Issues and Debates - Free Will v Determinism Flashcards
Key terms
Free Will - the ability to choose your own actions and have control over your circumstance unaffected by external factors
Determinism - All behaviour is influenced by factors outside of our control, whether internal or external
Hard determinism - the view that forces outside of our control shape our behaviour, and there is no free will at all
Soft determinism - behaviour is constrained by external factors, but only to a certain extent
Biological determinism - most of our behaviour and human characteristics are determined by hereditary factors
Environmental determinism - Behaviour is controlled completely by factors in our environment or forces outside the individual
Psychic determinism - Human behaviour is the result of childhood experiences and innate drives
Causal explanations - the explanation of the internal physical mechanism of a phenomenon; how is an effect create by a cause
What is determinism?
- Behaviour is shaped and controlled by internal and/or external forces rather than the individual’s will to do something.
- Hard determinism = implies that free will is not possible as our behaviour is always caused by internal or external factors beyond our control. Otherwise known as fatalism. It is compatible with the scientific approach.
- Soft determinism = all human behaviour has causes, but behaviour can also be determined by our conscious choices in the absence of coercion i.e. we also have conscious mental control.
Types of determinism
Biological determinism = the belief that behaviour is caused by biological influences (i.e. physical) that we cannot control e.g. genes, hormones, neuroanatomy, nervous system, evolutionary factors.
Environmental determinism = the belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment and other agents of socialisation (external factors) that are beyond our control e.g. rewards, punishments, associations.
Psychic determinism = the belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts (repressed in childhood) that we cannot control.
What is free will?
- Free will is the idea that humans can make choices (e.g. our thoughts, actions) and are not determined by biological or external forces. Therefore, we are self-determining.
- Other forces influence our behaviour, but this implies that we can reject these forces.
Examples of free will and determinism
- Hard determinism = biological and behaviourist (environment) approaches (and therefore any theories based on them).
- Soft determinism = cognitive approach and social learning theory (and therefore any theories based on them).
- Biological determinism = genetic/neural explanations of crime, influences of chromosomes and hormones in gender, biological explanations of OCD, biological explanations of schizophrenia
- Environmental determinism = learning explanation of attachment, acquisition and maintenance of phobias
- Psychic determinism = psychodynamic explanation of crime, Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation, psychoanalytic explanation of gender development.
- Free will – Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the humanistic approach
Free will and humanism
- The humanistic approach is one of the few to adopt a free will perspective on behaviour. The concept was central to Roger’s client centred therapy in that people are seen as being free to effect change in their lives by choosing to see their situation differently. Having removed the psychological barriers that may be preventing personal growth, people are free to work towards their potential (self actualisation).
- Explain how Rogers’ approach to therapy illustrates his belief in free will. Refer to humanistic concepts such as conditions of worth and congruence in your answer.
Discussing free will - supporting evidence
- Everyday experience gives us the impression that we are constantly choosing our thoughts and actions, and so the concept has face validity
- Research suggests that people who have an internal locus of control tend to be more mentally healthy and research has also found that adolescents with a strong belief in fatalism (lives our decided by events outside of their control) were at a significantly larger risk of developing depression
- This suggests that even if we do not have free will, the fact that we think we fo may have a positive impact on our mind and our behaviours
Discussing free will - contrasting evidence
- Studies have recorded activity in motor areas of the brain before the person had conscious awareness of the decision to move their finger, in other words the decision to move the finder as simply a ‘read-out’ of a predetermined action
- This suggests that even our most basic experiences of free will are decided and determined by our brain before we become aware of them
Discussing determinism - supporting evidence
- This view is consistent with the aims of science - the notion that human behaviour is orderly and obeys laws places psychology on equal footing with other more established sciences
- Additionally, the value of psychological research is the that prediction and control of human behaviour has led to treatments, therapies and behavioural interventions that have benefited many e.g. drug treatments for managing schizophrenia and the experience of total loss of control over thoughts and behaviour in this case supports the determinism side of the debate and casts doubt on the other
- At least in terms of mental illness, behaviour is determined - science is also deterministic, and so scientific psychology is determinist
Discussing determinism - contrasting evidence
- This argument is incompatible with notions of legal responsibility and creates an issue in the treatment of mental disorders - in US criminal cases, there have been attempts to claim that behaviour was caused by inherited aggressive tendencies and so they should not be given the death penalty
- These arguments have been rejected, and in a court of law offenders are held morally accountable for their actions and a determinist position would be undesirable because it would allow individuals to excuse their behaviour
- The view that disorders such as OCD are caused by an individuals biology then it follows treatments should target genes of neurotransmitters and this view has consequences as determinist treatments for mental health problems may mean that other treatments that might be beneficial such as CBT are not considered; sometimes a combination of treatments is excluded
- It is doubtful that this will 100% cause will be true of any behaviour - a review of twin studies found 68% concordance for MZ twins on OCD compared to 31% in DZ twins which suggests that genes do not entirely determine behaviour, but also that the environment cannot be the sole determining factor in behaviour, and so environmental explanations cannot solely determine behaviour
Why is science deterministic?
- Aims to establish causal explanations
- In order to be falsifiable, objective and replicable science has to make laws and paradigms that can be repeated and established to make judgements about human behaviour
- As a result, science is deterministic and it rejects subjectivity - behaviour has a cause that can be investigated and established, such as a biological reason for blue eyes can be - it deals with facts, and facts are determining as they state how things occur
- Therefore, the scientific nature of psychology lends itself to determinism, unless the approach specifies they reject science (humanistic) in which case psychology focuses on free will
The compromise between determinism and free will
- Those approaches in psychology that have a cognitive element are those which tend to adopt a soft determinist approach e.g. Bandura argued that although environmental factors were key factors in learning, we are also free to choose who or what we attend to and when to perform certain behaviours
- Typically, an interactionists approach may provide us with the best middle ground, such as the diathesis stress model of schizophrenia
Libet’s experiment into determinism and free will
- EEG measurement of activity when an individual is asked to spontaneously click the keyboard and record the time on the clock at which they think they clicked
- The results showed that there was subconscious activity in the brain before the individual makes the decision out of free will and completes the task - the brain is therefore preparing for the decision and so predetermining behaviour
- EEG - good temporal validity, valid results and appropriate for this experiment into general neural activity
- Behaviour is determined, but we have the free will to think we have made a clear choice - thinking we have free will does however positively affect our behaviour, making us think we are in control of our own actions
