Free will vs Determinism

What is free will?

These theories suggest that individuals have the power to make choices about their behaviour and thus their behaviour is not determined by iternal or external forces.

What is determinism?

Suggests that traits and behaviours are outside our control, due to factors either internal or external over which we have no control. Therefore, deterministic theories can often be used to predict human behaviour.

What is hard determinism?

Traits and behaviours are entirely out of the individuals control. All behaviour has a cause and is governed by external or internal forces that we cannot control.

What is soft determinism?

Traits and behaviours are determined by external or internal forces but an individual can still exercise some control.

What is biological determinism?

This is the belief that traits and behaviours are governed by internal biological factor like genes, neurochemistry, Brian structure and function.

What is environmental determinism?

Traits and behaviours are governed by external forces such as experiences, upbringing, learning, schools, parents, peers,etc.

What is psychic determinism?

The idea that traits and behaviour are governed by unconscious, instincts and drives, the cause of behaviour is rooted in early childhood experiences.

Rebecca Roberts et al (2000)

Looked at adolescents who had strong beliefs in fatalism- that their lives were decided by events outside of their control. The study found that that these adolescents were at a significantly greater risk of developing depression.

Benjamin Libert et al (1983)

Instructed participants to choose a random moment to flick their wrist while he measured their brain. Participants had to say when they felt conscious will to move. Libet found that the unconscious brain activity leading up to the conscious decision to move came around half a second before the participants consciously felt they had decided to move.

Chun soon et al (2008)

Found activity in the prefrontal cortex up to 10 seconds before a person was aware of their decision to act. This suggest that the motor activity preceding movement occurred before the conscious decision was made, and so implies that al behaviour is pre determined by up to 10 seconds.

Negatives of determinism

• Determinism simplifies human behaviour

• Determinist position may be used for people to try and justify behaviour if they have committed a crime.

Positives of determinism

• More scientific

• Identifiable which helps to find treatments, for example schizophrenia.

Negatives of free will

• Illusion of free will- a person may choose to do something but these choices are determined by previous reinforcement contingencies.

• Benjamin et al

Positives of free will

• Holds people accountable

• Has good face validity

• Better for mental health

What is scientific determinism?

They suggests all behaviour has a cause and science should uncover these causes as they allow scientists to predict and control events in the future.