Free Will vs
Determinism
By Dr. Saul McLeod
The free will vs determinism debate revolves around the extent to which our
behaviour is the result of forces over which we have no control or whether
people are able to decide for themselves whether to act or behave in a certain
way.
Determinism
The determinist approach proposes that all behaviour has a cause and is thus
predictable. Free will is an illusion, and our behaviour is governed by internal
or external forces over which we have no control.
External Determinism
External (environmental) determinism sees the cause of behaviour as being
outside the individual, such as parental influence, the media, or school.
Approaches which adopt this position include behaviourism and social
learning theory.
For example, Bandura (1961) showed that children become aggressive through
observation and imitation of their violent parents.
Internal Determinism
The other main supporters of determinism are those who adopt a biological
perspective. However for them it is internal, not external, forces that are the
, determining factor. According to sociobiology evolution governs the behaviour
of a species and genetic inheritance that of each individual within it. For
example Bowlby (1969) states a child has an innate (i.e. inborn) need to attach
to one main attachment figure (i.e. monotropy).
Personality traits like extraversion or neuroticism, and the behaviour
associated with them, are triggered by neurological and hormonal processes
within the body. There is no need for the concept of an autonomous human
being. Ultimately this view sees us as no more than biological machines and
even consciousness itself is interpreted as a level of arousal in the nervous
system.
Freud also viewed behaviour being controlled from inside the individual, in
the form of unconscious motivation or childhood events, known as psychic
determinism.
There are different levels of determinism
Hard Determinism
Hard determinism sees free will as an illusion and believes that every event
and action has a cause.
Behaviourists are strong believers in hard determinism. Their most forthright
and articulate spokesman has been B. F. Skinner. Concepts like “free will” and
“motivation” are dismissed as illusions that disguise the real causes of human
behaviour.
In Skinner’s scheme of things the person who commits a crime has no real
choice. (S)he is propelled in this direction by environmental circumstances
and a personal history, which makes breaking the law natural and inevitable.
For the law-abiding, an accumulation of reinforcers has the opposite effect.
Having been rewarded for following rules in the past the individual does so in
the future. There is no moral evaluation or even mental calculation involved.
All behaviour is under stimulus control.
Soft Determinism
Determinism
By Dr. Saul McLeod
The free will vs determinism debate revolves around the extent to which our
behaviour is the result of forces over which we have no control or whether
people are able to decide for themselves whether to act or behave in a certain
way.
Determinism
The determinist approach proposes that all behaviour has a cause and is thus
predictable. Free will is an illusion, and our behaviour is governed by internal
or external forces over which we have no control.
External Determinism
External (environmental) determinism sees the cause of behaviour as being
outside the individual, such as parental influence, the media, or school.
Approaches which adopt this position include behaviourism and social
learning theory.
For example, Bandura (1961) showed that children become aggressive through
observation and imitation of their violent parents.
Internal Determinism
The other main supporters of determinism are those who adopt a biological
perspective. However for them it is internal, not external, forces that are the
, determining factor. According to sociobiology evolution governs the behaviour
of a species and genetic inheritance that of each individual within it. For
example Bowlby (1969) states a child has an innate (i.e. inborn) need to attach
to one main attachment figure (i.e. monotropy).
Personality traits like extraversion or neuroticism, and the behaviour
associated with them, are triggered by neurological and hormonal processes
within the body. There is no need for the concept of an autonomous human
being. Ultimately this view sees us as no more than biological machines and
even consciousness itself is interpreted as a level of arousal in the nervous
system.
Freud also viewed behaviour being controlled from inside the individual, in
the form of unconscious motivation or childhood events, known as psychic
determinism.
There are different levels of determinism
Hard Determinism
Hard determinism sees free will as an illusion and believes that every event
and action has a cause.
Behaviourists are strong believers in hard determinism. Their most forthright
and articulate spokesman has been B. F. Skinner. Concepts like “free will” and
“motivation” are dismissed as illusions that disguise the real causes of human
behaviour.
In Skinner’s scheme of things the person who commits a crime has no real
choice. (S)he is propelled in this direction by environmental circumstances
and a personal history, which makes breaking the law natural and inevitable.
For the law-abiding, an accumulation of reinforcers has the opposite effect.
Having been rewarded for following rules in the past the individual does so in
the future. There is no moral evaluation or even mental calculation involved.
All behaviour is under stimulus control.
Soft Determinism
