free will and determinism

Question 1

explain Free Will?

Answer 1

• human beings are self determining+ free to choose their own actions
• can reject biological and environmental factors =humanistic

Question 2

evaluate a positive impact of free will?

Answer 2

• everyday experience gives the impression we have free will=face validity
• people with internal locus of control= believe they have high degree of influence over events
• these people tend to be more healthy than people with belief of fatalism= high risk of depression
• thinking we have free will= +ive impact on mind+behaviour

Question 3

what is determinism?

Answer 3

• opposed concept of free will

- free will cannot explain behaviour

Question 4

explain Hard Determinism?

Answer 4

• fatalism
• all behaviour has a cause
• everything we do is dictated by forces that we cant control
• NO FREE WILL+ EXTREME

Question 5

explain Soft Determinism?

Answer 5

• acknowledges all human actions have cause
• but believe conscious mental control over the way they behave
• can make rational choices

Question 6

what approaches of hard determinists?

Answer 6

-Psychodynamic, Biological and Behaviourists

Question 7

what approaches are soft determinists?

Answer 7

-cognitive

Question 8

explain Biological Determinism?

Answer 8

• BIOLOGICAL APPROACH
• many neurological processes aren’t under conscious control
• eg. autonomic nervous system during stress

Question 9

explain Environmental determinism?

Answer 9

• BEHAVIOURIST APPROACH
• Skinner believed free will was an illusion and behaviour was a result of conditioning
• we believe we act independently BUT behaviour has been shaped by environment + socialism

Question 10

explain Psychic determinism?

Answer 10

• PSYCODYNAMIC APPROACH
• free will an illusion
• focus on biological drives
• behaviour driven by unconscious and repressed childhood FREUD

Question 11

evaluate positives of determinism?

Answer 11

• human behaviour obeys laws and places psychology on par with other sciences
• adds value as research can predict and control behaviour= treatments and therapy
• eg. drug treatment for bi polar disorder as patient loses control of mood which is loss of free will= determinism

Question 12

evaluate negatives of determinism?

Answer 12

• hard determinists believe that individual choice is not the cause of behaviour
• unfalsifiable, as it is based on idea that causes fro behaviour will always exist though many haven’t been found
• not scientific and lacks credibility