Issues and debates: free will and determinism

Question 1

What is the definition free will?

Answer 1

.the idea humans can make choices about their behaviour and thinking, it’s not determined by biological or external factors

Question 2

What is the definition of determinism?

Answer 2

.an individuals behaviour is shaped by internal or external forces, rather than an individuals choice

Question 3

What are the two types of determinism?

Answer 3

.hard determinism
.soft determinism

Question 4

what is the hard determinism?

Answer 4

all behaviour is caused by something so ‘free will is an illusion’ (skinner)

Question 5

what is soft determinism?

Answer 5

behaviour may be predictable but there is some room for personal choice

Question 6

what are the 3 types of hard determinism?

Answer 6

.biological determinism
.environmental determinism
.psychic determinism

Question 7

What is biological determinism?

Answer 7

.behaviour is caused by psychological influences eg: genes, that we cannot control

Question 8

What is environmental determinism?

Answer 8

.behaviour is caused by our learning from experience eg: rewards and punishment, that we cannot control

Question 9

what is psychic determinism?

Answer 9

.behaviour is caused by a mixture of innate unconscious drives and childhood experiences, that we cannot control

Question 10

what is a strength to determinism?

Answer 10

.being deterministic is more useful because it attempts to explain behaviour, therefore making it useful for predicting, treating or improving behaviour than free will.

Question 11

what is an example of determinism being useful?

Answer 11

.low serotonin involved in OCD leads to treatments of SSRI’s to increase levels

Question 12

what is strength to free will?

Answer 12

.having the free will view has a practical value, even if we don’t have free will, believing we do has a positive impact on mind and behaviour

Question 13

what is an example of free will having a practical value

Answer 13

roberts et al (2000) - teenagers who believed in ‘fatalism’ were much more likely to develop depression

Question 14

how does determinism have research support?

Answer 14

Libet et al (1983):
.found there was brain activity half a second before participants felt the conscious urge to flick their wrists.
.this suggests even our most basic urges are determined by our brain before we are even aware of them.

Question 15

what is a negative to taking a deterministic view?

Answer 15

.implications for legal system:
.if we don’t choose to commit a crime and it’s in our genes that we are predisposed to commit a crime how can we punished for it?