free will vs determinism

• what is determinism?

  • HARD DETERMINISM: our lives (behaviours and thoughts) are governed by forces out of our control. assumes both internal and external thoughts determine out behaviour
  • SOFT DETERMINISM: there are things that influence our behaviour but we can still make conscious decisions about our lives
• what are the 3 types of determinism?

  • environmental
  • biological
  • psychic
• what is environmental determinism?

  • type of determinism
  • our environment (home life, culture) determines behaviour.
  • we learn through conditioning (skinner) which then determine our behaviour
• what is biological determinism?

  • type of determinism
  • our biology (genetics, physical health) determined our behaviour
  • e.g. the ANS controls the fight or flight response which is out of our control
• what is psychic determinism?

  • type of determinism
  • our unconscious drive determine behaviours
  • FREUD: childhood experiences creates conflict in our unconscious mind which then determines our behaviour
• what is free will?

  • humans have complete autonomy to make their own decisions
  • behaviours aren't predetermined by external factors
• determinism strength

  • consistent with the aims of science. the value of this research has lead to the development of treatments and therapies
• determinism limitation

  • hard determinism isn't consistent with how our legal system operates. in a court of law offenders are held morally accountable for their actions and determinism can be seen to be unfalsifiable
• free will strength

  • has the concept of face validity as it makes cognitive sense. research suggests people who have an internal LOC, so believe they have a high degree of influence of influence over events on their own behaviour tend to be more mentally stable
• free will limitation

  • neurological studies of decision making have revealed evidence against free will and the most basic free will experiences are determined by our brain before we're aware of them
  • interactionist approach compromises between determinism and free will e.g. SLT