Free Will & Determinism (AQA A-Level Psychology): Revision Notes
Free Will & Determinism
Introduction to the debate
When students first encounter the concept of determinism, it often seems puzzling. Our daily experiences suggest that we make conscious choices - what to wear, what to eat, which book to pick up. This everyday experience points towards free will, the idea that we control our own actions. However, most psychologists accept that determinism plays some role in shaping behaviour, though they disagree about exactly how much influence it has.
This debate centres on whether human behaviour is the result of personal choice or whether it's controlled by forces beyond our conscious control.
This fundamental debate in psychology has practical implications for how we understand mental health, criminal responsibility, and therapeutic interventions. The position you take on this issue influences how you approach psychological research and practice.
Key definitions
Understanding the precise meanings of these terms is essential for grasping the complexity of this debate.
Free will refers to the belief that humans can make genuine choices and are not entirely controlled by biological or external forces. This view suggests we are essentially self-determining and can choose our thoughts and actions, even when biological and environmental forces try to influence us.
Determinism is the opposing view that an individual's behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces, rather than by the person's conscious will. This perspective argues that free will plays little or no role in explaining human behaviour.
Hard determinism (sometimes called fatalism) takes the extreme position that free will is impossible because all human behaviour has a cause. Everything we think and do is dictated by internal or external forces beyond our control. This view aligns with scientific aims to uncover the causal laws governing behaviour.
Soft determinism offers a more moderate position. The philosopher William James first proposed this in 1890, and it later became important in cognitive psychology. Soft determinists accept that all events have causes, but argue that behaviour can also be influenced by our conscious choices when we're not being coerced. This allows some room for human agency whilst acknowledging determining forces.
Types of determinism
Psychologists have identified three main types of determinism that can influence human behaviour. Each focuses on different sources of control over our actions.
Biological determinism
Biological determinism suggests that behaviour is caused by biological influences we cannot control, including genetic, hormonal, and evolutionary factors. The biological approach emphasises these influences strongly.
Many physiological and neurological processes operate outside our conscious control, such as the autonomic nervous system during stress and anxiety. Mental disorders often have a genetic component, and research has demonstrated hormonal effects on behaviour - for instance, testosterone's role in aggressive behaviour.
Modern biopsychologists recognise that whilst environment influences our biological structures, this still means we are 'doubly-determined' in ways we cannot control.
Environmental determinism
Environmental determinism argues that behaviour results from environmental conditioning. B.F. Skinner famously described free will as an 'illusion', claiming all behaviour results from conditioning experiences rather than conscious choice. This view emphasises reinforcement contingencies that shape behaviour throughout our lives.
Although we might think we're acting independently, our behaviour has actually been shaped by environmental events and agents of socialisation like parents, teachers, and institutions. What feels like free choice is actually the result of our conditioning history.
Psychic determinism
Psychic determinism comes from Freud's psychoanalytic approach. Like Skinner, Freud viewed free will as an 'illusion', but placed greater emphasis on biological drives and unconscious conflicts than environmental factors.
According to this view, human behaviour is determined by unconscious conflicts from childhood. Even seemingly random or innocent behaviours can be explained by unconscious influences - Freud's famous 'slips of the tongue' demonstrate how the unconscious mind can direct our actions without our awareness.
Remember the acronym BEP for the three types of determinism: Biological, Environmental, and Psychic. Each proposes different sources of control over human behaviour.
The scientific emphasis on causal explanations
Science operates on the principle that every event has a cause and that these causes can be explained through general laws. This knowledge allows scientists to predict and control future events. In psychology, laboratory experiments enable researchers to control conditions precisely, removing extraneous variables to predict and understand human behaviour.
This scientific approach supports determinism because it assumes that human behaviour follows predictable patterns and can be controlled through understanding causal relationships. This assumption is fundamental to psychological research methods.
Evaluation
The evaluation of this debate requires examining arguments from multiple perspectives. Each position has compelling evidence and significant limitations.
Arguments supporting determinism
Determinism aligns with scientific aims and methods. The idea that human behaviour is orderly and follows laws places psychology on equal footing with other established sciences. This approach has practical value - understanding the causes of behaviour has led to effective treatments, therapies, and interventions.
Practical Application: Mental Health Treatment
Psychotherapeutic drug treatments for schizophrenia have been developed based on deterministic understanding of the condition. By identifying the biological causes of symptoms, researchers have created medications that can effectively manage the disorder, improving quality of life for millions of patients.
Mental disorders like schizophrenia provide compelling evidence for determinism. Individuals with such conditions experience a complete loss of control over their thoughts and behaviour, suggesting behaviour can indeed be determined rather than freely chosen.
Arguments against determinism
Hard determinism creates problems for our legal system, which holds people morally accountable for their actions. If behaviour is entirely determined by forces beyond our control, the concept of responsibility becomes meaningless.
Critical Issue: Scientific Validity
Determinism may be unfalsifiable as a scientific approach. It assumes that causes for behaviour always exist, even if they haven't been discovered yet. Since this cannot be proven wrong, it may not be as scientific as it appears.
Arguments supporting free will
Our everyday experiences strongly suggest we exercise free will through the choices we make daily. This gives face validity to the concept of free will - it feels intuitively correct.
Research shows that people with an internal locus of control, who believe they influence events and their own behaviour, tend to be mentally healthier. Studies show that Roberts et al. (2000) found adolescents with strong belief in fatalism - that their lives were decided by external events - were at greater risk of developing depression.
This suggests that believing in free will, even if it doesn't actually exist, may have positive effects on mental health and behaviour.
Arguments against free will
Neurological studies provide disturbing evidence against free will. Research has found that Benjamin Libet (1985) and later Chun Siong Soon et al. (2008) discovered brain activity determining simple choices occurs up to ten seconds before participants report being consciously aware of making the decision.
Critical Research Finding
This research demonstrates that even our most basic experiences of free will may be decided and determined by our brains before we become consciously aware of them. This challenges our fundamental assumptions about conscious choice.
A compromise position
An interactionist approach may offer the best compromise in this debate. Psychological approaches with cognitive elements, such as social learning theory, tend to adopt a soft determinist position.
Reciprocal determinism, proposed by Bandura, suggests that whilst environmental factors in learning are important, we remain free to choose who or what to pay attention to and when to perform certain behaviours. According to this model, you influence your environment and your environment influences you - each impacts the other through the behaviours we choose to perform.
This represents soft determinism because the element of choice suggests some degree of free will exists in how we behave, whilst still acknowledging the powerful influence of determining factors. This compromise position is widely accepted in modern psychology.
Key Points to Remember:
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Free will suggests we make conscious choices, while determinism argues behaviour is controlled by internal or external forces beyond our control
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Hard determinism claims free will is impossible, while soft determinism allows for some conscious choice alongside determining factors
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The three main types of determinism are biological (genes, hormones), environmental (conditioning, rewards/punishments), and psychic (unconscious conflicts)
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Determinism supports scientific approaches and has led to effective treatments, but may conflict with legal responsibility and be unfalsifiable
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Reciprocal determinism offers a compromise, suggesting we both influence and are influenced by our environment through our behavioural choices