Free will and Determinism

• The debate is about

  -if our behaviour is under full conscious control. The other side is that behaviour is caused by external factors.
• Free will

  -suggests behaviour is a personal choice and is under full conscious control. We are autonomous beings, self-governing and self-directing.

  -The humanistic approach: Rogers and Maslow are advocate for this.
• Determinism

  -suggests behaviour is caused by internal or external forces beyond our conscious control.

  -Discovering these causes means behaviour is predictable.
• Biological determinism

  -is when behaviour is caused by internal physiological processes or aspects of biology.

  -e.g. the COMT gene controls high levels of dopamine and SERT controls OCD levels, have low serotonin levels.
• Environmental determinism

  -is when behaviour is caused by direct interaction with the environment. Reinforcement and punishment, role models and classical conditioning.

  -e.g. Bobo doll study - Bandura studied aggression in children which was caused by them observing a violent role model.
• Psychic determinism

  -is when behaviour is caused by unconscious mental processes.

  -e.g. aggression caused by the ID.
• Hard determinism

  -is the belief that behaviour is cause by internal/external forces that humans cannot override.
• Soft determinism

  -argues behaviour is caused by internal/external forces that humans can override with their conscious control.