Free will and Determinism Flashcards
What does determinism propose?
- An individuals behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces, rather than their own will
- Internal forces= Biological factors and innate behavioural tendencies proposed by Freud
- External forces= Learnt associations and stimulus response links (behaviourism), imitating role models (social learning theory)
What does free will suggest?
- Assumes individuals have an active role in their controlling their behaviour and aren’t controlled by biological or external forces
- Humanistic approach is 1 of the few that proposes individuals have free will to control their own actions regardless of their internal or external pressures
What are the types of determinism?
- Biological
- Environmental
- Psychic
- Soft
- Hard
What is biological determinism?
- The belief that behaviour is caused by biological influences that we cannot control
- Genes, hormones, brain damage, neurotransmitter levels
What is environmental determinism?
- The belief that behaviour is caused by environmental influences that we cannot control
- Stimulus response links, operant conditioning, those around us (social learning theory)
What is psychic determinism?
- The belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts that we cannot control, which may stem from early childhood
- Influences= The influence of the ID on our behaviour, the influence of childhood traumas that have been repressed into the unconscious mind but continue to influence behaviour
What is soft determinism?
- Whilst all human behaviour may have a cause, individuals have the capacity to make conscious choices about their behaviour
- Although behaviour is predictable, this doesn’t make it inevitable
- Individuals are free to choose their behaviour, although this may be from a limited repertoire dictated by internal and external forces
What is hard determinism?
- All human behaviour has a cause and it’s theoretically possible to identify and describe all of these casual behaviours
- This approach fits with the goals of science to establish universal laws governing behaviour
What is scientific emphasis on causal explanations?
Psychology’s tendency to observe 1 variable affecting another
What is 1 of the basic principles of science?
- Every event in the universe has a cause and that cause can be explained using general laws
- Knowledge of causes and the formulation of laws are important as they allow scientists to predict and control events in the future
What criteria leads to causal explanations being established:
- All variables, such as confounding and extraneous, are controlled
- Any differences in the dependent variables must therefore be down to the independent variables
- As a result, researchers can then infer that the independent variable clearly affected the dependent variable
If the point is:
Taking a more deterministic view can allow for a more scientific approach
What is the explanation, evidence and link?
Explanation- One of the key goals of science is the establishment of nomothetic laws of behaviour that allow scientists to make predictions and potentially control future events. Taking a deterministic approach helps this, as it seeks to identify exact causes of behaviour. Hence, identifying the exact causes of behaviour naturally leads to being able to predict behaviour in future
Evidence- For example, identifying OCD as being caused in part by faulty genetics can help establish a general law.
Link- Therefore, this scientific approach can be extremely useful and has societal benefits.
If the point is:
An issue with researching behaviour as a response of free will is that there is evidence from the field of neuropsychology which suggests that free will is a fallacy.
What is the evidence and link?
Evidence- Chun Siong Soon et al found that brain activity relating to whether to press a button with the left or right hand occurs in the brain up to 10 seconds before participants report being consciously aware of making such a decision.
Link- This suggests that there are questions around free will will may limit its reliability and credibility.
If the point is:
An issue with researching behaviour from a deterministic view is that deterministic perspectives have major complications for the criminal justice system, as crime must be the result of an individuals free will.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- For example, in the case of Stephen Mobley who was found guilty of shooting a pizza shop manager, the legal teams request for genetic testing to see if he had inherited a ‘criminal gene’ had to be thrown out of court.
Explanation- The notion that this crime may have been committed completely outside of Mobley’s control conflicts with the legal systems idea that the crime was entirely voluntary. A conflict therefore exists between what psychology and the criminal justice system suggest is the cause of all human behaviour.
Link- Therefore, the resolution of this debate would have far reaching consequences, particularly for those who would have criminal sentences quashed on the notion that they were always ‘destine’ to commit a crime.
If the point is:
A strength of the determinism vs free will debate is that an interactionist perspective may offer the best compromise within the debate.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- Some approaches include aspects of both determinism and free will. The cognitive explanation of phobias suggests they’re due to faulty thinking, a deterministic view. However, cognitive therapies encourage individuals to use their own free will.
Explanation- Similarly, approaches in psychology that have a cognitive element, such as social learning theory, tend to adopt an interactionist or soft determinism perspective
Link- This perspective offers perhaps the most complete explanation of many behaviours.
