Bandura provides the social learning approach of reciprocal determinism which is similar to that of soft determinism. This suggests that humans make the environment what it is therefore choosing their behaviour by our capability to make individual choices, which affects what we imitate. Consequently, people are controlled by the environment but also have a certain amount of control over it. This is a more accepted belief as this is far less deterministic than classical behaviourism.
Another deterministic approach is the Psychodynamic approach. At the core of this approach is the belief in ‘psychic determinism’ which is the view that events are controlled by our unconscious processes rather than occurring by chance. Freud shared Skinner’s views that the concept of freewill is an illusion, but did believe that humans have potential to achieve it. One belief that has produced harsh criticism for its lack of evidence is Freud’s theory of Psychosexual development. This states that a person’s behaviour and personality is due to their infantile characteristics, for example; an infant that defecates everywhere will develop into an Anal Expulsive character which means that as an adult, despite any other factors, they will be disorganised, reckless and defiant. This is a reductionist view, lacks face validity and has been proven to be wrong a through a number of studies.
This approach also has a successful therapy application to abnormal behaviours through the method of psychoanalysis. Many psychologists dispute this method and have found it to be unfavourable, such as Esyenck (1952) who found only 44% of patients benefited from therapy. Although Bergin (1971) found the majority of patients did benefit psychoanalysis, an alternative explanation for this success rate was offered; it may be due to the relaxed environment and the patient-therapist relationship established which may have allowed the patient to become more self-accepting. Also, this theory lacks falsifiability as it is based on innate activities and personalities which cannot be proved or disproved. Freud’s determinist account of dreaming
Neurobiological accounts of dreaming are another example of highly reductionist and deterministic approaches in psychology. They explain dreams as a result of neuro-biochemical processes in the brain such as a random firing of neurons. This is a weak theory as it does not explain complex dreams or dreams that reoccur. This is evidence that genes cannot solely explain behaviour, so strict determinism cannot be completely valid approach. The idea of lucid dreaming suggests that dreams are controlled by the dreamer and could be seen as evidence of free will.
The Cognitive approach is one of a few approaches which sit on the fence. This explains behaviour as a result of perception, language and memory, a distorted view of these will lead to abnormal or maladaptive behaviours. This is determinist as it states that past memories will shape our behaviour, but also promotes free will as the clinical approaches aim to eradicate faulty thinking and create rational thinking. This is attained through changing a person’s schema. The word ‘schema’ was first used by Piaget and Anderson devised the ‘Schema Theory’ which assumes that we all have schemas (a mental structure that represents some aspect of the world) which controls how we behave in certain situations. We have schemas about everything in the world (i.e. stereotypes of races, ages and genders, worldviews etc.), and use schemata to organize current knowledge and provide a framework for future understanding. This works as an elaborate network of abstract mental structures which represents an individual’s understanding of themselves and society. This is determinist view as it suggests that previous experiences lead to expectations which determine our behaviors and perceptions unconsciously.
The multi-dimensional Cognitive approach is widely supported as it doesn’t oversimplify behavior, as the deterministic psychologists do, yet doesn’t disregard the importance of genetics and other predispositions that occur. By combining both nature and nurture it is more valid and seems to take a ‘soft determinism’ view rather than either or.
However, Psychology as a subject is not wholly deterministic as there are approaches that do encourage the concept of freewill. The Humanistic approach has adopted the freewill view of behaviour; believing that all humans are free to plan their own actions and ultimately choose and shape their destinies. This results in everybody being unique and responsible for their own behaviours. ‘Self-actualisation’, a key concept within this theory, is the idea that we all have different potentials and constantly strive to achieve them. Maslow uses this in his hierarchy of needs and according to Jahoda’s view of mental health, problems only occur when we are prevented from fulfilling our true potential. However, on Humanist that has incorporated determinism into this approach is Carl Rodgers. He said that we do choose our own actions, but only through a framework which dictates what certain behaviours. This is also an example of soft determinism. Like the previous approaches, this has also has successful therapies such as Rodgers’ ‘self-centred’ therapy in which the therapist helps the patient to exercise free will in such a way to maximise the rewards in their life. This type of therapy has been very successful in treating less serious cases of mental disturbances but it culturally bias, as it is only appropriate for individualistic societies. As collectivist cultures are more concerned with interdependence and group needs, self-actualization would not apply to them.
Research into the human genome is producing increasing evidence on genetic influences on behaviour, supporting determinism. For example, a high IQ may be related to the IGF2R gene (Chorney et al. 1998). Scientific research is based on the notion of cause and effect, so if a scientific approach is not taken this rules out psychological research explaining causes of behaviour. This also means that, human behaviour is completely unpredictable which is contrary to what many people have experienced. However, it is unlikely that total genetic determination will ever be found for any behaviour – meaning that there must be another factor. Another popular debate is the questioning of whether Psychology is a science, if it is not then it should not be treated as one. However, studying chemicals or stars is not the same as studying behaviour in the intricate detailed situation of the real world. Dennett (2003) argues that even if it was, it is now accepted that there is no such thing as total determinism even in the physical sciences. Also, determinism tends to oversimplify human behaviour, some theories may be relevant to animals but human behaviour is influenced by other factors - including thinking.
Chaos theory proposes that even small alterations in initial conditions can result in major changes – the ‘butterfly effect’. Free will can be explained within a determinist framework as if free will is a product of conscious thought and decision making and psychologists can explain such processes in terms of brain activity then free will is another aspect of behaviour determined by the brain. Freewill is supported by subjective experiences and the fact that people do make individual decisions and are bound to their desires and inclinations. Yet, despite our subjective sense of free will, this is not proof. This could be an illusion, as Freud and Skinner described, and cannot be tested. Many freewill theories still explain moral thinking and behaviour as being determined by internal/external forces. Both Piaget and Kohlberg suggested that moral development was a result of biological determination.
Though there are strong arguments for both sides, there is a lack of evidence to show that either one is solely responsible for human behaviour. Both are necessary for explaining behaviour of humans due to its extreme complexity, therefore a ‘soft determinism’ approach offered by William James may be more applicable. This allows them to work conjunctively which provides a better comprehension of behaviours.