Free will vs Determinism

• what is free will

  The belief that people are able to choose how they behave. Behaviours are a result of decisions and interactions. However people with OCD don't appear to have free will.
• What is determinism

  All physical events are caused by cause and effect including human behaviour.

  Thoughts, Beliefs, behaviours are inflicted by past events

  Scientific approach

  unfalsifiable - events can be the result of undiscovered forces
• What is Biological determinism

  >All our unconscious brain processes are out of our control

  >Many behaviours have a genetic basis from hormones, e.g testosterone and aggression
• Environmental determinism

  Free will is an illusion and all behaviour is the result of conditioning through reinforcement

  Behaviourist approach
• Psychic determinism

  Human behaviour is the result of unconscious processes impacted by childhood

  No such thing as an accident, all actions are influenced by the subconcious
• Determinism eval

  +Has a scientific basis

  >lead to the development of treatments to psychological illness such as depression

  -legal system uses free will

  -unfalsifiable, you cant prove it wrong because unknown variables may influence it
• Free will Eval


  +Judicial system is based on free will

  +people with an internal locust of control are happier overall

  -Chun soon et al(2008)

  >our brain may precede our decision making and that we have no control over our decisions

  >when people are given a choice to press one of two buttons the brain-waves make the decision up to 10 seconds before the button press