Issues and debates: 16 mark plans Flashcards
Issues and debates 16 markers plans, written by demi :). MOST of these questions have 2 topics merged together, meaning evaluations are only one strength, one limitation for both --> if u want more evaluations u may have to make them yourself oxoxo
Discuss free will and determinism (16)
AO1 Content for free will
Free will:
Human beings are self-determining and free to choose our thoughts and actions.
→ Expressed in the humanistic approach
Discuss free will and determinism (16)
AO1 Content for determinism
Free will has no place in explaining our behaviour, as we have no choice in our actions.
→ Soft determinism = All human action has a cause but there is room for manoeuvre and conscious mental control over behaviour.
→ Hard determinism = Fatalism (predetermined & inevitable), actions dictated by internal and external forces beyond our control.
Discuss free will and determinism (16)
AO1 Content for the three types of determinism
1.) Biological (physiological and neurological processes that aren’t under our conscious control e.g. areas of localisation)
2.) Environmental (Skinner sees ‘free will as an illusion’, and behaviour is due to conditioning)
3.) Psychic (Freud emphasised on influence of biological drives & instincts, and human behaviour being determined by unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood)
E.g. Biological approach is an example of hard determinism.
Discuss free will and determinism (16)
AO3 Strength for free will
+ Has face validity and can be positive for us
—> Exercise free will for the choices we make in everyday life e.g. choosing what to eat at a restaurant.
—> Roberts et al: adolescents with a strong sense of fatalism were more at risk of developing depression.
Therefore, even if we do not have free will, it is more positive for us to think that we do.
Discuss free will and determinism (16)
AO3 Limitation for free will
- Libet and Soon et al: the activity related to whether to press a button with left hand or right hand occurs in the brain upto ten seconds before participants make a decision.
Discuss free will and determinism (16)
AO3 Strength for determinism
+ Consistent with the aims of science:
—> Can determine cause and effect
—> Causal explanations has allowed for therapies, treatments and behavioural interventions to be introduced.
E.g. The drug Clozapine has allowed for schizophrenia treatment.
Discuss free will and determinism (16)
AO3 Limitation for determinism
- It is unfalsifiable:
—> Based on the idea that causes of human behaviour will always exist, so it is impossible to prove wrong.
—> This disagrees with Poppers’ features of science, that science requires testability and must be falsifiable.
—> Determinism is not as scientific as it appears.
