Free Will vs Determinism

Introduction to the Free Will/Determinism debate

Assesses whether behaviour is pre-determined by prior causes or conditions, or individuals have control over their actions, thoughts and emotions

What are the two types of determinism?

Hard - assumes we have no free will

Soft - behavior is influenced, but we still have an element of free will

Links to social area

Free will

Bocchiaro: participants chose whether to whistleblow or not (many didn't)

Links to biological area

(Biological) determinism

Sperry: performance on each task was due to the lack of communication between the two hemispheres

Links to cognitive area

Free will

Moray: participants’ chose to pay attention when hearing their name

Links to developmental area

Free will

Bandura: children chose if they copied the role model or not

Links to behaviorist perspective

(Environmental) Determinism

Chaney: the positive reinforcement provided by the funhaler cause the children to obey

Links to psychodynamic/individual differences area

Determinism

Freud: biological factors, such as the ID, control all behaviour