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Essay: The debate between free will and determinism

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Psychology includes multiple debates and research issues that must be analysed in order to conduct research scientifically, efficiently and ethically. In the psychological debate between free will and determinism, the focus is on whether human behaviours are predetermined due to a variety of factors or if they are a product of conscious action. Determinism has various approaches that explain human behaviour. However, it ultimately explains human behaviour as predictable, this can be important when studying behaviour and interaction as the proposal that human behaviour has certain patterns makes it much easier to investigate it in a scientific way. The deterministic approach aims to reduce the responsibility of the individual and find laws of behaviour in the same way that hard sciences find laws to predict events.
Free will, on the other hand, does not explain behaviour as an ordered and patterned occurrence. Free will describes behaviour as self-determined as individuals have the capability to rationally think. According to the free will debate, human behaviour is not a result of coercion from wider forces because humans are able to make decisions which ultimately makes the behaviour somewhat unpredictable.
Psychic determinism, which came from the psychoanalytical approach, says that behaviour is a result of unconscious factors. This comes from Freud’s psychosexual development theory. Within this development, a child’s personality and behaviour will form depending on the events that occur during this time. Freud believes that if a child has healthy development, the ID will become sufficiently controlled by the ego which becomes an inner voice of reason. However, if the upbringing is unhealthy and any of the psychosexual stages are interrupted or do not work in conjunction then the child will grow up into an adult that has poor behavioural habits as the ID is not sufficiently controlled by the ego.

Psychic determinism theorises that behaviour is shaped from basic human needs. This relates to Freud’s idea of the behavioural motivations being influenced by life or death instincts. According to Freud (1920), the libido is what produces psychic energy. As in Freud’s theory of the structural model of the psyche the brain is in a state of conflict when the energy from the libido is in a high state. The energy created is called the cathexis, this energy causes humans to fixate on a specific object, person or idea. When this happens humans may use alternative ways to satisfy the or dispense the cathexis, this is the ego’s way of processing the energy in a way that is relevant to reality. The ego may also block socially unacceptable behaviours that the ID wants, this is called anti-cathexis. For the ego to suppress these urges it must use up a lot of psychic energy and therefore can only be done for fixed periods of times in order to leave enough energy for other processes. This description means that the psychodynamic approach links motivation for certain behaviours to basic survival instinct and death instinct which is a powerhouse for human aggression.

Environmental determinism examines the personality and concludes that is shaped by operant and classical conditioning. This relates to the behaviourist approach that views behaviour as ordered and predictable. The behaviourist approach explains behaviour as complex as it is a result of a series of learned behaviours and stimulus and response correlations.

As in the name environmental determinism points to environmental factors to deduce reason for behaviour. Due to behaviour being shaped by environmental factors it then becomes easier to observe and predict what behaviours or personality an individual might have as a result of previous behaviours.

Environmental determinism relates human motivations to stimulus and response, it can be explained that individuals find motivation from environmental rewards or fear of negative consequence. Thorndike (1989) proposes a ‘law of effect’ saying that an individual will be motivated by satisfaction from their actions and will be deterred if their actions result in a negative consequence. However, motivation may also occur if negative reinforcement is applied as an individual will be motivated to avoid the negative stimulus. Motivation in this sense can either be extrinsic, meaning that motivation is gained from reward, or it can be intrinsic, meaning motivation is gained through personal growth or gain. Intrinsic motivation is individual based whereas extrinsic outside the individual, social support, conformity and praise are examples of extrinsic motivation

Biological determinism is the belief that behaviours and personality are shaped by biological factors such as occurrences within the brain and central nervous system, this may include hormones, chemical reactions and other factors. Biological determinism also looks at hereditary traits that may contribute to how behaviour is formed. As biology is more hands on it is easier to provide empirical evidence to back up theories. There are multiple theories in the biological approach that tries to explain motivation. Motivations may be related to self-regulation and self-preservation. Claude Bernard (1865) points out that survival is the main motivator for biological function and relates it to overall motivation for human behaviours. Another explanation is the role of the Medial Forebrain Bundle (MFB) which act as a pleasure pathway in the brain, this bundle is connected to the hypothalamus and septal area which oversee the feeding process. When stimulated the MFB raises levels of satisfaction and pleasure. Therefore it has been concluded that when the MFB is stimulated it motivates certain behaviours to maintain the rise in the feel-good feelings, therefore the behaviours become learned. There are multiple theories in the biological approach that tries to explain motivation. Motivations may be related to self-regulation and self-preservation. Claude Bernard (1865) points out that survival is a main motivator for biological function and relates it to overall motivation for human behaviours. Another explanation is the role of the Medial Forebrain Bundle (MFB) which act as a pleasure pathway in the brain, this bundle is connected to the hypothalamus and septal area which oversee the feeding process. When stimulated the MFB raises levels of satisfaction and pleasure. Therefore it has been concluded that when the MFB is stimulated it motivates certain behaviours to maintain the rise in the feel-good feelings, therefore the behaviours become learned.

