Freewill vs Determinism

Question 1

What is Freewill?

Answer 1

The notion that humans can make choices are not determined by biological or external forces

Question 2

What is Determinism?

Answer 2

The view that an individual’s behaviour is controlled by internal or external forces

Question 3

Types of Determinism

Answer 3

•Biological Determinism: the belief that behaviour is caused by biological differences we cannot control
•Psychic Determinism: behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts that we cannot control
•Environmental Determinism:

Question 4

Levels of Determinism

Answer 4

•Soft Determinism: our behaviour is is caused, however it can also be determined by our conscious choices
•Hard Determinism: freewill is impossible and our behaviour is always caused by internal and external events

Question 5

:) Determinism is Scientific

Answer 5

Determinism focuses on causality since it allows general laws to be established and phenomena to be predicted or controlled
•behaviour is determined by something else

Question 6

:) Behaviour can be seen to be determined before conscious thought

Answer 6

*Libet et al (1983)**: participants were told to flick their wrist at any point within the study, unconscious brain activity was activated 1/2 a second before conscious movement began

Question 7

:( Determinism is too simplistic

Answer 7

Explanations tend to oversimplify behaviour despite human behaviour being influenced by many factors such as biological influences

Question 8

:( Determinism is not acknowledged by the law

Answer 8

•Means that offenders cannot be held accountable for their actions
•Mobley argued that since his family had a history of aggression, his crime may not have necessarily been out of freewill

Question 9

:) Believing in freewill can improve our mental health

Answer 9

•Roberts et al (2000): adolescents who had a strong belief in fatalism believed that their lives were outside their control, these adolescents were also more likely to develop depression
•Even if we don’t have freewill, it can affect how we approach life

Question 10

:( Free will is an illusion and a culturally-relative concept

Answer 10

Skinner: although we have freewill to choose between some things, these choices are influenced by previous reinforcement experiences
•Collectivist cultures may place greater importance on behaviour determined by group needs