Free Will and Determinism

• There are three types of determinism: biological determinism, environmental determinism and psychic determinism.
• Determinism refers to the view that an individual’s behaviour is controlled by external factors that they cannot control. As such, behaviour is said to be predictable.
• Free-will refers to the view that all individuals are able to fully choose their behaviour and have an active role in their behaviour.
• Hard determinism refers to a view of determinism where there is no free-will at all. Typically associated with a biological approach.
• Soft determinism is a view of determinism where there is some acknowledgement of the influence of free-will and choices in behaviour.
• Biological determinism: explaining behaviour as being caused by biological factors such as genetics, brain structure and neurochemistry. Behaviour is inherited and can be predicted using biological mechanisms.
• An example of biological determinism lies in the biological explanations of OCD (COMT and SERT genes) and schizophrenia (dopamine hypothesis).
• Environmental determinism: explaining behaviour as being caused by previous social or cultural experiences and interactions.
• An example of environmental determinism is the acquisition of phobias by association (classical conditioning) or the double-bind theory of schizophrenia.
• Psychic determinism: the implication that adult behaviour is caused by childhood experiences and interactions, particularly if psychosexual stages are unresolved at childhood and fixations occut as an adult.
• An example of psychic determinism is the theory of a faulty/undeveloped superego with an abnormal identification with a same sex parent causing adult criminality.
• The humanistic approach argues that all humans have free-will and that self-actualisation is a necessary part of human development and behaviour.
• Limitation of determinism - no behaviour is fully determined

  -MZ and DZ twin studies rarely ever show high concordance rates for particular behaviours (MZ twins have 69% for OCD and 48% for SZ). A large % must be due to other factors.

  -Causal relationships are probabilistic (increase the likelihood of behaviour) rather than a sole cause.

  -Interactionist approaches are more appropriate.
• Strength of determinism - predictability

  + Explaining behaviour as having a cause allows researchers to find patterns of behaviour and allow for a close examination of the source of certain behaviours.

  + This allows targeting certain areas associated with mental disorders and hence a pathway for treatment - Schizophrenia.

  + Has scientific credibility.
• Limitation of free-will - culturally relative concept

  -Behaviourists claim that a person may choose to enact a particular behaviour, but this is an illusion as the behaviour is determined by previous reinforcement experiences.

  -In addition, a view of self-actualisation may be more applicable to individualist cultures as collectivist cultures base their values on group needs.

  -Hence free-will is a product of socialisation.
• Limitation of free-will - research challenges

  -Activity in motor areas of the brain was recorded before a person had conscious awareness of a decision to move their finger in a study.

  -However, other studies showed different conclusions - brain activity may just have been a readiness to act rather than preliminary intention.