Free will explains motivation differently, some psychologists debate that free will is the main factor in motivation. They believe that while some behaviours may be pre-determined it is ultimately up to the individual to make choices and use rational thinking. Maslow (1943) put motivations for different needs into a hierarchy which would lead to the ultimate desire of self-actualisation, the need for fulfilling personal potential or reaching the peak of personal growth. He believed that motivation was based on immediate needs and when physiological needs such as thirst, hunger, sleep and sex were fulfilled, humans would then be motivated by their next priority of needs. This would be safety needs such as having a home and feeling safe. After that, belonging needs would take control of motivation. During this, the individual will be motivated by social requirements like maintaining friends or a romantic relationship. These desires may manifest themselves as getting married or joining gangs or clubs. Next, esteem needs would create motivation to fulfil a higher need for esteem and a lower one. The higher manifests itself in trying to achieve independence, confidence and self-respect whereas the lower is the desire for others to value or appreciate the individual in some way. It isn’t without the fulfilment of this hierarchy that an individual could reach self-actualisation however, Maslow believed that not many people could achieve self-actualisation.

Maslow explained that only 2% of people would reach self-actualisation and only an individual with a specific personality could get there. He described that person as someone who enjoyed solitude, enjoys deeper personal relations, enjoyed autonomy rather than conformity, unhostile sense of humour, acceptance of self and others and finally spontaneity and simplicity.

In saying this, every individual is different and the motivation for self-actualisation may lead people to act in accordance to what they think is the best way to achieve it. It may become subjective, meaning that individuals are exercising their right to make choices and view their own sense of personal potential differently.

While the consideration of the deterministic or humanist approach has great importance to explaining behaviour, it is also of extreme importance that psychologists apply ethics to any approach towards research they are conducting or methodology they use.

Ethics can be defined in various ways depending on the subject it is applied to, generally, it is defined as the concern of what ought to be. In social sciences ethics is defined differently, it is described as reality as it truly is.

Ethics in psychology can be defined as generally agreed guidelines that include anonymity, privacy and confidentiality. The BPS guidelines outline what is required of researchers in terms of ethics when conducting psychological research as there is a moral responsibility to protect research participants from harm. These guidelines include; deception, informed consent, debriefing, right to privacy, confidentiality, to avoid stress and harm and the right to withdrawal at any time.

Withdrawal is the agreed rule that a participant may withdraw from an experiment at any time, this includes already collected data from the participant. They should be told from the beginning that they have the right to withdraw. They should not be pressured to continue if they do not want to. Avoiding stress or harm refers to a participant leaving the experiment in the same state of mind that they had when they had entered. The experiment must not cause any short-term or long-term damage or distress as this is deemed inhumane. The researcher must also accommodate to more vulnerable groups, for example, the elderly, disabled or children. The guideline for deception describes that the use of deliberate misleading and deception by omission, failure to disclose full information about the study would be unethical. The researcher must avoid deceiving the participants about the nature of the research unless there is no alternative. Some types of research might require an element of deception to avoid demand characteristics. If informed consent is obtained through deception it becomes null. Under confidentiality, researchers must ensure that participants and any data gained from them must be kept anonymous unless they have given full consent. No names must be used in the research report.

