Freewill vs Determinism Flashcards
Strength FW (Potential excuse for criminal acts) DW
P: Many psychologists theorists and legal experts do not favour a deterministic point of view.If behaviour is determined by outside forces that provides a potential excuse for criminal acts.
E: For example in 1981, Stephen Mobley argued that he was “born to kill” after killing a pizza shop manager because his family had a disposition towards violence and aggressive behaviour. An American court rejected this argument.
E: In a court of law, offenders are held responsible for their actions. The suggestion s usually that the defendant exercised their free will in committing the crime.
I: Therefore, a truly determinist position maybe undesirable as it provides an excuse allowing people to mitigate their own liability and would lead to vexing legal issues regarding the nature of responsibility and intent
strength D (consistent with science) DW
P: determinism is consistent with the aims of science.
E: The hard determinist view says that the human behaviour is orderly and obeys laws
E: Psychology is therefore placed on an equal footing with other more established sciences
I: This view means that behaviour can be predicted and controlled which has led to the development of treatments, therapies and behaviourial interventions that have benefitted many.
strength FW ( face validity) DW
**P: There is face validity in support of the concept that everybody holds free will. **
E: The choices that we make on any given day are believed to be made by ourselves.
E: These everyday experiences give the impression that we are constantly exercising free will.
I: Research suggests that those who have an internal LOC tend to be more mentally healthy, suggesting that even thinking that we have free will may have a positive impact on behaviour.
supporting both (interactionist approach may be more appropriate) HB
P: An interactionist perspective may offer the best compromise in the free will vs determinism debate.
E: For example, SLT says that although environmental factors are key in learning, we are free to choose who or what to attend to and when to perform certain behaviours.
E: Approaches which adopt a soft determinism point of view may be more appropriate in explaining behaviour.
limitation (free will is an illusion) DW
P: The idea of free will has attracted criticisms. Some psychologists argue that free will is an illusion and more recently, brain scan evidence does not support the concept of freewill.
E: Skinner argues that free will is an illusion, insisting that our behaviour is in fact environmentally determined, even if we are unable to admit it. Furthermore, Libet et al instructed participants to choose a random movement to flick their wrist while he measured activity in their brain. Participants had to say when they felt the conscious to move.
Libet found that the unconscious brain activity leading up to the conscious decision to move came around half a second before the participant consciously felt they had decided to move.
E: This may be interpretated as meaning that even our most basic experiences of free will are are actually determined by our brain before we are aware of them.
I: This strongly suggests that many responses are biologically determined and that although we may believe that we have free will, Skinner’s claim that free will is an illusion, may be correct.
