Holism And Reductionism Flashcards
What is reductionism?
The belief that human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into smaller component parts
What is holism?
The idea that human behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience, and not as separate parts
What is the holism-reductionism debate?
The question of whether holism or reductionism is the better approach to use in order to understand human behaviour.
Name the two types of reductionism
Biological Reductionism
Environmenal Reductionism
Explain biological reductionism
refers to the way biological psychologists try to reduce behaviour to a physical level and explain it in terms of neurons, neurotransmitters, hormones, brain structure and evolution. All behaviour is biological.
Give an example of biological reductionism in research
Biological explanations of OCD - drugs that increase serotonin have been found to be effective in treating OCD. The explanation suggests that low serotonin may be a cause of OCD therefore reduces OCD to the level of neurotransmitter activity.
Explain Enironmental reductionism
(also known as stimulus-response reductionism)
Behaviourists assume that all behaviour is learnt through experience. This learning can be reduced to the simple building blocks of S-R (stimulus response) associations and that complex behaviours are a series of S-R chains.
Give an example of environmental reductionism in research
Learning theory of attachment reduces the idea of love (between baby and person who does the feeding) to a learned association between the person doing the feeding (NS) and food (UCS) resulting in pleasure (CR)
Explain the holistic approach
Looks at a system as a whole and sees any attempt to subdivide behaviour or experience into smaller units as inappropriate. This was the view of Gestalt psychologists who argued that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Therefore, knowing about the parts doesn’t help us understand the essence of that person.
Give an example of the holistic approach in research
Humanistic psychology focuses on the individual’s experience, which isn’t something that can be reduced to biological units. Humanistic psychologists use qualitative methods to investigate the self whereby themes are analysed rather than breaking the concept into component behaviours.
What are levels of explanation?
different ways of viewing the same phenomena in psychology - some are more reductionist than others.
What are the 6 levels of explanation?
Socio-cultural level (least reductionist)
Psychological level
Physical level
Environmental/behavioural level
Physiological level
Neurochemical level (most reductionist)
Explain depression in terms of all 6 levels of explanation
Socio-cultural level - depression interrupts social relationships / isolation
Psychological level - the person’s experience of depression / stressed + low self esteem
Physical level - movements e.g. not getting out of bed / low activity levels
Environmental / behavioural level - learning experiences / changes in sleep
Physiological level - irrational thoughts, faulty information processing
Neurochemical level - underproduction of serotonin
Explain depression in terms of all 6 levels of explanation
Socio-cultural level - depression interrupts social relationships / isolation
Psychological level - the person’s experience of depression / stressed + low self esteem
Physical level - movements e.g. not getting out of bed / low activity levels
Environmental / behavioural level - learning experiences / changes in sleep
Physiological level - irrational thoughts, faulty information processing
Neurochemical level - underproduction of serotonina
Give some limitations of reductionism
- ignores complexity of behaviour and can be oversimplified
- context is important in understanding meaning of behaviour
- focus on a single level of explanation leaves out other levels of explanation
