free will vs determinism

free will

Free Will suggests that we all have a choice and can control and choose our own behaviour. This approach is all about personal responsibility and plays a central role in Humanist Psychology.

By arguing that humans can make free choices, the free will approach appears to be quite the opposite of the deterministic one. Psychologists who take the free will view suggest that determinism removes freedom and dignity, and devalues human behaviour.

To a lesser degree, Cognitive Psychology also supports the idea of free will and choice. In reality, although we do have free will it is constrained by our circumstances and other people. For example, when you go shopping your choices are constrained by how much money you have.

free will AO3

Strengths:

• It emphasises the importance of the individual and studying individual differences.

• It fits society's view of personal responsibility e.g. if you break the law you should be punished.

• The idea of self-efficacy is useful in therapies as it makes them more effective.


Limitations:

• Free will is subjective and some argue it doesn't exist.

• It is impossible to scientifically test the concept of free will.

• Few people would agree that behaviour is always completely under the control of the individual.

determinism

The determinist approach proposes that all behaviour is determined and thus predictable. Some approaches in psychology see the source of this determinism as being outside the individual, a position known as environmental determinism.
Others see it from coming inside i.e., in the form of unconscious motivation or genetic determinism - biological determinism.

hard determinism

sees free will as an illusion and believes that every event and action has a cause

soft determinism

represents a middle ground, people do have a choice, but that choice is constrained by external factors e.g. Being poor doesn't make you steal, but it may make you more likely to take that route through desperation.

environmental determinism

This is the idea that our behaviour is caused by some sort of outside influence e.g. parental influence.
Skinner (1971) argued that freedom is an illusion. We may think we have freewill but the probability of any behaviour occurring is determined by past experiences.

biological determinism

Our biological systems, such as the nervous system, govern our behaviour.

psychic determinism

Freud believed childhood experiences and unconscious motivations governed behaviour.
Freud thought that free will was an illusion, because he felt that the causes of our behaviour is unconscious and still predictable.

determinism AO3

Strengths:

• Determinism is scientific and allows cause and effect relationships to be established.

• It gives plausible explanations for behaviour backed up by evidence.

Limitations:

• Determinism is reductionist.

• Does not account for individual differences. By creating general laws of behaviour, deterministic psychology underestimates the uniqueness of human beings and their freedom to choose their own destiny.

• Hard determinism suggests criminals cannot be held accountable for their actions. Deterministic explanations for behaviour reduce individual responsibility. A person arrested for a violent attack for example might plead that they were not responsible for their behaviour - it was due to their upbringing, a bang on the head they received earlier in life, recent