Free Will and Determinism

Do we have free will?

• Psychology aims to explain why people behave in certain ways

• Can people choose how to behave, or is what they do influenced by other forces

• Free will is subjective; someone might think they’re choosing, but may actually be influenced by other forces

  • Some people with psychological disorders don’t appear to have free will- for example, a person with OCD feels they can’t control their thoughts and actions

Determinism:

• All physical events in the universe, including human behaviour, occur in cause and effect relationships

• So our thoughts, beliefs and behaviours are determined by past events and causes

• This is a scientific view that implies that complete knowledge of a cause and effect relationship will mean you can predict future behaviour in the same situation

Free Will and Determinism:

• Most approaches in psychology are trying to identify the causes of behaviour. Humans have a sense that they can choose which of several courses of action to take and have a strong sense of free will

• In this sense, most approaches in psychology are deterministic. If we can explain someone’s behaviour fully, then there is no room for free will

Consequences:

• If this were true, it would have important consequences for society. We assume that individuals take responsibility for their actions and therefore have free will to choose whether to do right or wrong

• However, if behaviour is fully determined by factors outside of the person’s control, then they do not have free will and cannot be responsible for their actions

Soft Determinism:

• Many psychologists take a middle road in this debate. If our behaviour were entirely free will, no laws or predictions would be possible

• The fact that psychology has identified many laws (e.g. operant conditioning) suggests that free will in a pure form does not exist; however, in many situations, people do choose between different alternatives

• So we can see human behaviour as determined by general laws but free will operating in specific situations

• Social learning theory represents soft determinism. It assumes that social and environmental factors are important in determining behaviour. However, we also have cognitions that help us choose between alternatives and allow for a degree of free will

Hard Determinism:

• The biological approach represents hard determinism. It sees our behaviour as mostly determined by our biology and genetic make-up

Free Will:

• The humanistic approach specifically assumes that humans have free will and can make choices that decide the course of their lives

• It rejects determinism in all of its forms, and therapy encourages people to exercise free will to improve their lives

Approaches Position:

• Psychodynamic: Freud argued that behaviour is determined by conscious forces (Psychic determinism)

  • But acknowledged that behaviours have many causes, including conscious intentions; for example, a person may choose to have therapy

• Biological: Behaviours are determined by biological influences, e.g. genetics and brain structure (Biological determinism)

• Cognitive: Behaviour is the result of both free will and determinism. It looks for patterns in how the brain processes external information but acknowledges that people use cognitive processes like language to reason and make decisions

• Behaviourist: Skinner claimed that behaviour is determined by the environment and is the result of punishment and reinforcement (environmental determinism)

• Humanist: This approach falls on the free will side of the debate. They believe individuals are in control of their behaviour and are trying to achieve personal growth

Evaluation:

• The implications for understanding criminal responsibility are that if behaviour is biologically determined, then people have not chosen to act in a criminal way freely. This innate predisposition to violence or crime means that a person’s actions were not the result of free will, therefore, they can not be held responsible for their behaviour

• The justice system is based on the premise that people have free will- They have chosen to act in this way. If there is no free will and the behaviour was outside of an individual’s control, there is no point in punishments such as prison as they have no impact and will ultimately not change the person’s behaviour

Support:

• There is face validity in support of the concept that everybody holds free will. For example, everyday experiences ‘gives the impression’ that we are constantly exercising free will through the choices that we make on any given day. Furthermore, research suggests that people who have an internal locus of control (internal locus of control, in which an individual feels that they are completely responsible for their behaviours and actions) tend to be more mentally healthy. In contrast, Roberts (2000) demonstrated that adolescents who believed in fatalism (believed that their lives were decided by events outside their control) were at significantly greater risk of developing depression

• This suggests the effects of believing in free will have a positive on human behaviour and mental health

Rogetian therapy:

• Roger’s approach to therapy illustrates his belief in free will because he thinks that the client should discover their own solutions to their problems, therefore making their own choices on how to grow and develop as an individual

• The aim of Rogetian therapy is to achieve congruence where the self-concept and the ideal-self match. If a person feels conditions of worth, i.e. certain requirements they feel they need to be loved, they cannot become a fully functioning person and only then can they exercise free will

• The therapist helps guide the individual, but ultimately, the individual comes to their own choices and solutions to their problems in therapy

Evidence Against Free Will:

• Neurological studies:

  • For example, Libet (1985) and Sion Soon (2008) have demonstrated that the brain activity that determines the outcome of simple choices may predate our knowledge of having made such a choice. The research found that the activity related to whether or not to press a button with the right or left hand occurs in the brain up to 10 seconds before participants against the idea of free will because it suggests that elements of our biology are already being drafted into our decision making before we are even consciously aware of our decision or choice