free will & determinism

determinism

• the view that an individual’s behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal (biology or genes) or external forces (eg. the way we are brought up) rather than an individual’s will to do something

• a consequence of this is that determinists believe that we are mainly passive responders to our past or biology and that we have no free will

• this makes behaviour predictable

• hard determinism - the extreme view that human behaviour is determined by forces outside of our control

• soft determinism - the view that human behaviour has a cause but there may be other influences present that we have some degree of control over (cognitive approach)

biological determinism - the idea that we can predict behaviour based biological factors (genes, hormones, the nervous system)

(biological approach)

eg. mutation of the MAOA gene can lead to aggressive behaviour

environmental determinism - the idea that behaviour is caused by environmental factors (conformity, obedience)

(behaviourist approach)

psychic determinism - the idea that behaviour is influenced by unconscious human behaviour

(psychodynamic approach)

eg. freud argued that behaviour originates from the unconscious, individuals will not be able to explain why they carried out a particular action

free will

• suggests that as human beings we are self-determining and free to choose our own thoughts and actions at all times

• believes that determinism is de-humanising as it treats people as if they were machines

• biological and environmental factors may have some influence but we have the power to reject these forces and choose our own behaviour

• the humanistic approach is a strong advocate of this notion, assuming that humans aim to achieve personal growth through self actualisation

homework:

identify & justify whether the behaviours below are an example of free will or determinism

1. cleaning your teeth

   • free will - we choose to take care of our dental hygiene as we could also choose not to

   • determinism - environmental, factors eg conformity influence behaviour as everyone else `brushes their teeth and you don’t want to stand out by having bad breath

2. getting out of bed

   • free will - we choose to get out of bed as we could also choose not to

   • determinism - environmental, alarm or sun, biological, circadian rhythm

3. deciding what to wear

   • free will - we decide what to wear based on our own preference + could wear anything

   • determinism - environmental, what we wear is determined by external factors eg conformity not wearing something outrageously different, the weather etc

4. what to have for lunch

   • free will - we decide what to eat based on our own preference + could eat anything

   • determinism - environmental, determined by external factors eg. conformity, biological, level of hunger

5. who is your partner/friends environmental, how u meet people, psychic, freuds ideas of childhood influences on relationships, biological, hormone levels

6. relationship with family

7. how fast you drive

   • free will -

8. which subjects you study at a level

9. helping someone cross the road

10. going to the gym