Free will vs determinism

• Free will


  Humans are self-determining and free to choose our thoughts and actions. Advocated by humanistic approach. Implies we can reject internal and external forces that act on us.
• Soft determinism


  Ppl do have choice, but choice is constrained by external/ internal factors. Important in cognitive approach. E.g. being poor doesn't make you steal, but you more likely to take that route out of desperation.
• Hard determinism


  Assumes everything we do = dictated by internal/ external forces we cannot control. Behaviourists strong believers in hard determinism. B.F. Skinner argued concepts 'free will' and 'motivation' are illusions that disguise causes of human behaviour. All behaviour is response to prior conditioning, reinforcement and punishment.
• Psychic determinism


  Freud viewed behaviour as being controlled from inside individual through unconscious conflicts, repressed in childhood. Slips of the tongue, dreams, symptoms of mental disorders said to all have meaningful explanations rooted in the unconscious mind.
• Internal (biological) determinism


  Behaviour that is determined by biological factors inside ourselves. E.g. Inherited behaviour, neural mechanisms, hormones. Many physiological/ neurological brain processes not under conscious control (influence of automatic nervous system during periods of stress and anxiety).
• External (Environmental) determinism

  Cause of behaviour is outside individual. Parent, media, school. Behaviourism/ social learning theory (Bandura Bobodoll).
• Determinism


  Proposes all behaviour has a cause and is predictable. Free will = illusion. Our behaviour is governed by internal/ external forces over which we have no control. Associated with more scientific approach. Approach = unfalsifiable.