free will and determinism
- Created by: Aimee W x
- Created on: 14-03-22 16:21
View mindmap
- free will and determinism
- Free Will: suggests we have the power to consciously control and make choices about our thoughts and behaviour.
- A belief in free will implies we are able to reject external forces as masters of our own destiny (Humanistic Psychologists - Rogers)
- Determinism: we do not have conscious control over our thoughts and behaviour, but behaviour is controlled by internal and external factors.
- Hard determinism - everything
that we think or do is dictated by internal or external forces that we cannot
consciously control.
- hard determinism is compatible with the aims of science – to uncover the causal explanations that govern thoughts and behaviour.
- Soft determinism -version of
determinism that allows for some element of free will. Whilst
acknowledging that all human action has a cause soft determinists also suggest that this does not
detract from the freedom we have to make conscious choices in everyday
situations.
- This version of determinism became an important feature of the cognitive approach.
- Biological determinism - advocated by the biological approach that behaviour is caused by biologicalinfluences that we cannot control. For example, genes influence brain structure
- environmental determinism - advocated by the behavioural approach that behaviour is caused by
features of the environment that we
cannot control.
- Behaviourists argue that all behaviour is caused by previous experience, through classical and operant conditioning. Stimulus-response learning has been used to explain everything from attachment to phobias.
- Psychic Determinism - belief advocated by the psychodynamic approach that behaviour is caused
by unconscious conflicts that we cannot control. Freud argued that adult behaviour is shaped
by a mix of innate drives and early experience.
- For example, if a child is frustrated or overindulged at a specific stage of psychosexual development, they may become ‘fixated’ at a particular stage of adulthood.
- Hard determinism - everything
that we think or do is dictated by internal or external forces that we cannot
consciously control.
- Scientific emphasis on casual explanations
- allows scientists to predict and control events in
the future. Hence, in psychology, the laboratory experiment is often seen as
‘ideal’ as it allows researchers to control extraneous variables to establish
cause and effect.
- This then allows psychologists to predict and control human behaviour. For example, understanding causes of mental illness to prevent or treat them.
- allows scientists to predict and control events in
the future. Hence, in psychology, the laboratory experiment is often seen as
‘ideal’ as it allows researchers to control extraneous variables to establish
cause and effect.
- Free Will: suggests we have the power to consciously control and make choices about our thoughts and behaviour.
Comments
No comments have yet been made