Free will/ determinism

What is free will?

• We are able to control and choose our course of action

• We can make our own decisions and act in unconstrained ways

Example in research: Humanistic Approach

What is determinism?

Behaviour is determined by internal or external factors outside of our control.

Behaviour is predictable.

What are the five main types of determinism?

• hard

• soft

• biological

• environmental

• psychic

What is hard determinism?

• Environment, genetics, unconscious impulses, and other influences/causes determine people to act the way they do; and because of that, they are not responsible for their actions (no choice is possible).

• Identifying the cause of people’s behaviours should be possible

(causal laws of thought and action).

What is an example of hard determinism?

MAOA gene= aggression

What is soft determinism?

• Soft determinism (like hard determinism) acknowledges that all events, including human actions, have causes; but it allows for some actions involving choice.

• Whilst acknowledging that all human actions have a cause, soft determinism suggests some room for manoeuvre in that people have conscious mental control over the way they behave

What is an example of soft determinism?

Psychodynamic approach: how an oral fixation manifests itself as an adult behaviour

What is biological determinism?

the belief that behaviour is caused by biological factors (e.g. genetic, hormonal, evolutionary) influences we can’t control.

What is environmental determinism?

the belief that behaviours are caused by features of the environment (e.g.reward/punishment) that we can’t control.

What is psychic determinism?

the belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts that we cannot control (e.g. fixations at psychosexual stages).

What is the evaluation of determinism: positive?

The scientific emphasis on causal explanations – Psychology NEEDS determinism.

• Scientific research is based on the idea that all behaviours have a cause that can be identified and measured (empirically)

• An IV is manipulated to see the effect on the DV

• This measurement is needed in order to precisely control and predict human behaviour

• The IV determines the outcome of the DV

What is the evaluation of determinism: negative?

• can be seen in the case of Bradley Waldroup

• he shot his wife's friend eight times and attempted to kill his wife with a machete

• His sentence was significantly lessened, from first degree murder, to second, escaping the death penalty, through the use of his MAOA-L gene as defence in court

What is the argument for free will?

• We all know that we can make choices and that our behaviour can be unpredictable

• Psychology really should incorporate this into research/theory construction.

What is the argument against free will?

It cannot be tested in an experimental way (no IV/DV causal relationships), and therefore makes psychological research and theory irrelevant.

What is the interactionist stance between free will and determinism?

• All psychological theory and research needs to acknowledge that humans use a mix of freewill and pre-determined actions in their behaviour (e.g. Psychosexual Stages fixations)

• Therefore all theories and research should take an interactionist stance between determinism and free will on this debate

• Theories that don’t can be seen as of limited use in explaining human behaviour