holism and reductionism

Question 1

holism

Answer 1

to understand a system we should study it as a whole

Question 2

reductionism

Answer 2

behaviour is best understood by breaking it down to its constituent parts

Question 3

levels of explanation

Answer 3

increasingly reductionist
socio-cultural - psychological- physical - environmental - physiological - neurological

Question 4

biological reductionism

Answer 4

explain behaviour at lowest biological level eg genes, hormones

Question 5

environmental reductionism

Answer 5

explain behaviour through stimulus-response links learned through experience (behaviourists)

Question 6

levels of explanation definition

Answer 6

the idea that there are several ways that can be used to explain behaviour

Question 7

practical value

Answer 7

P - limitation of holism is may lack practical value
E - become hard to use as more complex
E - many different factors that contribute to eg depression, past, present, jobs, relationships - difficult to know which is most influential
L - holistic accounts may lack practical value

Question 8

scientific approach

Answer 8

P - strength is reductionism is they often form the basis of a scientific approach
E - to conduct well-controlled research we need to operationalise the variables to be studied - breaking target behaviour to constituent parts
E - makes it possible to conduct experiments and observations
L - scientific approach gives psychology greater credibility - equal terms with natural sciences

P - reductionist approach accused of oversimplifying complex phenomena - reducing validity
E - explanations that operate at level of gene doesnt include social context
E - eg pointing finger is same regardless of context but no reason why the finger is pointed, aggression, attention
L - reductionist explanations can only ever form part of an explanation

Question 9

higher level

Answer 9

P - limitation of reduction is some behaviours only understood at a higher level
E - social behaviour only emerge within in a group and cannot be understood in terms of individual group members
E - eg conformity to social roles - zimbardo - interactions between people of group important and no such research as currently found conformity gene
L - for some behaviours, high level explanations provide a more valid account