggest some room for manoeuvre in that people have conscious mental control over the way they behave.

Question 5

Biological determinism

Answer 5

It includes the controlling role of different parts of the brain, the nervous system, the hormonal system, evolutionary forces, and genes on behaviour (internal forces)
Research has indicated a genetic predisposition towards behaviours such as anxiety disorders, gender development and offender behaviour.

Question 6

Environmental determinism

Answer 6

Suggests our experience of choice is the sum of reinforcement contingencies that have acted upon us through our lives.