Free will and determinism debate

• idea that free will is an illusion is ongoing debate
• sam harris argued free will is an illusion
• determinism is the opposite of free will
• determinism is the view that free will is an illusion and therefore behaviour is governed by internal (hormones) or external (parents rewarding behaviour) forces over which we have no control
• in a deterministic debate behaviour could be seen as predictable
• hard determinism is where forces outside of our control (genetics/ past experience) shape out behaviour
• soft determinism is where behaviour is constrained by environmental or biological makeup - only to certain extent and there is an element of free will
• heather proposed while our behaviour is predictable that doesnt make it inevitable
• free will is where we play an active role and have choice in how we behave - individuals are free to choose behaviour and so we are self determined
• examples of determinism include - biological, environmental, psychic and scientific
• biological determinism is when our behavior is determined by our genes for example in psychopathology the biological approach - ODC is partially genetic - nestadt et al shoes that if an individual has a relative with ODC they are 5 times more likely to have OCD
• environmental determinism is where our behavior is determined by previous experiences and learning (operant and classical conditioning) an example includes banduras bobo doll experiment
• psychic determinism is where behaviour is determined by our innate drives and early experiences - driven by the libido. for example the psychodynamic approach - gender behaviourists acquired during phallic stage (oedipus and electra complex)
• scientific determinism is where behaviour is determined by a cause and all events have a cause - IV manipulated to change DV. for example harlows monkeys
• humanistic psychology is an example of free will approach - argues against determinism view claiming humans have self determination and free will and behaviour is not result of any single result
• evaluation - genetic determinism - limitation

  • humanistic psychology argues against idea of determinism claiming humans have self determination and free will
  • evidence to support - identical twin studies find 80% similarity in intelligence scores + 40% similarity in likelihood of depression
  • however, as twins share 100% genes - results suggest 20% are caused by environmental factors - demonstrates biological determinism is unable to explain particular behavior
  • same evidence indicates no behaviour is completely environmentally determined
• evaluation - psychic determinism - limitation

  • although freud seems to support deterministic point of view - argued unconscious controls actions and thoughts. goal of psychoanalysis is to help patients overcome that force
  • example - erich fromm - argued all of us have potential to control our lives but many are too afraid to do so
  • means we give up on freedom and allow our lives to be governed by circumstance and other people
  • however determinism is not inevitable
• evaluation - hard determinism - limitation

  • psychologist theorists do not favour deterministic view - if behaviour is determined by outside forces it provides excuse for criminal acts
  • example - stephen mobley argued he was 'born to kill' after killing pizza shop manager - his family had disposition towards violence and aggressive behaviour (brought up within)
  • therefore, hard determinist position may be undesirable as it provides excuse - allowing people to mitigate own liability
• evaluation - free will - limitation

  • idea of free will has gotten circumstances
  • psychologists such as skinner argue free will is an illusion - skinner insisted our behaviour is environmentally determined
  • more recent evidence provides support to skinners claim - libet et al found motore regions of brain became active before person registers conscious awareness.
  • strongly suggests many responses are biologically determined and skinners claim on free will is an illusion may be correct
• evaluation - scientific determinism - limitation

  • science is heavily deterministic -whether independent variable manipulates the dependent variable
  • example - bandura measured effect of aggression levels on children
  • experiments tend to minimise importance of extraneous variables that have not been controlled and then go onto generate human behaviour without acknowledging at diff time place the behaviour not being influenced by the independent variable
  • therefore no experiment can be proved right until extraneous variables are taken into consideration