Free will-Determinism

Free Will

• Full choice over actions

• No influence or manipulation from internal (genes etc) or external (peers etc) influences

Determinism

• Behaviours are caused by something

• Little actual control

• Determinants are variables that cause our behaviour

Hard determinism

Human behaviour is completely determined by factors outside our control i.e. no free will

Soft determinism

Human behaviour is generally pre-determined by factors outside our control, but have the option to exercie free will in some situations. Accepts humans have a perception of control. 

Biological determinism

• Behaviour is the result of internal processes within the body

• 3 biological causes of behaviour: genetics, biochemistry, brain physiology

• Genetics are influential. Although they do not definitively cause behaviour, disorder syndrome or condition occurring. 

Environmental determinism

• Behaviour is the result of our environment

• E.g. social influence

• Milgram & Zimbardo - their pts acted out the pressured from their environments. it could be argued they wouldn’t have normally acted like this,  but their environment determined their behaviour

Psychic determinism

• Links very closely to the psychodynamic approach

• Behaviour is caused by our unconscious mind

• Freud - every behaviour has an initial cause and that behaviour was initiated in a part of our mind we cannot access

• Psychich determinism argues that is why some individuals do not kno why they take a certain cause of action

• Has roots explaining criminality

Scientific emphasis on causal explanations

• Refers to psychology’s tendency to observe one variable affecting another

• One of the basic principles of science is that every event in the universe has a cause and that causes can be explained using general laws. Knowledge of causes and the formulation of laws are important as they allow scientists to predict and control events in the future

• Causal explanations are established with the following criteria: 

  • All variables, such as confounding and extraneous variables, are controlled for

  • Any differences in the DVs must therefore be down to the IVs

  • As a result, researchers can then infer that the IV clealy affected the DV