Free will and Determinism AO3

• + free will : practical value: Roberts looked at adolescents who had a strong belief in fatalism, they were at greater risk of developing depression. People who exhibit an internal locus of control are more likely to be optimistic. This suggests that even if we just believe we have free will, it may have a positive impact on the mind and behaviour.
• -free will support : responsibility in law:hard determinism isn't consistent in the way in which our legal system operates. In court, offenders are held responsible for their actions. The main principle of our legal system is that the defendant exercised their free will in committing the crime. This suggests that in the real world, determinist arguments don't work. TED BUNDY -no father figure (psychic determinism), bad childhood (environmental determinism), MAOA Gene (biological determinism).
• -determinism support : Libet asked participants to randomly flick their wrist and say when they felt the will to move. Brain activity was also measured using EEGS. The unconscious brain activity leading up to the conscious decision to move came 1/2 a second before the participants conscious decision to move. This may be interpreted to mean that even our most basic experiences of free will are actually determined by our brain before we are aware of them.
• +free will : However, the fact that people consciously become aware of decisions milliseconds after they had begun to enact the decision still means they may have made the decision to act. Our consciousness of the decision is a -read out of our sometimes unconscious decision - making. This suggests this evidence isn't appropriate as a challenge to free will.
• Extra Eval

  Determinism places psychology on equal footing with other more established sciences and has led to valuable real world applications: therapies. However, free will has intuitive appeal. Most of us see ourselves as making our own choices rather than being 'pushed by forces we can't control. Some people prefer to think that they are free to self-determine.
• Extra Eval

  This suggests that if psychology wants to position itself alongside the natural sciences, determinist accounts are likely to be preferred however common sense experience may be better understood by an analysis of free will. Determinism supports the aims of science; cause and effect of behaviour so treatments can improve quality.