Listening to: Andrew Bird
Beverage: Gunpowder Delicate Pearl Green Tea from Grace Tea Company
A debate concerning determinism and free will arose yesterday during dinner between my husband and I. It got me thinking, and has been on my mind ever since. We agreed to disagree but I want to know what you guys think.
Before I begin there are two terms which will appear frequently in this post: "determinism" and "free will".
Determinism
The belief of cause and effect relationships: X happens because of Y cause. An example of this would be, "My parents did this to me, therefore I am this way." Most people who believe in determinism, "espouse the view that all human actions are caused by something, even if we are oblivious to these causative factors," (Abascal, Brucato, Brucato, and Stephenson, 2012, p. 26). Some extreme determinists imply that free choice is non-existent.
Free Will
At the other end of the spectrum- free will is the notion that humans have the ability to ignore determining factors and freely choose their behavior. Of course extreme biological factors such as schizophrenia and autism are not being accounted for in this discussion.
Some determinists (like my husband) believe that choice does not exist. A quote from our debate last night if I may, from the man himself, "People like to use the word 'choice' like some type of holy grail...there is no such thing as choice, people make decisions based on experience."
I agree with a small portion of this. People do make decisions based on experience. You wouldn't take a road with construction and traffic every day to work, knowing there is an alternate back route you've taken before. Or you wouldn't pick up a pan that has been in the oven for an hour with your bare hands after being burned. However, you could if you wanted to. As a human being, you have the ability to choose to do so. People know smoking cigarettes is detrimental to health, but they still do it. Why? Because they can if they choose to. Dr.'s Abascal, Brucato, Brucato, and Stephenson explain this in more scientific terms:
"For humans a more descriptive model is that of S-O-R (stimulus-organism-response). A stimulus impinges upon you, but before you respond, you have a thought about that stimulus, you imbue it with meaning. It is that thought that leads to your particular response....It is here between the stimulus and response humans have the greatest freedom, the freedom to choose that response. The difficulty lies in the fact that our thoughts tend to be automatic and rather telegraphic, and we are generally not aware of them." p. 28
This is where things get sticky. "Automatic" and "telegraphic" thoughts do have the potential to be predisposed due to neuroplasticity . For example, someone who has been abused and beaten their entire adolescence, is statistically more likely to have that "automatic" and "telegraphic" thought to beat others when stimulated in a particular way, their brains may literally be "hard wired" to have a violent predisposition. BUT the "hard wiring" CAN be altered...also due to neuroplasticity.
Anyways, here lies my issue with determinism: as mentioned above, during the process of raising a hand to another person there is a window of choice...however brief and instantaneous...it exists. Muscles are not involuntary. From Anatomy and Physiology 101: the muscular system is completely voluntary in every homeostatic human being. With that being said, this hypothetical person is choosing to raise their hand and strike another person. Unless they are electrocuted or have some out of the ordinary muscle spasm, the choice is there to do it-plain and simple. Just because someone is predisposed to a certain type of behavior, does not mean their irrational actions are justified. Some other examples are depression and addiction.
This is proof that human beings have the capability of "re-wiring" their neural connections with brain exercises. Literally forcing yourself to think critically and rationally changes the formation of your brain. No one says it is easy, it's a process that takes an incredible amount of effort and patience (and probably A LOT of therapy...LOL), but every person without an extreme physical ailment or brain deformity is capable of this. A lot of falling off of the horse and getting back on, but after much practice those new neural connections will become stronger and more accessible. Here is another website explaining this process in greater detail: HOPE.
So are people capable of changing? I believe so, because they have the power to choose to do so. To say otherwise is a cop out. An excuse to stay exactly the same because change takes time, effort, critical thinking, self evaluation, and frankly, it's really hard.The method of doing this can be achieved through positive psychology. But more on this in another post.
This form of psychology restores my faith in humanity. The potential for greatness is there. It's just up to us to figure it out.
Cited:
Abascal, J. R., Brucato, L., Stephenson, P., Brucato, D. (2012). Essential Elements for Effectiveness: Optimal Functioning Through Positive Psychology. 26-28.
No comments:
Post a Comment