Free Will and Determinism

• The Debate:

  • is our behaviour due to free will or are we the product of a set of internal/ external influences
• Free Will:

  • suggests humans are self-determining and free to choose their own thoughts and actions
  • Doesn't deny biological or environmental forces but implies we are able to reject them if we wish as we are in control of our thoughts/ behaviours.
  • advocated by humanistic approach
• Determinism:

  • suggests free will has no place in explaining behaviour
  • hard determinism= fatalism, suggests all human behaviour has a cause which should be possible to identify and describe.. Assumes everything we think and do is dictated by internal or external forces
  • soft determinism= William James (1890) thought that whilst science is supposed to explain what determines our behaviour, we still have freedom to make rational conscious choices
• Types of determinism:

  • Biological determinism= emphasises role of biology on behaviour, like influences of the autonomic nervous system on stress response or genes and mental health.
  • Environmental determinism= Skinner described 'free will' as an illusion and argued all behaviour is due to conditioning. May believe we are acting independently but our experience of 'choice' is the sum total of reinforcement contingencies.
  • Psychic determinism= Freud saw behaviour as determined by unconscious conflicts, repressed in childhood. No such thing as an accident in his mind
• Scientific emphasis on casual explanations:

  • basic principle of science is that every event in the universe has a cause which can be explained using general laws.
  • knowledge of these laws allow scientists to predict and control events in the future.
• Strength- Practical value:

  • even if not the case, thinking we have free will can improve our mental health. Study by Roberts (2000) looked at adolescents with a strong belief in fatalism. Found they were at significantly greater risk of developing depression. People who exhibit an external rather than internal locus of control are less likely to be optimistic.
• Limitation: Research Evidence:

  • Libet (1983) found that unconscious brain activity occurred about half a second before participants consciously decided to flick their wrists, suggesting that even basic free will experiences are determined by the brain before we are aware of them.
  • Counterpoint: Libet’s findings show that brain involvement in decision-making is expected. The action preceding conscious awareness doesn't negate free will; it just suggests the decision takes time to reach consciousness, making the evidence less of a challenge to free will.
• Limitation: The Law:

  • hard determinist stance is that the individual choice is not the cause of behaviour. This is not consistent with the way our legal system operates. In a court of law, offenders are held responsible for their actions. The main principle of our legal system is that a defendant exercised their free will in committing the crime. Suggests determinist arguments don't work in the real world