free will & determinism

• free will states that human beings are self determining and doesn't deny biological or environmental factors

  • e.g. humanistic approach
• determinism means that free will doesn't cause behaviour
• hard determinism

  = all behaviour has a cause so should be identified

  • everything we think & do is done by internal and external force
  • a.k.a fatalism
• soft determinism

  = put forward by James (1980)

  • things determine our behaviour but we still have freedom to make conscious decisions
• biological determinism

  • linked to biological approach
  • e.g. automatic NS on stress response / influence of genes on mental health
• environmental determinism

  • Skinner said freewill is an illusion & behaviour is due to conditioning
  • experience of choice is just the reinforcement of what happens around us
• psychic determinism

  • Freud agreed with the illusion statement made by Skinner
  • also mentioned biological drives and instincts
  • behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts from childhood
• AO3 :)

  • free will is practical value so if you do it daily it improves mental wealth
  • Roberts et al. (2000) = teens who believed in determinism were more likely to be depressed
• AO3 :(

  • brain scans supports determinism, not free will
  • Libet et al (1983) : ppts choose random time to flick wrists & say if it's conscious
  • those who said unconscious = brain got ready half a second before
• AO3 :(

  argument of hard determinism won't work with the law in court