Free will vs Determinism

• Argument of free will vs determinism

  does out behaviour have a cause or is it out own choice?
• determinism

  every human behaviour is caused
• types of determinism

  biological, psychic, environmental
• biological determinism

  behaviours is caused by our biology
• psychic determinism

  behaviour is the result of our unconscious conflicts
• environmental determinism

  Behaviour is caused by external factors
• Why is determinism useful?

  The cause of behaviour can be discovered and causal laws can be established

  We can then predict how people are going to behave and how we can control it
• evidence for the determinism view

  • fight or flight - how we react to threat is biologically pre-determined
  • behaviourism - behaviour is caused by learning via classical and operant conditioning
• positive evaluation of determinism

  • psychologists can use methods of natural science which are objective and reliable
  • psychologists can apply their findings
• negative evaluation of determinism

  • reductionist - focuses on one cause rather than all possible factors
  • contradicts our own personal experience that we are in control of our behaviour
  • unfalsifiable - assumes there will be a cause for behaviour even if we haven’t found it yet
• free will

  we have complete freedom to choose our own behaviour
• evidence for free will

  • humanism - hierarchy of needs - we choose what needs to prioritise in order to achieve self actualisation
  • humanism - person centred therapy - client is in control of what they discuss in the sessions
• positive evaluation of free will

  • fits with our own understanding of behaviour that we do things because we want to
  • holistic - looks at the whole person rather than just one cause
  • can support people to make better choices
• negative evaluation of free will

  Bode et al found that changes in the brain can be seen on an MRI before the person is aware of the decision being made

  we may have no need for psychology
• who proposed soft determinism?

  William James
• soft determinism

  behaviour is free from coercion or restraint but is influenced by other factors
• evidence for soft determinism

  social learning - aggressive behaviour in children was influenced by models