Free Will and Determinism

Cards (15)

  • Free will is when we have full control over our behaviour. Determinism is the view that we never have control over our behaviour.
  • Give 3 types of determinism?
    • Biological determinism (whereby all behaviour is caused by biological factors) - Biological approach
    • Environmental determinism (all behaviour is caused by our environment) - Behaviourist approach
    • Psychic determinism (whereby behaviour is caused by the unconscious mind) - Psychodynamic approach
  • A scientific approach to psychology involves…
    • Studying cause and effect
    • Making reliable predictions
  • We can only make reliable predictions about behaviour if determinism is true. (scientific method), We see this occuring in scientific study. This is an argument in favour of determinism and against free will.
  • Features of Science
    1. Hypothesis testing
    2. Empirical evidence
    3. Falsifiability
    4. Replicability
    5. Control
  • What does falsifiability mean?

    It must be possible to disprove a hypothesis
  • If we assume free will we can't make predictions, because there's no way to know how people will decide to act. As a result we cant falsifiable Free Will and therefore can not be scientific.
  • Both free will and determinism is unfalsifiable.
    • Free will is unfalsifiable because it doesn't allow for predictions about behaviour
    • Determinism is unfalsifiable because we cannot falsify the general idea that behaviour has a cause.
  • The humanistic approach argues that the fact that free will matches our 
    subjective experience is a good enough reason to assume that we have free will. Other psychologists argue that we should base our theories on objective, not subjective, criteria. Determinism argues that free will is an illusion.
  • If someone believes that they have free will, then they will have an internal locus of control. If someone believes in determinism they will have an external locus of control.
  • If we treat people as if they have free will, then they will be likely to believe that they have free will, and develop an internal locus of control. And Benassi et al showed that people with an internal locus of control were less likely to develop symptoms of depression. So, if we treat people as if they have free will, then they will have better mental health! So, people will be better-off! And this is an argument in favour of assuming free will.
  • Assuming free will can unfairly blame people for behaviour that wasn't their fault.
  • Legal Implication of Determinism
    Even if determinism is true, our legal system could keep working as normal as long as it is based on providing a deterrent. We cannot punish criminals on the basis that they deserve punishment.
  • Which approach assumes soft determinism?
    • Social learning theory
    • Cognitive approach
  • Hard determinism is the view that we never have control over our behaviour. Soft determinism is the view that our choices are limited by biology and the environment, but we have free will to choose within those options.