Pyramid of free will
The Pyramid of Freewill as proposed by Jesse Omoregie (2015) is an idea that attempts to explain some major factors that combine or singularly cause a major effect, influence how much Will is there at the disposal of an individual, and how a person’s Freewill in turn interacts with factors that influence it.[1].
The pyramid of free will demonstrates how behaviour can affect and be affected by choice, and how choice is affected by internal and external environment and vice visa. Both the internal and external environments are affected by behaviour and vice visa. Freewill is affected by the internal and external environment, while Freewill affects most of the variables. According to the diagram, freewill is at the pinnacle of the pyramid which when a straight line is drawn down to the bottom of the pyramid it meets the base of the pyramid at the junction of Freewill. The junction of Freewill is the center of gravity of all the complex processes that occur in the background when an individual responds to stimuli in certain ways[1]. When people make decisions it involves a lot of cognitive processing in the brain, of which the cognitive processes of the human brain share similar mechanisms and characteristics, but the cognitive process of making decisions can vary a great deal from one person to another[2][3]. Decision making can be divided into three components: The decision maker, the decision situation, and the decision process. According to the concept that underpins the Pyramid of Freewill, it will be useful to understand that the decision of a person demonstrates their choice type, and choices are displays of Freewill as Freewill directly causes major effect on the choices people make[4]
[null The decision situation]
The decision situation is the condition, circumstance, context, or the position which may or may not require action to be decided in order to change the present state or to maintain it. The decision situation can be determined by one’s own past or preceding behaviour, other people’s choices and behaviour, as well as the internal and external environment in line with the Pyramid of Freewill. The deciding situation itself can be mentally processed and interpreted differently due to the individual’s perceptual abilities. Perceptual ability refers to the capability to be able to deal with and give meaning to sensory stimuli.[4][1]
Decision making involves the process of selecting an alternative(s) out of several available alternatives which are based on certain conditions. The conditions are what this chapter refers to the decision situation. There are two main conditions involved in the decision situation: The first is the condition of confidence, which is a condition where the decision maker has reasonable knowledge of the alternatives that are available to them, and the conditions that are associated with each of the alternatives. In this state, the decision maker has substantial knowledge of the potential risks that are associated with each of the alternatives and the cost associated with the risks. On the other hand, the condition of doubt is the second condition involved in the decision situation. It is a condition where the decision maker has no knowledge of the available alternatives, nor the risks or consequences associated with those alternatives.[4][1]
[null The decision maker]
The decision maker is the person who chooses from a range of available options. There are a host of elements that influence the decision maker during decision making, and they express their Will, which then manifests itself through their choices. The decision maker constantly wants to express their Will to achieve gratification which is one of the primary characteristics of the Freudian Id. Subconsciously, the decision maker struggles with unseen battles both from the outside and within. These battles will be further explained in the next paragraph which deals with decision process.[4][1]
[null The decision process]
The decision process involves all the cognitive processes that take place before a decision is reached by the decision maker on the decision situation. These cognitive processes make use of schema which are based on past experiences. The way in which a specific schema is formed has a direct effect on how the individual makes decisions in such a situation, which then reflects in the individual’s behaviour.[4][1]
During the decision process, there are various elements that contend to stand out. Such elements include the decision maker’s internal environment which consists of the biological make up, hereditary or genetic predispositions, neurochemical activities in the brain, as well as the presence of abnormalities. Other elements include the decision maker’s external environment which includes everything in the physical environment, cultural background, socio-economic factors, geography, social influences such as obedience, conformity, and social facilitation, etc.
The decision maker’s behaviour also contends to stand out. Behaviour according to the Online Oxford Dictionary is the way in which an animal or person behaves in response to a particular situation or stimulus. Behaviour can also be a person’s attitude towards certain stimuli, where attitude according to Allport (1935) is a mental and neural state of willingness, prearranged via experience, which puts forth a directive or forceful influence on the responses of a person to all objects and situations with which it is related. Similarly, Gross (2010), indicated that attitude can be seen as a mixture of beliefs and values, which in other words suggest that one’s behaviour can be influenced by one’s beliefs and values. These beliefs and values are influenced by both internal and external environments as postulated by the Pyramid of Freewill, which includes life experiences, moral obligations, Will power, and cognitive abilities.
The final element that strives to stand out during the decision process is choice. Choice is the act of choosing from different possibilities. The individual’s Freewill has a direct impact on their choice type, and can be influenced by both environments on the Pyramid. This implies that Freewill influences behaviour, while behaviour influences the type of choice people make, and Freewill also influences the person’s choice type, while those choices determine their behaviour.
For the Will to be freely expressed, there has to be options presented, or a set of alternatives based on certain criteria, and Freewill will then use choice as a medium to be expressed. According to the Pyramid of Freewill, it can be argued that Freewill can be influenced by life experiences, beliefs, moral obligations, values, and abnormalities, all of which fall under various parts of the Pyramid. However, one subject the pyramid did not attempt is how much Freewill is exerted when people make choices. The reason being that the Pyramid proposes that very little or none of a person’s Will is freely expressed due to too much interference from both the inside and the outside world of the individual, and that most of Will processes are carried out in the unconscious mind of the person which can be argued is outside the control of the person.[1]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Freewill The Degree of Freedom Within. Omoregie, Jesse. Authorhouse. 2015. ISBN 9781504987523. OCLC 917332838. Search this book on
- ↑ Wang, Y., Wang, Y., Patel, S., & Patel, D. (2006). "A layered reference model of the brain (LRMB)" (PDF). IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part C (Applications and Reviews). 36(2): 124–133.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
- ↑ Wang, Y., & Wang, Y. (2006). "Cognitive informatics models of the brain". IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part C (Applications and Reviews). 36(2): 203-207.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Zachary, W., Wherry, R., Glenn, F., & Hopson, J. (1982). "Decision situations, decision processes, and decision functions: Towards a theory-based framework for decision-aid design". Proceedings of the 1982 conference on Human factors in computing systems: 355–358.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
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