Issues and Debates: Free will and Determinism

Question 1

What is free will?

Answer 1

The notion that humans can make choices and their behaviour is not determined by internal or external factors.

Question 2

What is determinism?

Answer 2

The view that an individuals behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces rather than an individual’s will to do something.

Question 3

What are the 2 contrasts of determinsm?

Answer 3

• Hard determinism
• Soft determinism

Question 4

What is hard determinism?

Answer 4

• The view that ALL human behaviour has a cause, and it should be possible to identify and describe these causes.
• Suggests that all behaviour and thoughts are dictated by internal or external forces that we cannot control.

Question 5

What is soft determinism?

Answer 5

• The view that behaviour may be predictable due to internal and external forces, but there is also the influence of personal choice through limited free will.

Question 6

What are the 3 types of determinism?

Answer 6

• Biological determinism
• Psychic determinism
• Environmental determinism

Question 7

What is biological determinism?

Answer 7

• An emphasis on the role of the biological approach on behaviour- e.g. the influence of the autonomic nervous system on stress response.
• Modern biological psychologists recognise the mediating impact of the environment on our biological structures.

Question 8

What is psychic determinism?

Answer 8

• An emphasis on the role of the psychodynamic approach on behaviour- through the influence of biological drives and insitincts.
• Freud argues that human behaviour is determined by unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood.
• There is no such thing as an accident e.g. Freud argues that a slip of the tongue can be explained by the influence of the unconscious (Freudian slip).

Question 9

What is environmental determinism?

Answer 9

• An emphasis on the role of the behaviourist approach on behaviour- with all behaviour being a result of conditioning.
• Skinner argues that free will is an illusion, and that although we may think that we are acting independently our experience of ‘choice’ is purely the sum of reinforcement that we have experienced throughout our lives.

Question 10

What is the scientific emphasis of causal explanations?

Answer 10

• An assumption of science is that every event in the universe has a cause that can be explained through general laws (hard determinism).
• In psychology lab experiments allow for researchers to scientifically demonstrate causal relationships.

Question 11

Name the 4 evaluation points for the free-will vs determinism debate:

Answer 11

1) Free will practical value (S)
2) Free will appeal (S)
3) Free will research evidence (L)
4) Determinism and the law (L)

Question 12

Explain ‘practical value (S)’ as an evaluation point for the free-will vs determinism debate:

Answer 12

• A strength of free will is that it has practical value.
• A common view is that we exercise free will in our everyday lives on a daily basis. However even if this is not the case, research shows that thinking we do exercise free will can improve our mental health.
• Roberts studied adolescents that had a strong view of fatalism (hard determinism) and found that those adolescents were significantly more likely to develop depression compared to individuals that had an internal locus of control.
• Suggests that even if we do not have free will, the fact that we believe we do may have a positive impact on our mental health and behaviour.

Question 13

Explain ‘free will appeal (S)’ as an evaluation point for the free-will vs determinism debate:

Answer 13

• A strength of free will is that it has initiative appeal.
• Free will may be liberating for some individuals in terms of ‘not accepting one’s fate’- e.g. if they come from a criminal background or there is mental disorder in their family.
  -This contrasts the maladaptive fatalist and determinist accounts of human behaviour that suggests individuals are ‘doomed to repeat’ the behavioural patterns of their parents and families e.g. due to their upbringing or their genetic inheritance.
• Suggests that the viewpoint of free will may be more appealing to those in disadvantaged circumstances compared to harmful views that you are bound to conduct a behaviour.

Question 14

Explain ‘free will research evidence (L)’ as an evaluation point for the free-will vs determinism debate:

Answer 14

• A limitation of free will is that brain scan evidence supports determinism.
• Libet instructed participants to choose a random moment to flick their wrists while he measured activity in their brain. Participants had to say when they felt the conscious will to move.
• Found that the unconscious brain activity leading up to the conscious decision to move occurred around half a second before the participants conscious decision to move.
• Suggests that even our most basic experiences of free will are actually determined by our brain before we are aware of them.

Question 15

Explain ‘determinism and the law (L)’ as an evaluation point for the free-will vs determinism debate:

Answer 15

• A limitation of determinism is the position of the legal system on responsibility.
• Hard determinism argues that individuals choice is not the cause of behaviour- this is not consistent with the way that our legal system works.
• In a court of law, offenders are held responsible for their actions with the view that the offender exercised free will in committing the crime.
• Suggests that in real-world scenarios, deterministic views are not always applicable.