issues and debates 1.2 Flashcards
free will
we have full control over our behaviour
determinism
the view that we never have control over our behaviour
what does the humanistic approach favour?
free will
3 types of determinism
psychic
environmental
biological
psychic determinism
caused by unconscious mind
results from repressed childhood trauma e.g. trauma during oral stage causes oral fixation such as smoking
psychodynamic approach
environmental determinism
behaviourist
all behaviour caused by environment
classical and operant conditioning
biological determinism
biological approach
all behaviour caused by biological factors such as genes
argument in favour of determinism (cause and effect)
we need determinism to study cause and effect relationships
free will isn’t very scientific, a scientific approach to psychology involves studying cause and effect and making reliable predictions
what causes free will?
we can only make reliable predictions if determinism is true and psychologists make reliable predictions so it must be true
limitation of free will and determinism (falsifiability)
falsifiability - must be possible to disprove a hypothesis
free will and determinism are unfalsifiable
free will doesn’t allow for predictions to be made as we don’t know how people will act
determinism is unfalsifiable because we can only falsify claims about specific causes for behaviour and we cannot falsify the general idea that behaviour has a cause
if it’s not one factor then it may be another not yet tested for
subjective experience - in favour of free will
free will matched our subjective experience
for humanistic approach, the fact that free will matches our subjective experience is a good enough reason to assume that we have free will
they believe psychology should incorporate subjective experience of what it’s like to be human
theories shouldn’t be different from everyday experience
ore important than whichever side of the debate is going by science
subjective experience - against free will
determinism says subjective experience doesn’t matter, theories should be based on objective criteria
should be scientific basis when picking sides
determinism fits in nicely with scientific paradigm for reliable, falsifiable predictions
argue free will is an illusion, your choices have already been determined e.g. weather, biology or environment
free will locus of control
internal
determinism locus of control
external locus of control
argument in favour of free will - therapy
meta analysis was done: people with external locus of control more likely to have depression (Benassi et at)
might feel powerless
if you believe that you have free will then you have the power to improve
this means that if we treat people like they have free will, then they are likely to believe that they have free will and develop internal locus of control
therefore research means people are likely to have better mental health
argument against free will - free will and responsibility
if we assume free will, can unfairly blame people for things that weren’t their fault
e.g. someone might have low intelligence due to having certain gene alleles but free will implies it’s their fault for not improving
not fair to assume free will
could be other factors
against free will - legal implications
if all behaviour is determined, then criminals don’t have a choice about whether or not to commit crimes
legal system punishes people who deserve it
people only deserve punishment if they are responsible for their actions, determinism means no one is responsible for their actions
if we accept determinism, legal system would stop working
HOWEVER
determinism means we can still punish criminals as a deterrent
catching criminals stops other people believing you can get away with being a criminal
middle ground argument (soft determinism SLT)
SLT - we learn by observing others and use mediational processes to decide whether or not we imitate
according to SLT we have some control over how we behave (free will)
we have control over what to observe within limited choices
soft determinism
soft determinism
not many choices but can choose between them
our choices are constrained by biology and the environment but have limited choices within those options
is the behaviourist approach hard or soft determinism?
hard determinism
environment controls all behaviour
no free will to choose
is biological approach hard or soft determinism?
hard determinism
biological determinism
is cognitive approach hard or soft determinism?
soft determinism as allows for some free will
involves cause and effect
mental processes
mental processes involve some conscious decision making
