ID - Free Will and Determinism Flashcards
Free will
Assumes humans are free to choose their behaviours, and that influences (biological or environmental) can be rejected at will
Hard determinism
Behaviour is caused by events outside an individual’s control
Soft determinism
A middle ground between hard determinism and free will that suggests humans have some conscious mental control over the way they behave
Biological determinism
Behaviour is caused by internal biological factors e.g. genetics
Environmental determinism
Behaviour is caused by past experiences and controlled by external forces in the environment e.g. reinforcement and punishment
Psychic determinism
Unconscious forces and innate drives control behaviour. All we say and do has a cause
Evaluation of determinism
- The hard determinism stance does not align with our legal system, this raises ethical questions on how we should be dealing with offenders - Do offenders take moral responsibility for their actions or should they be ‘excused’?
- Determinism is unfalsifiable; it’s based on the idea that causes of behaviour will always exist, even though they may not be found
Positive evaluation of free will
- Free will has face validity; everyday experience gives us the impression that we are constantly exercising it
- Research suggests that people who have an internal locus of control tend to be more mentally healthy. Moreover, research into people with a strong belief in fatalism (hard determinism) found that they were at significantly greater risk of depression. This suggests that even if free will does not exist, the fact that we think we do may have a positive impact on our mind and behaviour
Negative evaluation of free will
- Neurological studies have found that the brain activity that determines the outcome of simple choices may occur before we are aware of making such choice. This shows that even our most basic experiences of free will are decided by our brain before we become aware of them
