Reductionism Vs Holism

Question 1

Definition of reductionalism

Answer 1

Reductionalism is a theory that simplifies complex human behaviour into basic parts

Question 2

Defintion of holism

Answer 2

A theory that suggests you cannot break things down to study them but instead everything has to be understood in relation to the whole or the sum of its parts

Question 3

Core studies that are reductionalist (year 1)

Answer 3

Bandura - reducing childrens behaviour to a relationship with a role model (social learning theory) ignores biological factors

Milgram - suggesting the environment affects our obedience ( ignores personality) - snapshot study focussing on obedience

Loftud and palmer - only looking at leading wuestions affecting memory. Suggests leading questions are the cause of a poor memory for an event. Ignored biology, only 1 Dv used memory is more complex than this

Question 4

Core studies that are holistic (year 1)

Answer 4

Bocchiaro - looks at the situation and personality (HEXACO), ran a pilot trst and a predicting task

Question 5

Strengths and weaknesses of reductionalism

Answer 5

Strength - scentific as it looks at smaller parts to measure possible cause and effect

Weakness - may lack validity as it is to simplistic to study behaviour in this way

Question 6

Strengths and weaknesses of holism

Answer 6

Strength - may be more valid if the whole explanation for that behaviour is explored

Weakness - less scientfic may not be able to determine one cause