Free Will & Determinism

• The free will/ determinism debate outlines the extent to which our behaviour is the result of forces over which we have no control or whether people decide for themselves whether to act or behave in a certain way.
• The free will/ determinism debate explores whether our behaviour is by choice or controlled by other factors.
• Free will suggests that we all have a choice and can control and choose our own behaviour.
• Psychologists who take the free will view suggest that determinism removes freedom and dignity, and devalues human behaviour.
• Free will emphasises the importance of the individual and studying individual differences.
• Some critics suggest it is impossible to scientifically test the concept of free will.
• Few people would agree that behaviour is always completely under the control of the individual, so free will alone cannot determine behaviour.
• The deterministic approach proposes that all behaviour is pre-determined by specific factors and is therefore predictable.
• Some see the source of this determinism as being outside the individual (environmental determinism) whereas others see it from coming inside such as unconscious motivation or genetic determinism (biological determinism).
• Environmental determinism is the idea that our behaviour is caused by some sort of outside influence e.g. parental influence.
• Biological determinism suggests our biological processes, like the nervous system, govern our behaviour.
• Psychic determinism uses ideas from the psychodynamic approach and Freud, who believed childhood experiences and unconscious motivations governed behaviour.
• Hard determinism sees free will as an illusion and believes that every event and action has a cause.
• Soft determinism represents a middle ground; people do have a choice, but that choice is constrained by external factors.
• Determinism is scientific and allows cause and effect relationships to be established.
• Determinism take a reductionist approach to explaining behaviour.
• Determinism does not account for individual differences. By creating general laws of behaviour, deterministic Psychology underestimates the uniqueness of human beings and their freedom to choose their own destiny.
• Deterministic explanations for behaviour reduce individual responsibility.
• Determinism is the belief that all events are determined by previous causes, while free will is the belief that individuals have the ability to make choices independent of external influences. These two concepts are often seen as incompatible, as determinism suggests that free will is an illusion.
• The main arguments for determinism are the principle of causality, the scientific understanding of cause and effect, and the idea that all events have prior causes.
• Free will suggests that we have the ability to control and choose our own behaviour.
• The concept of free will suggests that humans have the ability to make choices and decisions, which influences their behaviour and the value of their actions.
• Determinism reduces individual responsibility by suggesting that all actions and choices are predetermined by external factors, such as genetics or environment, and therefore individuals have no true control over their actions.
• Deterministic explanations for behaviour have limitations because they overlook the influence of free will and individual agency, and fail to account for the complexity and variability of human behaviour.
• The principle of causality states that every event has a cause. It is closely related to determinism, which is the belief that all events are determined by previous causes.