Free Will and Determinism

• What is the deterministic approach?

  This involves surrendering any autonomy for ones actions or the actions of others
• What is the free will approach?

  This involves assuming autonomy for one's actions even in the face of strong external influences
• Examples of the free will approach

  • The humanistic approach, sees the individual as actively making their decisions and shaping their life rather than allowing external influences to shape them
• Strengths of free will

  • Has good face validity, as in everyday scenarios we appear to be making our own decisions
  • Humanistic approach is the only approach that considers the whole persons within their real contexts
• Limitations of free will

  • Free will is difficult to test, as there is problems operationalising the concepts within humanisms, so lacks reliability
  • The concept of free will may be incompatible with certain cultures
• What are the different types of determinism?

  • Hard determinism
  • Soft determinism
  • Biological determinism
  • Environmental determinism
  • Psychic determinism
• What is hard determinism

  • Based on the cause-effect explanations, assumes all types of behaviour can be explained using general, causal laws of behaviour
  • The behaviourist approach, due to the simple cause and effect explanation
• What is soft determinism?

  • Based on hard determinism but it includes the mediating effects of cognitive factors like thoughts and emotions, which means that humans can exercise some control over outcomes
  • The cognitive approach, the concept of the schema is dictated to some extent by external factor but the individual can exercise some control over how it develops
• What is biological determinism?

  • Assumes biological processes control behaviour like neurotransmitters, hormones and genes
  • Biological approach, assumes that biological processes determine behaviour and outcomes (theory of localisation of function)
• What is environmental determinism?

  • Based on the idea of conditioning, humans are controlled by external forces like agents of socialisation (parents, teachers)
  • Behaviourist approach, token economies emphasise the role of external rewards as the motivation to change behaviour
• What is psychic determinism?

  • Based on the idea that humans are controlled by inter, unconscious drives which are derived from repressed conflicts
  • Psychodynamic approach, people unconsciously repress their true desires due to conflicts developed in early childhood
• What is the importance of scientific research?

  Scientific research is based on the belief that all events have a cause. An independent variable is manipulated to have an effect on the dependent variable
• Strengths of determinism

  • These principles are in line with the features of science
  • Some behaviours may be determined by external forces rather than being the product of free will (PTSD as the result of being exposed to war)
• Limitations to determinism

  • If determinism is 100% valid then it would mean that everyone born under the same circumstances would end up with the same experiences or outcomes, but this isn't true
  • Determinism is unfalsifiable as it can't pinpoint the causes of behaviour all the time