Free will and Determinism - AO1

Question 1

What is free will?

Answer 1

The idea that humans can make choices meaning that their behaviour is not caused by internal or external choices

Question 2

What is determinism?

Answer 2

The view that human behaviour is entirely shaped by or controlled by either internal or external forces

Question 3

What is hard determinism?

Answer 3

The view that all behaviour is caused by something, so free will is an illusion

Question 4

What is soft determinism?

Answer 4

The view that all behaviour may be predictable but there is also room for personal choice from a limited range of possibilities

Question 5

What is biological determinism?

Answer 5

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

Question 6

What is an example of biological determinism?

Answer 6

The MAOA gene “criminal gene” linked to aggressive behaviour

Question 7

What is environmental determinism?

Answer 7

The belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment (e.g. systems of rewards and punishments) we cannot control

Question 8

What is an example of environmental determinism?

Answer 8

Bandura found that children with violent parents are more likely to become violent parents themselves, as a result of observational learning

Question 9

What is psychic determinism?

Answer 9

Belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious psychodynamic conflicts that we cannot control

Question 10

What is an example of psychic determinism?

Answer 10

Freud argued all behaviours, even parapraxes, are psychically
determined, e.g. gender identity caused by identification with same sex parent during phallic stage of development