Free will vs Determinism

Determinism

The view that our behaviour is caused by internal or external forces outside of our control

Free will

The view that our behaviour is due to our own choices. We are active agents. We are not passive, but can act and make things happen. We have a choice and act of our own volition

Which approach advocated the free will side of the debate?

Humanistic approach. Maslow and Carl Rogers believed in personal growth, and for them free will is necessary if we are to become fully functional human beings to self-actualise. You cannot improve if you do not accept responsibility and make choices

Where free will can also be seen?

Client-centred therapy by Carl Rogers, which emphasises the freedom of the individual to solve their own problems and the power of the individual to depict their lives to their self-chosen goals. “Client” instead of “patient” because the individual is the expert on their own condition. The client is encouraged towards the discovery of their own solution within a warm, supportive and non-judgmental atmosphere

What are the types of determinism?

Hard and Soft determinism

What is hard determinism?

The view that all behaviour is caused by internal or external forces that are entirely out of a person’s control

What is soft determinism?

The view that behaviours are to some extent caused by internal or external forces, but not by coercion, rather by our own conscious choices

What approach advocated soft determinism?

Social learning theory: to some extent the environment does cause our behaviour in terms of who we observe in our environment, who the role models are and how they behave. However, there are mediational cognitive processes: our conscious thoughts enable us to freely decide who or what we pay attention to

What are the types of hard determinism

Biological, environmental and psychic

Describe biological determinism and give example of it

• The idea that behaviours are caused by internal biological factors like genes, neurochemistry and brain structure and function.

• E.g psychopathology, where the topic of OCD focuses on the role of genetics and mutation of the COMT and SERT gene. Nestadt et al- Twin study, for MZ=68% concordance rate, for DZ=31%

Describe environmental determinism and give an example of it

The idea that behaviours are caused by external forces that could include experiences, upbringing, learning, schools, parents etc

• E.g. psychopathology-phobias. One of the explanations is classical conditioning, where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus. Little Albert experiment, when he was conditioned to a fear of rats with UCS loud bang.

• People with phobias usually would like to get rid of it, but the can’t, which works as a proof of how our behaviour is determined by forces

Describe Psychic determinism and give an example

The idea that behaviours are caused by internal forces include unconscious instincts and drives, including childhood experiences

• E.g. psychodynamic approach(Sigmund Freud) put the emphasis on the role of the unconscious as the driving motivating force behind out behaviour and personality

• Psychosexual stages of development, in which child progresses through a series of stages and conflicts, which if left unresolved, would determine adult behaviour.

• For example, at phallic stage, boys need to resolve the Oedipus and girls the Electra complex, which if unsuccessfully resolved, boys will always looking for a mother figure and women for a father figure

Who said that free will is an illusion

Skinner and Freud

Evaluation against determinism

• Moral responsibility: if someone adopted a biologically deterministic view, this would mean that they’re behaviour is not their fault

• Not taking responsibility for their actions

• Defend yourself as “my brain made me do it”

Evaluation:Mental health

Locus of control: amount of control we perceive to have over situations in our lives.

• Research support by Robert’s et al(2000) investigated the relationship between fatalism and how it related to depression in teens. They found that teens who demonstrated greater fatalism had a higher risk for depression. Outlines the importance of internal locus of control, and could be argued that free will is necessary for mental health

Evaluation: Science

Science is based in finding the cause of behaviour and being able to predict behaviour, and therefore fundamental to science, whereas free will implies that behaviours are non-deterministic. All approaches that related to determinism are scientific, e.g. Skinner Box

The scientific emphasis on causal explanations

Studies the impact of independent variable on dependent variable(cause and effect). Control of extraneous variables.