Chloe Pickering

Discuss the free will and determinism debate. Refer to

two approaches in psychology (16 marks)
The free will determinism debate is a debate between psychologists on
whether we chose our thoughts and actions or whether they are controlled
by other factors. Free will suggests that as human beings we are able to
make choices about our behaviour. The humanistic approach is the only
approach that believes completely in free will. For humanistic
psychologists such as Rogers and Maslow freedom is not only possible but
also necessary if we are to become fully functional human beings.
Determinism takes the opposing view and suggests that our behaviour is
controlled by internal or external forces out of our control. The biological
approach adopts a deterministic view because they believe internal forces
within our body such as our genes or hormones cause our behaviour. This
is known as biological determinism and would be classed as a hard
deterministic view.
There are five types of determinism; hard and soft, biological, psychic and
environmental. Hard determinism implies that free will is not possible as
all our behaviour is caused by internal or external events beyond our
control. Whereas soft determinism implies that all behaviour has a cause
but our behaviour can also be influenced by our conscious choices.
Biological determinism is the belief that behaviour is caused by biological
influences such as genes, brain or the nervous system. Environmental
determinism is the belief that all of our behaviour is the result of
conditioning (learning). Environmental determinism links with the
behaviourist approach and the social learning theory approach. Psychic
determinism is the belief that human behaviour is determined by
unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood. Psychic determinism links
with Freuds psychodynamic approach.
A strength of determinism is that it is consistent with the aims of science.
One of the basic principles of science is that every event has a cause and
that cause can be explained using general laws. Psychologists that believe
in determinism carry out laboratory experiments removing any extraneous
variables in an attempt to establish a cause and effect relationship. This
control and prediction of human behaviour has led to the development of
treatments that have benefitted many people, for example for a
psychotherapeutic drug treatment for managing and controlling
schizophrenia has been developed as a result of determinism.
However, a weakness of determinism is that it is not consistent with the
way in which our legal system operates. The hard determinism stance
means that people including criminals have no control over their actions

Chloe Pickering

and dont choose how to behave therefore why should they be punished
for their behaviour. However, in a court of law offenders are held morally
accountable for their actions apart from in extreme cases for example
insanity.

A strength of free will is that it is said to have face validity meaning that it
makes sense on the outset. Every day we make choices for example what
to wear or have for breakfast this gives the impression that we are
exercising free will. However neurological studies have found evidence
against free will. Studies conducted by Benjamin Libet (1985) and Chun
Siong soon (2008) have found that the activity related to whether to press
a button with the left or right hand occurs in the brain up to ten seconds
before participants report being consciously aware of making such a
decision. This suggests that even the most basic experiences of free will
are determined by the brain before we become aware of them.
Many psychologists today adopt the interactionist perspective because it
has elements of both free will and determinism. Therefore, it may offer the
best comprise in the free will vs determinism debate and the most
complete explanation of human behaviour. For example, the social
learning theory tends to adopt an interactionist or soft deterministic view.
Bandura argues that environmental factors are the key to learning
behaviour, which is the determinism part but that we are free to choose
and make decisions about what and who to attend to and when to perform
certain behaviour, which is the free will part.