Free will and determinism

• Free will: the idea that humans make choices and that their behaviour and thoughts are not determined by internal or external forces
• determinism: the idea that human behaviour is controlled by internal and external forces rather than personal will to do something
• hard determinism: all human behaviour has a cause which we can identify and free will is an illusion
• soft determinism: behaviour is predictable with internal and external causes but there is room for personal choice
• biological determinism: behaviour is caused by biological influences beyond our control. behaviour is innate. E.g., nervous systems role in fight or flight, neurotransmitters and depression, genes and OCD, testosterone and aggression.
• environmental determinism: behaviour is caused by the features of the environment. Skinner described free will as an illusion and argues all behaviour is as a result of conditioning. This suggests behaviour is due to external forces.
• Psychic determinism: behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts. This type of determinism emphasises biological drives and instincts and states behaviour is determined by unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood. (internal and external forces)
• Causal explanations: basic principle of science is that every event has a cause and these can be explained with general laws. knowledge of these allows scientists to predict and control events. In psychology, the laboratory experiment allows researchers to stimulate the conditions of the test tube and remove all extraneous variables to establish cause and effect
• Determinism is consistent with the aims of science. The idea that behaviour is orderly and predictable is in line with the more established sciences such as biology and chemistry. If we can predict behaviour, we can try and prevent certain behaviours occurring, or deal with them effectively when they do occur. This means that determinism has led to development of many treatments that have been beneficial.
• This view is not consistent with how our legal system works. In a court of law offenders are held responsible for their own actions –they can’t blame their DNA or the environment! Despite evidence for particular genetic combinations (MAOA and CDH13) being linked to offender behaviour, this cannot be used as ‘an excuse’ to commit crime. This suggests that it would be difficult to prove that behaviour was definitely the

  result of determinism.
• 1. There is research that suggests free will plays an important role in our behaviour. Those with an internal locus of control tend to be more mentally healthy than those with an external locus of control. Also, Roberts et al (2000) found that adolescents who had a strong belief in fatalism (hard determinism) were more likely to suffer from depression. This suggests that if we think we have free will, it can have a positive impact on our mind and behaviour
• 2. On the other hand, there is evidence from neurological studies that free will is not possible. Chun Siong Soon et al (2008) gave pps a study where they had to press a button with their left or right hand. The brain activity was activated 10 seconds before they actually used that hand to press the button, before pps reported feeling consciously aware of which button they were going to press! This suggests that simple choices have already been predetermined by our brain before we are even aware of them!