| What does free will mean? | Being self-determining and free to choose our thoughts and actions. Ultimately being the ‘master of your own destiny’ |
| What does the behavoursit approach say about free will? | The idea of free will is an illusion. Just because you can decide between actions doesn’t necessarily mean that you have free will. |
| What does determinism mean? | The view that our behaviour is governed by internal or external forces |
| What is biological determinism? | Behaviour is governed by our genes |
| What is psychic determinism? | Behaviour is caused by innate drives and early experiences. |
| What is hard determinism? | All human behaviours has a cause - not such thing as free will |
| What is soft determinism? | All human behaviour has a cause, but there’s room for choice: people have mental control over how they behave |
| What is environmental determinism? | Behaviour is caused by previous experiences: classical/operant conditioning |
| What is Zimbardo's experiment a example of? | Environmentally determinism: the idea that the prison environment and the uniform of the guards are the ones that cause this behaviour |
| What is Schaffer's experience an exmaple of? | Biological determinism: the idea that the stages of attachment are innate within every single child |
| A strength of free will ? | -Free can have a positive impact on ppl in society
-Roberts et al looked at adolescents that had a strong belief in fatalism (fate and destiny control lives).
-Found they were at a greater risk of developing depression compared to people who don't believe in fatalism as they can be seen to exhibit an internal locs of control rather than a extermanl locus of control where they are likley to be more optimistic.
-Seen as a support of free will shows how an individual's thoughts and the control that they ahve over thier thoughts can impact thier lives and their behavioural outcoemes, not determined by genetics. |
| A strength of determinism? | -Determinism can be seen to be consistent with the aims of science
-Places psychology on an equal footing with other more established sciences as it shared the same aims of the natural sciencces to find causal expxlanations where one thing is determined by another
-Knowledge of these relationships allows for scientiest to predict and control events
-Suggests that a more determinsitit stance woudl give psychology more scientific credibility that the first needs to be become more respected |
| A weakness of free will | -Contradicting evidence challenging its exsistence
-Seen from Soon et al who asked ppts to press a button on thier left or right hand has soon as they come to their decision
-Found that the brain was active up to 10 seconds before ppts report being consciously aware of their making of the decision, showing how it seems to be decided before ppts realise
-Contradict the idea of free will and support determinsitc stance shows how decisions are made unconsioulsy and influence our chocies before we realise it |
| A weakness of determinism? | -Contradicts the way in which our society operate
-Hard deterministic stance is not consistent with the way in which our legal system operates. In court, offenders are held responsible for thier actions
-The main principle of our legal system is that the defendant exercised their free will in committing the crime.
-therefore, suggests that when the deterministic arguament is appiled to the real world it can be seen to be imcompatible with the law systems that uphold justice. |
