One of the issues that you will encounter in your study of psychology is that of free will and determinism. This looks at the interesting question of how far our thoughts and behaviour are self-determined, or influenced by external forces beyond our control.
Psychologists can take up differing points of view on this topic, and students will be expected to make a well-balanced analysis which takes into account both sides of the debate.
Determinism
This is the view that a person’s behaviour is dictated by their genetic make up, or by behaviours learnt from outside influences, such as our parents or peers. This means that all behaviour is predictable because it can be traced to a cause. It rejects the notion that people act independently of external or internal influences.
External determinism
External or environmental determinism is the theory that the dominant driver of behaviour is the outside influences a person is exposed to during their formative years, such as parents, teachers, and TV and the internet. For example, psychologists have found evidence that violent parents often raise children who go on to become violent.
Internal determinism
Some psychologists advocate the view that behaviour is determined by biology, and innate traits such as extroversion or introversion are the key drivers for all individual reactions and interpretations of the world. Some of these ideas align with the theories of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the Austrian neurologist who is regarded as the founder of psychoanalysis.
Hard and soft determinism
Within the two concepts of external and internal determinism are the concepts of hard and soft determinism. Hard determinism represents the idea that all free will is an illusion, and behaviour is purely driven by a person’s genes and background. Soft determinism allows for an element of free will in all behaviour, but still emphasises the importance of determinism.
What are the criticisms of determinism?
Some psychologists argue that determinism frees people from the obligations of taking moral or ethical responsibility for their actions, which anyone over the minimum legal age of criminal responsibility, and doesn’t have a mitigating mental illness, should be accountable for.
Furthermore, there are potentially many thousands of factors which could influence a person’s behaviour, and it is impossible to take them all into account.
Free will
Advocates of free will believe that a person has complete autonomy over their choices, which are independent from subconscious external or internal influences. They argue that this is the human trait which makes us different from animals, and all humans of sound mind are in control of their own destinies.
However, people do not always behave in a way which supports the concept of free will, as they may be influenced by overwhelming emotions or uncontrollable thoughts, such as obsessive compulsive disorder, or schizophrenia.
Therefore, most psychologists use an approach which takes into account both determinism and free will when studying human behaviour.
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