free will and determinism

• free will: the notion of free will suggest human beings are free to choose their own thoughts and actions
• hard determinism: the idea that all behaviour is determined by external factors and cannot be changed
• soft determinism: the idea that we are not free but we can still choose to act in a way that is consistent with our nature
• biological determinism: the idea that behaviour is determined by biological factors, such as genes, hormones
• environmental determinism: the idea that behaviour is determined by the environment and not by the individual

  • Skinner said free will is an illusion and argued that all behaviour is the result of conditioning
• psychic determinism: the idea that our behaviour is determined by our unconscious thoughts and feelings repressed in our childhood
• causal explanations: theories that explain why people behave in certain ways
• one strength of determinism is that it is consistent with the aims of science , the notion that human behaviour is orderly and obeys laws places psychology on equal terms with other established sciences

  • another strength is that prediction and control of human behaviour has lead to the development of treatments and therapies eg drug treatments for sz
  • the experience of sz suggests some behaviours are determined no one chooses to have sz