Ethics applied to testing within contemporary psychology is still a widely debated subject. Animal testing, while still used in some circumstances today, had very different ‘guidelines’ applied. Animal testing is still seen as both a problem and a benefit. In research today, a lot of psychologists will try and follow the ethical guidelines when conducting experiments, however, they often weigh the harm of the animals with how much it will benefit society or how much it will harm society if research isn’t conducted. There are three key reasons animal testing is still used, these are; to specifically learn more about specific animals, to uncover principles of behaviour that can be generalised to humans and to expose animals to stimuli or environments that is considered too dangerous for humans. There are also limitations on the types of animals that can be used in testing to reduce distress as people are generally less distressed by the testing of animals considered pests such as; rodents, birds and nonhuman primates (Fairholm, 2012). In saying this, not many animals are used in the research of contemporary psychological research. Passer et al (2009) argued that 90% involve rodents and birds and only 5% of inhuman primates are used in experiments involving animals.

Although guidelines to protect animals are in place, this was not always the case and many unethical practices in previous research sparked animal rights activists to advocate against the maltreatment of the animals. An example of this is Harry Harlow’s Rhesus monkey experiment conducted in the 1950s in which rhesus monkeys were experimented on to test attachment theory. The monkeys were separated from their mothers at a young age and provided with a wire mesh surrogate with a feeding bottle and a cloth surrogate mother. They were exposed to frightening stimuli and observed. Harlow found that the monkeys preferred the cloth surrogate rather than the surrogate that provided for needs.

Harlow did not follow any guidelines to ensure ethical conduct with the rhesus monkeys. Firstly, he took the rhesus monkeys who had already bonded away from their biological mothers, this is a clear indicator of causing long-term harm. He continued to cause detrimental levels of stress amongst the monkeys by exposing them to stimuli that scared them and keeping them isolated for a range of up to 3 months to a year which had ultimately led to some of the monkeys being devoid of social skills and some of the monkeys had become depressed and refused to eat causing them to die of starvation.

The monkeys were completely unable to consent or withdraw from the experiment due to their inability to indicate otherwise. This is a breach of multiple ethical guidelines including, the ability to withdraw, informed consent, debriefing and avoiding stress or harm. However, Harlow conducted these experiments under the key reasoning for the use of animal research. The research was able to uncover principles of behaviour that can be generalised to humans and was too dangerous for human experimentation. However, it can be argued that without this research, the findings on the nature of attachment, formation of attachments and the detrimental effects of deprivation and privation might not be discovered and the positive impact that it has had on the discovery of more psychological issues related to it and treating those with attachment issues.

If research that Harlow conducted were conducted on a human child, it would be impermissible. However, if the conditions occur naturally a psychologist may be able to take advantage of the situation to develop research.

Another study that has been under scrutiny was the case of genie who had been through extreme abuse and deprivation. When she was found she was stooped in posture, had an inability to talk and communicate with others, had trouble walking or standing straight and was so small professionals had thought she was around 6 years of age. To psychologists and psychiatrist’s genie seemed like an opportunity for a natural experiment to answer questions about deprivation and attachment issues. While the idea of a natural experiment seems more ethical as the researcher is not causing harm due to the harm that had already been done. This raises the question of whether putting genie under circumstances in which she is being surrounded by strangers and questioned while she could barely communicate would have prolonged her stress. Daily testing on Genie could be seen as exploitation rather than research. Genie also had the inability to consent or withdraw due to her inability to communicate. Another issue with the case of Genie is that the case was an isolated incident, it was based on anecdotal evidence rather than a scientific study with controls, meaning that there was no way to prove that Genie was born with developmental delays or whether the abuse and deprivation was the sole cause of her abundant issues.

However, it is not often that researchers get the chance to evaluate and study this type of extreme deprivation first hand and the findings could provide some useful information for future cases of attachment issues in human children.

In contemporary psychology, both cases don’t hold merit within BPS ethical guidelines and conduct. Both are very different cases, one seen as a natural experiment the other inflicting attachment issues on animals, both have provided opportunities for further research within attachment and have provided important information that can help towards the research of attachment.

It is difficult to determine whether ethics can be compromised to find information that can change the dynamics of understanding the human condition and whether the benefits to future and present society outweigh the harm caused to participants within the unethical practices and studies. Free will and determinism have both proven relevancy and on analysis have both proven relevancy as well as usefulness in the field of psychology.

Bibliography

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  • Thorndike, E.L. (1898), Animal intelligence: An experimental study of the associative processes in animals. The Psychological Review: Monograph Supplements, i-109

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