Free Will Vs Determinism Flashcards
What is the free will vs determinism debate?
Asks a simple question: is our behaviour a matter of free will or do set internal/external influences determine what we will do next?
Which side do most approaches take?
Deterministic to an extent.
What is free will?
=the notion that humans can make choices and are not determined by internal/external forces.
Which approach favours free will?
the humanistic approach
What does free will say about external forces?
It does not deny there may be biological and environmental forces that influence us, but says that we can reject these forces because we are in control of our thoughts and behaviour.
What is determinism?
=the view that an individual’s behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces rather than an individual’s free will.
What is hard determinism?
aka fatalism, suggests all human behaviour has a cause and it should be possible to identify these causes. Everything we think or do is dictated by internal and external forces that we have no control over.
What is soft determinism?
put forward by William James (1890). A feature of the cognitive approach. It is the view that behaviour may be predictable but there is some room for personal choice from a limited range of possibilities. Scientists have a job of finding out what determines behaviour, but people have conscious mental control and have freedom to make rational choices everyday.
What is biological determinism?
-The biological approach.
-Emphasises the role of biological systems/structures in determining behaviour, such as the autonomic nervous system.
-Lots of behaviours and characteristics are thought to have genetic and hormonal basis. We cannot control these.
What is environmental determinism?
-Skinner argued behaviour is the result of conditioning and free will is an illusion.
-All behaviour and choices are a result of the sum of total reinforcement that has acted upon us throughout our lives.
What is psychic determinism?
-The psychodynamic approach. Freud also said free will was an illusion.
-Behaviour is determined by the repressed unconscious drives and conflicts.
-There is no such thing as an accident, even a slip of the tongue is explained by authority of the unconscious.
Determinism and science:
-One of the basic principles of science is that every event in the universe has a cause which can be explained by using general laws. This allows scientists to predict events in the future.
-Laboratory experiments are used to investigate causal relationships by removing extraneous variables.
-Psychology is drawn closer to science when taking a deterministic standpoint.
Strengths (of free will):
–The legal system’s position is that offenders are held responsible for their own actions and they exercised their free will to commit a crime. In the real world determinist arguments do not stand.
–Determinism is unfalsifiable so may not be as scientific as first appeared.
–Practical value- it is common sense that we have free will so it has face validity. Even thinking we have free will can improve mental health. Roberts et al 2000 demonstrated that teenagers with a strong belief in fatalism were at greater risk of developing depression.
Limitations (of free will): science:
Determinism is consistent with the aims of science, putting psychology on equal footing as a science. The idea of prediction and control has led to treatments and therapies for mental disorders. Also, some characteristics have a negative impact so people do not ‘choose’ to have them.
Limitations of free will: Libet et al:
Libet et al 1985. Told participants to randomly flick their wrist and say when they decided to. They observed unconscious brain activity leading up to the decision half a second before the participant felt the conscious need to move. Shows our basic experiences of free will are determined before we are aware of them by our brain. However, it can be said that this is expected and plausible that this is part of the same decision making process, although it has not reached consciousness.
