free will and determinism Flashcards
what is the debate on free will and determinism
whether or not our behaviour is determined by external factors or are we in control of our own behaviour
what . is free will
suggests that as human being we are self determining and are free to chose our behaviour and our actions and it doesnt deny that there may be biological and enviromental factors that affect our behaviour but implies we are able to reject these forces and behave as we choose
what is hard determinism
fatalism all human behaviours have a cause and the cause is out of human control we have no influence over our behaviours over our traits or characteristics the have been decided by events preceeding us sice all behaviour does have a cuase we can deduce cause and effet relationships between events and behaviours
what is soft determinism
william james all human actions does have a cause \only some of our behaviour is predetermined this suggest we have the ability to have conscious control of our behaviour to an extent while we choose how to behave we have limited choices available due to environmental and biological constraints
what is biological determinism
behaviours and characteristics such as mental disorders may have a genetic basis and we have no free will over our behaviour and it is the manifestation of the genes that we inherit we means that many of our psychological and neurological processes are notunder our conscious control for example the imbalance of neurotransmitters in those with depression
what is enviromental determinism
skinner believed that free will is an illusion and that behaviour is determined by our experiences and taht all behaviour is due to conditioning our choices are because of the reinforcement that has acted upon us. we may think that we are behaving and acting independently but our behaviour has been shaped by enviromental events as well as agents of socialisation
what is the psychic determinism approach
freud believed free will is an illusion of the influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour our drive and instincts. his views is determined by unconscious conflicts repressed during childhood caused by traumatic experiences once we have a traumatic experience they have an influence on our daily life, without conscious awareness that it is impacting you, eg trauma and depression
what is the link between science and determinism
science believes that every event has a cause and that cause can be explained by using general laws determinsim is base don that exact principle that all behaviour has a cause so agrees with the assumptions of science so we can apply scientific methodology
strength determinism is consisitent with science point
a strength is that human behaviour is being orderlyy and obeying fixed laws in place which places psychology equal with other sciences
strength determinism is consisitent with science evidence/ expalnation
it helps predict and manipulate human behaviour in research consequently helps establish a cause and effect relationship to understand human behaviour, making psychology scientific. This leads to the development of treatments and therapies developed to help others eg the caus eof depression imbalance of serotonin so ssris are given thus determinism is ideas of fixed behaviours in order to help people
hard determinism is unfalsifiable
some aspects of determinism can be deemed to be unscientific as it is based on the idea of a cause of a behaviour exist even though it hasnt been found yet so it is impossible to prove the assumptions are wrong.
example for unfalsifiable eval
the psychic determination as behaviour is due to unconcsious id and super ego conflict . as it is an unconscious conflict it cannot be empirically proven so it is unfalsifiable.
what did kaul popper suggest
such unfalsibiable claims are not consistent with features of science therefore it suggests that determinism is not as scientific as initally thought due to the insistence on unproven causes of behaviour
what has research shown about the role of free will in mental health
that belief in free will and internal locus of control improve mental health, roberts et al demonstrated that adolescence with as strong sense of belief in fatalism that their actions are beyond their coontrol, they are higher risk of developing depression thus we can assume that belief in free will and has a positive impact on the the mind, health and behaviour.
where is the belief in free will used
it is utilised in therapies such as client based therapies as it has stemmed from the humanistic approach, we can make clients feel in control of their emotions and can lead to better treatments. determinism has negative impacts so free will may have positive impacts
