holism and reductionism

Question 1

reductionism

Answer 1

• behaviour can be explain day breaking it down into smaller component parts
• believe the best way to understand behaviour is to look at the elements the make up our systems
• based on the scientific assumption of parsimony - the idea that complex phenomena should be explained in the simplest terms possible

Question 2

levels of explanation

Answer 2

• lowest level = biological/physiological explanations (neurochemicals, genes, brain structure etc). e.g. the case study of phineas gage
• middle level = psychological explanations (cognitive, behavioural, environmental). e.g. memory theories like the msm or wmm
• highest level = social and cultural explanations (influence of social groups). e.g. milgrams study on obedience

Question 3

biological reductionism

Answer 3

• reduce behaviour to a physical level and explain it in terms of neutrons, neurotransmitters, hormones and brain structure etc
• e.g. the explanations of psychological disorders are often biologically reductionist - a meta analysis of 14 twin studies of ocd found mz twins were over 2x more likely to develop ocd that dz twins if one twin had it already

Question 4

environmental reductionism

Answer 4

• reduce behaviour to simple stimulus-response associations
• e.g. reducing complex attachment to a stimulus response loop where the mother becomes associated with food, causing pleasure when the infant encounters their mother

Question 5

experimental reductionism

Answer 5

• reducing complex behaviour to a single isolated variable for the purpose of testing
• e.g. the multi store model splits memory into the sensory register, short term memory and long term memory, each which has its own capacity, duration and coding. memory is often examined in terms of isolated variables

Question 6

holism

Answer 6

• the idea that behaviour should be viewed as a whole, and not as separate parts
• some cognitive psychologists take a holistic approach, for example in the area of perception, visual illusions show that humans will perceive more than the sensations on the retina (if you see the image on the right, you’ll perceive the outline of a cube even though there is no cube)

Question 7

humanistic psychology

Answer 7

• advocates a holistic approach
• argues that humans react to stimuli as a while, rather than as a set of s-r links
• the approach uses qualitative methods to investigate all aspects of the person

Question 8

give a strength of reductionism
1/2

Answer 8

scientists, including psychologists, are often drawn to reductionist explanations. for instance, experimental psychology simplifies human behaviour into isolates variables in order to conduct controlled experiments (this is experimental reductionism). this enables researchers to examine the different factors that influence behaviour systematically while establishing causal relationships. without this approach, studying all the factors that influence behaviour simultaneously would be too complex and hard to interpret

Question 9

counter this point

Answer 9

however, although experimental research has produced a substantial amount of scientific evidence, the results of these highly controlled lab studies have methodological criticisms. due to the artificial environment and situations used, these studies often are inapplicable to the real world. for example, the findings of laboratory research into the reliability of eyewitness (such as loftus and palmer) have not been confirmed by studies on real life witnesses

Question 10

give a strength of reductionism
2/2

Answer 10

both biological and environmental reductionism are classified as scientific. by breaking down complex behaviours into smaller component parts, they can be scientifically tested, and over time explanations based on scientific evidence can emerge. furthermore, the existence of biological reductionism has allowed for the development of biological therapies, such as drugs. for instance, ssri’s are more effective than placebo’s for treating ocd, and the use of them have helped reduce the anxiety felt in patients with ocd. this highlights the importance in taking a reductionist approach to help in the development of treatments and therapies.

Question 11

give a limitation of reductionism
1/1

Answer 11

psychologists however argue that biological reductionism ignores the complexity of human behaviour by breaking it down into smaller parts, leading to errors of understanding. for example, the use of drugs such as ritalin for adhd in the belief that the condition consists of only neurochemical imbalances implies that the symptoms of the illness are its cause. although ritalin may reduce the symptoms of adhd, the circumstances which caused it are not addressed. since the success of drug therapy varies so much, taking just a biologically reductionist approach seems inadequate when explaining psychological disorders etc.

Question 12

give a strength of holism
1/1

Answer 12

the holistic explanation blends different levels of explanation, striving to provide a complete and realistic understanding of human behaviour. by taking into account every factor that influences human behaviour, such as our genes, the environment and our personal experiences, psychologists can provide a complete understanding of behaviour that is most like the real world

Question 13

give a limitation of holism
1/1

Answer 13

holistic explanations cannot examine behaviour in terms of individual, manipulated operationalised variables and therefore cannot be scientifically tested to establish a causal relationship. the lack of this evidence also leads to a lack of support for theories and concepts proposed by humanistic psychologists. utilising a humanistic approach makes it difficult to ascertain to what extent certain factors influence our behaviour, making treatment and understanding disorders and behavioural phenomenons difficult. overall, holistic explanations are unscientific due to heir inability to be scientifically tested