hard determinism

• Hard determinism


  Freewill is not possible It is an illusion Behaviour is always controlled by internal or external events beyond our control
• Hard determinism assumes that:

  A person's actions are completely controlled by forces outside of their control. Behaviour is therefore predictable. No action or behaviour is free, therefore there is no such thing as freewill; freewill therefore, is an illusion.
• Types of hard determinism

  Environmental determinism (external) - behaviourist approach Genetic determinism (internal) - biological approach Psychic determinism (internal) - psychodynamic approach
• Environmental determinism 


  Behaviour is caused by the environment We are born a 'blank state' We are shaped via classical & operant conditioning which we cannot control This is an external form of determinism
• 'Tabular rasa'


  We are born a blank slate
• Support for environmental determinism - Little Albert


  Watson & Raynor: Little Albert study - initially Little Albert showed no fear of rats, classical conditioning led to phobia forming - learned behaviour. The NS (the rat) was paired with a UCS (a loud bang) which automatically created the UCR (fear).
• Against hard determinism - phobias

  Phobias are not always caused by previous experiences & could be evolutionary in nature, eg. great apes are naturally sacred of snakes
• Genetic determinism


  Behaviour is caused by biological influences (genetic, hormonal, evolutionary) influences we cannot control. This is an internal form of hard determinism
• Support for biological determinism - Libet


  Libet asked ppts to flex wrists when they wanted to (brain monitored), ppts had to state when they had made the decision. However, the EEG showed motor cortex became active prior to the person becoming consciously aware of it.
• Support for biological determinism - aggression

  MAOA gene leads to low levels of serotonin, suggests aggression is caused by genetic factors
• Against biological determinism - criminal behaviour

  Stephen Mobley (1981): Born to kill - claimed he was predisposed to violence after having a 'normal' upbringing. Charles Whitman - found in post-mortem to have a tumour on his amygdala, that altered his behaviour, causing him to kill.
• Psychic determinism


  Behaviour is caused by the unconscious conflicts that we cannot control. Early childhood experiences can impact personality development.
• Freud argued human behaviour is determined by:

  Unconscious conflicts & early childhood experiences
• Support for psychic determinism - Bowlby


  Attachment & Bowlby: 44 thieves' study Disruption to child's attachment with main caregiver during critical time period Long term issues, eg. affectionless psychopaths
• Against psychic determinism- Bowlby


  Research was criticised for being non-scientific, showing only a relationship
• The deterministic approach leads to scientific emphasis on causal explanations 


  Humans behave in a predictable way. Lab experiments try to find cause & effect & achieve internal validity because there is control over extraneous variables which allows cause & effect to be established. Can lead to the development of treatments.
• Hard determinism summary


  No control over our actions. Biological (genetic), Behaviourist (behaviourist), Psychoanalytic (psychic) Advantages: Scientific. Cause & effect & practical applications Disadvantages: Human behaviour is more complex. Difficult to try criminals in court. Too reductionist.