Free Will And Determinism Flashcards
(16 cards)
Is this an issue or a debate
Debate
What is free will
The belief that individuals are free to chose their own behaviour and it is not restricted by internal or external forces. Overall saying that we are active agents and free to chose out own thoughts and suggests that we can reject these biological and environmental forces.
Give an example of free will
The humanistic approach
What is determinism
The belief that peoples actions and behaviours are completely determined by their internal and external force operating on them. For example types of leaning and genetics.
What are the types of determinism
Soft - determinism
Hard- determinism
What is soft-determinism and example
The view that the behaviour has a cause and therefore maybe predictable, but there is no room for us to have conscious control over what we have.
This was shown in the cognitive approach, that we can use gender schema theory to support the point.
A schema is a small packet of information that is stored into out LTM that has infomation about gener stereotypes that are built up from experiences ad agents of socialisation. They make short cuts about how specific genders should behave, eg girls play with dolls.
Whats hard determinism
The view that all human behaviour has internal and external cause that can be identified and described (cause and effect relationships seen in experiments).
What are the types of hard determinism
Biological determinism
Environmental determinism
Psychic determinism
Whats biological determinism
The belief that the behaviour is caused by biological influences that we can’t control
What are the examples of biological determinism
Gender - hormones and chromosomes
Men = xy chromosomes and more testosterone which can link to aggression and a high sex drive. Sex is determined at birth if the sperm contributes a y then it will be a boy but if it contributes a x then it will be a girl
Women = xx chromosomes, hormones such as oestrogen leading to mire caring and nurturing
SZ - genetics
What is environmental determinism
This the belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment (such as reward and punishment) that we cant control.
For example, the two process model for phobias.
For example the cupboard love theory
Whats psychic determinism
The belief that behaviour is caused by tht unconscious psychodynamic conflicts that we cant control,
For example, offending behaviour (inadequate superego)
The types (explain)
Weak
Deviant
Overharsh
Another example is the psychosexual stages (consequences of fixation) - explain
A03 - argument for free will
P- people believe that we are self-determining and have free will
E- everyday experiences gives us the impression we are free in the choices we make daily
E- this gives us a certain amount of face validity to the concept of free will. In fact belief in free will have psychological beliefs.
HOWEVER, belief in something doesn’t make it true and skinner argued that free will was an illusion
A03- argument against free will
P- there is psychological research evidence that demonstrates that we don’t have free will
E- libet showed that the brain can indicate which hand a person chooses to move before the person is consciously aware of having made that choice.
E- this can indicate that people aren’t actually making their own free decisions, as they are being destined by the brain.
FURTHERMORE, the brain indication of which hand will come up in 10 seconds before the choice in some people
A03- argument for determinism
P- science and sceintific research supports determinism because the basic principle of science is to establish the causes in order to predict and control events.
E- in determining the cause if mental illness, supports the idea of determinism because no one would choices to have a mental lines like Sz.
E- therefore the terms of mental illnesses would be determined, then would have practical applications in understanding the cause of illnesses to then develop successful treatments options.
HOWEVER, determinism is an unfalsifiable concept
A03- argument again determinism
P- had determinism is an issue for the legal system excuse criminals can argue that their behaviour is determined and their hey shouldn’t b punished.
E- the legal system relies in pole being held accountable for their actions an assumes that they have moral responsibility
E- the had determinism stance is out of keeping in societies vies on our moral responsibly over their behaviour.
HOWEVER, if it’s more soft determinism that is the case then although influences may increase the chance of offending, people can make more choices to act in a non-criminal way.
