Free will and determinism

• Define free will


  The notion that humans can make choices and their behaviour is not determined by biological or external forces
• Define determinism


  The view that an individuals behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces rather than an individuals will to do something
• Define hard determinism


  All human behaviour has a cause and it should be possible to identify these causes. It assumes that everything we do is dictated by internal or external forces that we cannot control.
• Define soft determinism.


  The view that behaviour may be predictable but there is also room for personal choice from a limited range of possibilities (restricted free will).
• Who came up with soft determinism?


  William James 1980
• What are the three types of determinism?


  Biological

  Environmental

  Psychic
• What is biological determinism?


  The belief that behaviour is caused by biological (genetic, hormonal, evolutionary) influences that we cannot control.
• What is environmental determinism?


  Skinner described free will as an illusion. All behaviour is the result of conditioning. While we may think we are acting independently, our experience of choice is merely the sum total of reinforcement contingencies that have acted upon us throughout our lives.
• What is psychic determinism?


  Freud emphasised the influences of biological drives and instincts. He saw behaviour determined by unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood.