Issue And Debates : Free Will And Determinism

Question 1

Biological Determinism

Answer 1

Biological determinism refers to the idea that all human behaviour is innate and determined by genes.

Question 2

Causal Explanations

Answer 2

“Science is heavily deterministic in its search for causal relationships (explanations) as it seeks to discover whether X causes Y, or whether the independent variable causes changes in the dependent variable.”

Question 3

Determinism

Answer 3

“Determinism is the view that free will is an illusion, and that our behaviour is governed
by internal or external forces over which we have no control.”

Question 4

Environmental Determinism

Answer 4

Environmental determinism is the view that behaviour is determined or caused by forces outside the individual. Environmental determinism posits that our behaviour is caused by previous experience learned through classical and operant conditioning.

Question 5

Free Will

Answer 5

“Free will is the idea that we can play an active role and have choice in how we behave.
The assumption is that individuals are free to choose their behaviour and are self- determined.”

Question 6

Hard Determinism

Answer 6

“Hard determinism is the view that forces outside of our control (e.g. biology or past experience) shape our behaviour. Hard determinism is seen as incompatible with free
will.”

Question 7

Psychic Determinism

Answer 7

“Psychic determinism claims that human behaviour is the result of childhood experiences and innate drives (id, ego and superego), as in Freud’s model of
psychological development.”

Question 8

Soft Determinism

Answer 8

“Soft determinism is an alternative position favoured by many psychologists. According to soft determinism, behaviour is constrained by the environment or biological make-up, but only to a certain extent.”

Question 9

What is humanistic psychologists?

Answer 9

• Humanistic psychologists, such as Maslow and Rogers, claim that humans have free will
• They argue that people have a choice over their behaviour, and they denied that people’s behaviour is at the mercy of outside forces.
• Self-determination is a necessary part of human behaviour
• Without self-determination, self-actualisation is not possible.
• Humanistic psychologists argue that regarding human behaviour as determined by external forces is dehumanising and incorrect.

Question 10

Evaluation for determinism?

Answer 10

is scientific: Determinists argue that a proper science of human behaviour is only possible of psychologists adopt a deterministic account, according to which everything that happens has a definite cause.

Question 11

Evaluation for free will?

Answer 11

by definition does not have a definite cause. If free will is taken into account, it becomes impossible to predict human behaviour with any precision.

Question 12

What is causality and why is it an evaluation for determinism ?

Answer 12

• Scientists love causality because it allows general laws to be established and phenomena to be predicted or controlled. If predicted it would allow for treatment.
• This is the same in Psychology – lab experiments are used to control extraneous variables to allow cause-effect relationships between the IV and DV to be discovered. This leads to general laws on human behaviour.

Question 13

Evaluation for free will?

Answer 13

• Everyday experiences suggest we have free will, and this perception of free will has been linked to better mental health outcomes;
• Robert et al (2000) demonstrated that adolescents with a strong sense of ‘fatalism’ (that their lives are decided for them and that events are outside of their control) were more likely to suffer from depression than those who didn’t have this outlook.
• What this means is, even if we don’t actually have free will, the belief that we do can have a positive impact on our behaviour and well being.

Question 14

Evaluation against free will?

Answer 14

• Soon et al (2008) demonstrated brain activity indicated an action predated our conscious knowledge of having made the choice.
• The researchers found that the activity related to whether participants pushed a button with their left or right hand occured in the brain up to 10 seconds before participants reported being consciously aware of making the decision

Question 15

Scientific emphasis on causal explanation

Answer 15

● A causal explanation is based on the scientific notion that behaviour is caused/determined by internal/external factors – there is a cause and effect relationship
● Causality/Causation = The IV has an effect on the
● One of the basic principles of Science is this principle of causality: that
every event has a cause and every cause has an effect