Free Will Vs Determinism Flashcards
What is free will
The notion of free will suggests that as human beings, we are essentially self determining and able to choose our own thoughts and actions. The humanistic approach considers people to have free will.
What is determinism
Is the general idea that our traits, thoughts and behaviours are outside of ur control, due to internal and/or external factors that we have no control over
What is Hard Determinism
It proposes that all of a persons behaviour are entirely out of their control. Every part of human behaviour has a cause and it should be possible to identify and describe these causes. This idea is compatible with the aims of science - to uncover the causal laws that govern peoples thoughts and actions. Everything we do is dictated by forces that we cannot control and might not even be aware of
What is soft determinism
It proposes that traits and behaviour are determined by external or internal forces, however the individual can still exercise some free will via thought processes. The cognitive approach is an approach that adheres to soft determinism.
What is biological determinism
Suggests that all of our behaviours are governed by internal biological factors like genes, neurochemistry, brain structure etc. there is no doubt that many of our physiological and neurological brain processes are not under conscious control - like the ANS during periods of stress and anxiety. In addition to this lots of behaviours and characteristics like mental disorders are thought to have a genetic basis and research has demonstrated the effects of hormones in aggressive behaviour
What is environmental determinism
The idea that traits and behaviours are governed by external, such as experience, upbringing, learning, schools, parents, peers… and the experience of ‘choice’ is merely the sum total of reinforcement contingencies that have acted upon us during our lives. Although we might think we are acting independently, our behaviour has been shaped by environmental events, as well as agents of socialisation such as parents, teachers, institutions…
What is psychic determinism?
The idea that traits and behaviours are governed by unconscious instincts and drives. It sees behaviour as determined and directed by unconscious conflicts, repressed in childhood. There is no such thing as an accident according to Freud and even something as random as innocuous ‘slip of the tongue’ can be explained as being caused by the unconscious.
What is the scientific emphasis on causes explanations
Science is heavily deterministic in its search for causal relationships as it seeks to discover whether the independent variable leads to a change in the DV. If all variable are controlled except for the IV, the. It means that changes in the DV must be caused by manipulation of the independent variable. Having a control group enables researchers to determine cause and effect in which the goal is to be able to predict and control human behaviour.
Strength free will and determinism
Strength of free will is its application to the legal system - legally al citizens are responsible for their actions at the age of 10 onwards. This suggests that we have free will and are responsible to choose if we want to be criminals which makes sense as if this was not the case, then criminals would roam around free in society as they have no choice over their behaviour. Thankfully this is not the case as the concept of free will comes into play for criminals
A strength of determinism is that chun siong soon et al have demonstrated that the brain activity that determines simple choices occur before we are even aware that we have made a choice. Participants were asked to decide whether to push a button with their left or right hand; brain imaging revealed that they had made their decision up to 10 seconds before reporting that they were consciously aware of making a decision
Weakness free will and determinism
A weakness of determinism is that is not always falsifiable - it is based on the idea that the causes of all behaviour exists, even if the causes have not yet been found. It is difficult to prove wrong as a principle - suggesting that determinism isn’t as scientific as it seems
And a weakness of free will is that it is not very scientific and testable, for example mallows hierarchy of needs
