free will vs determinism

• free will


  -humans make choices & are not determined by biology or external forces
• determinism


  -behaviour is shared/controlled by internal & external factors opposed to someone deciding to do a behaviour
• hard determinism


  free will is not possible, we are always caused by factors out of our control
• soft determinism


  all events have causes but behaviour can also be controlled by conscious choices
• biological determinism


  behaviour is caused by biology only & cannot be controlled
• psychic determinism


  behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts we cannot control
• environmental determinism


  behaviour is caused by features of the environment e.g., reward & punishment
• AO2 - free will vs determinism

  -biological approach: hard determinism; biological determinism; example: MAOA-L = aggression

  -SLT: soft determinism; environmental determinism; example: mediational processes

  -behaviourist approach: hard determinism; environmental determinism; example: conditioning

  -psychodynamic approach: hard determinism; psychic determinism; example: Freudian slips

  -humanistic approach: free will, is not deterministic; example: self-actualisation

  -cognitive approach: soft determinism
• causal explanation


  -according to science, everything has a cause

  -this allows general laws to be made

  -phenomena can be predicted/controlled
• reciprocal determinism (not on spec)

  -behaviour shapes the environment & the environment also shapes behaviour
• evaluation


  Strength(s):

  -hard determinism has RWA in informing treatments e.g., antipsychotics

  -determinism has helped develop psychology as a science (refer to the features of science)

  -research support - Libet et al: ppts had to randomly flick their wrists & tell the psychologists when they had the conscious thought to do this. Found that brain activity happened 0.5 seconds before the conscious thought to move. Shows that people do not have free will

  
  

  Weakness(es):

  -free will is only liberating to some

  -biological determinism has been used as a legal defence