free will vs determinism Flashcards
what is free will?
the ability to behave the way we want
what is determinism?
the idea that we have no control over our actions
comes from a combo of sources, eg biological, learning and thought
what’s the difference between hard and soft determinism?
-hard - human behaviour is determined by external forces that are out of our control
-soft - behaviour is determined but humans also have the opportunity to exercise free will if need be
what are the three types of determinism?
-biological
-environmental
-psychic determinism
what is biological determinism?
-behaviour originates from physiological influences alone
-either genetics, brain physiology or biochemistry
-genetics and evolution = currently no gene identified that controls behaviour entirely, so soft determinism viewpoint has to be adopted
-brain physiology = areas of localisation, damage could effect behaviour
-biochemistry = dopamine hypothesis for schiz, role of testosterone for aggression etc
what is environmental determinism?
-behaviour is determined by environmental influences
-eg conformity and obedience
-learning approach, classical and operant conditioning
-social learning theory
what is psychic determinism?
-behaviour originates from the influence of the unconscious mind
-freudian slips (words said by accident that show what was happening in a person’s unconscious mind)
-parapraxes - errors in everyday life generated by the unconscious
what are causal explanations?
-where a change in a dependent variable is attributable to manipulation of an IV
-develop a hypothesis, use empirical methods of testing, significant effect is an indication of a causal explanation
-determinism is all about causation
how does the debate relate to schizophrenia?
-genetic and biochemical explanations are deterministic
-drug therapy is deterministic
-elements of free-will in cognitive therapy
how does the debate relate to aggression?
-most explanations are deterministic
-little to say about aggression being a choice, but it’s argued aggression always FEELS like a choice
how does the debate relate to cognition and development?
-Piaget = deterministic (innate)
-determinist drive to learn
-hard to argue free-will
evaluate the free will vs determinism debate
-free will is difficult to test as it’s a non-physical phenomenon so hard to quantify
-argument that free-will isn’t measurable because it doesn’t exist
-idea that free-will feels intuitively correct
