free will vs determinism

• Free will is when we have full control over our behaviour.
• The psychodynamic approach assumes psychic determinism, where behaviour is caused by the unconscious mind.
• The behaviourist approach assumes environmental determinism, where all behaviour is caused by our environment.
• The biological approach assumes biological determinism, where all behaviour is caused by biological factors, inside the body.
• The humanistic approach assumes free will
• The scientific approach to psychology involves studying cause and effect relationships, and making reliable predictions about behaviour. However, we can only do this if determinism is true and psychologists do make reliable predictions about behaviour so this is an argument against free will
• Free will is unfalsifiable because it doesn’t allow for predictions about behaviour.
• Determinism is unfalsifiable because we can only falsify claims about specific causes for behaviour and we cannot falsify the general idea that behaviour has a cause.
• The humanistic approach argues that the fact that free will matches our subjective experience is a good enough reason to assume that we have free will.
• Determinists argue that our subjective experience of free will is just an illusion
• People who believe in free will may have better mental health, because of their locus of control. Benassi et al found people with external locus of control were more likely to develop depression. It is difficult to have an internal locus of control unless you assume free will. This is positive as free will is compatible with successful therapy outcomes.
• Assuming free will can unfairly blame people for behaviour that wasn’t their fault. Behaviour may actually be caused by biological or environmental factors and individuals may not have full control over all behaviours. This is problematic as free will does not consider these factors.
• Problematic legal implications of determinism. Determinism means that no one is responsible for their actions which means that we cannot use the legal system to punish criminals on the basis that they deserve punishment, however we can still punish criminals as a deterrent. This is problematic as it limits the usefulness of the legal system.
• Hard determinism is the view that we never have control over our behaviour.
• Soft determinism is the view that our choices are constrained by biology and the environment, but we have free will to choose within those options.
• Examples of soft determinist approaches are social learning theory and the cognitive approach.