free will/ determinism Flashcards
what is free will
Our behaviour is the product of our own choice
What is determinism
Our behaviour is caused by factors out of our control. This can be genetic, factors in our upbringing, our physical surroundings or social circumstances
How is Banduras study deterministic
Children watched an aggressive or non- aggressive model for 10 minutes
Children’s behaviour in stage 3 was determined on the model they saw in stage 1
How is loftus and palmers study deterministic
Each group was asked a different verb within the critical question
Their memory was determined by the question they’d been asked
How is Milgrams study deterministic
As their behaviour was caused by behaviours out of their control such as prods, Yale, payment, and the experimenter
How is Milgrams study freewill
AS 35% did not obey by shocking the leaner to 450v so they must have had a choice within their behaviour
Strengths of claiming that behaviours can be explained through freewill debate
-not socially sensitive (people like to think that they have control over their behaviour)
-useful (people can be held accountable for their actions)
Weaknesses of claiming that behaviours can be explained though the freewill debate?
- hard to prove: what may seen like freewill may just be a response to a different (perhaps unknown) determinant
-it suggests no predictability or pattern to behaviour, reducing the usefulness of psychological research
-socially sensitive
Strengths of claiming that behaviours can be explained through determinism debate
-open to positive uses (if we wanted to know what causes a behaviour, we can make it occur again
-scientific as determinist explanations often arise from controlled experiments in which cause and effect has been established
Weaknesses of claiming that behaviours can be explained through determinism debate
-open to harmful uses: eg lawyers could use determinist explanations to get guilty people acquitte
-socially sensitive
