Free will vs determinism

Free will

Humans are self determining and free to choose our behaviour

Determinism

Humans are controlled by external factors

Hard determinism

All behaviour has an external cause

James

Put forward soft determinism suggesting that behaviour has a cause but individuals also have some power to control their behaviours

Biological determinism

Biology and biological factors determine behaviour

Environmental determinism

Behaviour is caused by environmental factors

Psychic determinism

Behaviour is caused by unconscious conflict in the mind caused in childhood

Determinism Evaluation

• Supports the scientific aim of studying behaviour

• Mental illness suggests that there’s a level of determinism involved in human behaviour

• Determinism is unfalsifiable

• Determinism has negative real world consequences

Free will evaluation

• High face validity - we make conscious choices

• People with internal loci of control are more mentally healthy

• Roberts et al - Adolescents with a strong sense of fatalism are more at risk of depression

• Liber - Brain activity that determines our choices is detectable up to 10 seconds before we’re aware we’ve made a choice