AO1

Determinism is the view that an individual’s behaviour is controlled by either internal or external forces acting upon the individual. There are different types of determinism namely environmental, biological and psychodynamic determinism. Biological determinism refers to the idea that all human behaviour is innate and determined by genes, this is characteristic of the biological approach in Psychology viewing humans as biological organisms. Environmental determinism is the view that behaviour is determined or caused by forces outside the individual. Environmental determinism posits that our behaviour is caused by previous experience learned through classical and operant conditioning. Psychic determinism claims that human behaviour is the result of childhood experiences and innate drives (id, ego and superego), as in Freud’s model of psychological development. Free will on the other hand is the belief each individual has the power to make choices about their behaviour. The humanistic approach is the only approach that is a free will model as Maslow and Rogers argued that self-determination was a necessary part of human nature. 

AO3

Free will is preferable to determinism as free will argues that an individual is in charge of their actions meaning they have moral responsibility. If behaviour is determined by outside forces, that provides a potential excuse for criminal acts. For example, in 1981 Stephen Mobley argued that he was ‘born to kill’ after killing a pizza shop manager, because his family had a disposition towards violence and aggressive behaviour. An American court rejected this argument. Therefore, a truly determinist position may be undesirable as it provides an ‘excuse’, allowing people to mitigate their own liability and could lead to vexing legal issues regarding the nature of responsibility and intent.

• Soft determinism as an alternative to hard determinism – why is it preferable? (???)

Concordance rates in MZ twin studies are never 100%, therefore biological determinism cannot solely explain behaviour, other factors must be involved. Concordance rates also show that environmental determinism cannot be the sole factor, as there is evidently some genetic input. 

Determinism is scientific and allows cause and effect relationships to be established. It gives plausible explanations for behaviour backed up by evidence  allowing us to predict behaviour