FREE WILL VS' DETERMINISM

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FREE WILL VS. DETERMINISM

• JOURNAL ENTRY 10/28/2009
• BRIEFLY DISCUSS A TIME WHEN YOU HAD TO MAKE AN
  IMPORTANT DECISION ON YOUR OWN.
• DESCRIBE THE INFLUENCES IN YOUR LIFE THAT HELP
  YOU MAKE THIS DECISION.
• REFLECT IF YOU MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE. WOULD
  YOU DO ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY?

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FREE WILL VS. DETERMINISM

• ALSO CALLED FREE WILL VS FATE
• A CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC THAT PHILOSPHERS AND
  PSYCHOLOGISTS HAVE DEBATED THROUGHOUT HISTORY
• AS HUMANS DO WE HAVE A CHOICE OVER OUR BEHAVIOR?
• DO WE HAVE CONTROL OVER OUR DECISIONS?
• Free will means you have a choice on your
  behavior and destiny.
• Fate (determinism) that all our behavior and our
  future is chosen for us.
• RELIGION
• Christians and non-Christians alike, believe
  implies that not only has God always known what
  choices individuals will make tomorrow, but has
  actually determined those choices.
• Jewish Philosophy- in order for Man to have true
  free choice, he must not only have inner free
  will, but also an environment in which a choice
  between obedience and disobedience exists. God
  thus created the world such that both good and
  evil can operate freely
• Hinduism- different views on topic. Adavita
  schools generally believe in a fate based
  approach, and the Dvaita schools are proponents
  for the theory of free will.
• EARLY PSYCHOLOGY THEORISTS
• WILLIAM JAMES
• BELIEVED THAT WE HAD FREE WILL (ETHICALLY) BUT
  SCIENTIFICALLY THAT WE DID NOT. HIS THEORY ON
  INTROSPECTION DID NOT PROVE FREE WILL
• INSTINCT AND SOCIAL PRAISE AND PUNISHMENT HELP US
  MAKE OUR DECISIONS

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FREE WILL VS. DETERMINISM

• Watch the movie Signs
• In your Journal list behaviors and choices of one
  main character
• Be prepared to discuss their choices and connect
  with the theories that you will be learning.

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FREE WILL VS. DETERMINISM

• PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH (HARD DETERMINISM)
• Psychic determinism
• OUR EXPERIENCE IN INFANCY AND EARLY CHILDHOOD
  DETERMINES OUR BEHAVIOR
• OUR ACTIONS ARE BASED ON SATISFYING OUR WANTS,
  WISHES DESIRES AND FREEDOM (Sandra LaFave)
• STRONG UNCONSCIOUS FORCES THAT DETERMINE OUR
  DESIRE
• Freud believed that our choices were made on
  internal (unconscious) cues.
• Psychoanalysis is based on that humans can change
  (free will) but there is a connection with the
  unconscious.
• BEHAVIORISTS LEARNING PERSPECTIVE VIEW (HARD
  DETERMINISM)
• Determinism that it is an observable science.
• Our behavior is a result of our environment.
• That behavior is predictable.
• Behavior is determined by the environment, since
  we merely the total of all our past learning
  experiences, free will is an illusion-Oxford
  Press 2001
• Belief in cause and effect
• We repeat behavior that we get rewarded for

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FREE WILL VS. DETERMINISM

• HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY (FREE WILL )
• INVESTIGATE ALL ASPECTS THAT MAKE US UNIQUE AS A
  SPECIES (HUMAN)
• BELIVES THAT WE SHOULD STUDY THE INTERNAL CUES
  ALONG WITH THE EXTERNAL CUES.
• AS INDIVIDUALS WE SHOW A DEGREE OF FREE WILL
• Humanistic psychologists argue that regarding
  human behaviour as being influenced by external
  forces is dehumanising. (
• Carl Rogers believes as humans we have an innate
  drive to be self actualized. We take ownership
  of our choices. That we are drivers instead of
  passengers in our lives.
• COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY (SOFT-DETERMINISM)
• Particular action will get a particular result
• Is based on outward behavior but also concerned
  with inward behavior (how we think)
• Compares the mind to a computer
• Cognitive psychology is related to soft
  determinism in that free will is not freedom from
  causation but freedom of coercion and constraint
  (James 1890)
• Most of our cognitive behavior is automatic or
  procedural memory.
• Looks at life experience

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FREE WILL VS. DETERMINISM

• BIOLIGICAL PERSPECTIVE (HARD DETERMINISM)
• Characteristics of behaviour is inherited
• Focuses on internal cues such as hormones and
  genetics
• Our biology determines who we are
• ignores the great influence positive and negative
  experiences the environment can
• have on behavior.
• SUMMARY
• HARD DETERMINISM
• SKINNER, FREUD AND LORENZ
• NO ACTION IS FREE IF IT MUST OCCUR
• LOOKS AT INDIVIDUALS AS VICTIMS SO NO POINT ON
  PUNISHING THEM THEY CANNOT HELP IT
• THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SIN
• HUMANS ARE NOT SPECIAL OR HIGHER THAN ANY OTHER
  ANIMAL OR OBJECT.
• CONSEQUENCES ARE NOT BAD BUT YOU CAN CREATE A
  BETTER WORLD IF YOU
• ELIMINATE FREEDOM.
• LIMIT DESIRES

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FREE WILL VS. DETERMINISM

• SOFT DETERMINSIM
• HOBBES, LOCK AND HUME
• ACTIONS CAN BE CAUSED BUT ALSO FREE
• MOST PEOPLE WILL AGREE WITH THIS THEORY
• FREEDOM AND UNIVERSAL CAUSATION CAN BOTH EXIST
• FREE MEANS VOLUNTARY- WE DO IT BECAUSE WE WANT TO
  AND NO ONE IS FORCING US TO DO IT
• CONCERNED WITH OUR EMOTIONS WITH OUR CHOICES
• INDETERMINISM (FREE WILL)
• KANT, CAMPBELL, TAYLOR, ROGERS, AND MASLOW
• BELIVES WE HAVE A CHOICE TO OUR FREEDOM
• AS HUMANS WE ARE NOT EASY TO PREDICT OUR CHOICES

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Free Will vs. Fate Quiz

•  DIRECTIONS PLEASE ANSWER QUESTIONS ON A
  SEPARATE PIECE OF PAPER. YOU MAY USE YOUR NOTES.
  
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• Choose three of the five psychological
  perspectives and connect their theories with the
  movie Signs. Use specific examples from the
  movie to support their theories on Free will vs.
  Fate.
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• 2. Decide if you are a hard determinist, soft
  determinist or indeterminist. Please support
  your answer with examples from your life.