free will and determinism

• determinism 


  the belief that behaviour is controlled by external or internal factors acting upon the individual and beyond their control
• biological determinism 


  the view that behaviour is always caused by internal biological forces beyond our control, such as the influence of genes
• environmental determinism 


  the belief that behaviour is caused by previous experience through classical and operant conditioning
• psychic determinism 


  freuds theory of personality suggests that adult behaviour is determined by a mix of innate drives and early experience. these result in unconscious conflicts over which we have no control
• free will


  Each individual has the power to make choices about their behaviour, without being determined by internal or external forces beyond their control. A common feature of the humanistic approach.
• hard determinism 


  The view that all behaviour can be predicted, according to the action of internal and external forces beyond our control, and so there can be no free will. For example, behaviourism suggests that all behaviour is the product of classical and operant conditioning, the biological approach sees behaviour as the product of genes and neurochemistry, whilst social learning theory suggests that behaviour is the product of vicarious reinforcement and mediational processes.
• soft determinism


  A version of determinism that allows for some element of free will and suggests that all events, including human behaviour, has a cause. For example, the cognitive approach suggests that individuals can reason and make decisions within the limits of their cognitive system.
• The importance of scientific research


  scientific research is based on the belief that all events have a cause. An independent variable is manipulated to have an effect on the dependent variable. Through repeating the research under controlled conditions (e.g. using a laboratory experiment) and performing statistical tests, a ‘cause and effect’ relationship can be established between two variables. This increases the scientific credibility of Psychology, through enabling the prediction and control of behaviour.
• evaluation of determinism


  (-) 100% genetic determinism is unlikely to be found for any behaviour - e.g. studies on monozygotic twins have found 80% similarity for intelligence and 40% for depression, suggesting genes do not entirely determine behaviour.

  (-) simplifies human behaviour

  (-) may be used for people to try and justify behaviours if they have committed a crime
• humanistic approach 


  Humanistic psychologists argue that self-determinism is a necessary part of human behaviour. Rogers (1959) claimed that as long as an individual remains controlled by other people or other things they cannot take responsibility for their own behaviour and therefore cannot change it. Only when an individual takes self responsibility is personal growth or ‘self-actualisation’ possible. By taking such a stance, humanism has been praised as a positive approach, essentially seeing people as good and free to ‘better themselves’.
• moral responsibility 


  The basis is that an individual is in charge of their own actions. The law states that children and those who are mentally ill do not have this responsibility but other than this, there is an assumption that normal adult behaviour is self-determined.The basis is that an individual is in charge of their own actions. The law states that children and those who are mentally ill do not have this responsibility but other than this, there is an assumption that normal adult behaviour is self-determined.
• evaluation of free will


  (-) the illusion of free will - A person may choose to do something but these choices are determined by previous reinforcement contingencies, as suggested by the behaviourist approach. This is a hard deterministic stance.

  (-) Benjamin Libet et al (1983) recorded activity in motor areas of the brain before the person had a conscious awareness to move their finger (suggests that the motor activity preceding movement occurred before the conscious decision was made)

  (+) good face validity

  (+)high internal validity
• Robert et al


  found that adolescents with an internal locus of control (an individual’s idea of what controls events in their lives) are less likely to develop depression and are more likely to have better mental health, compared to those with an external locus of control. These differences in LOC and mental health states supports the idea that free will can be used to help us determine what controls our life events, and so we make such conscious decisions.