Holism And Reductionism Flashcards
What is Holism
Is the view that behavior and experiences can only be fully understood when viewed as a whole, not breaking it down into smaller components
What does Gestalt Psychology state
Suggests that when making sense of the world we experience objects as a whole rather than just individual details e.g optic illusion, we see a whole image rather than just the individual components
What is an approach that is holistic
The Humanistic approach
- they believe that to be able to understand behavior fully attention needs to be payed to the individual and their experiences
What is Reductionism
It is the belief that behavior can be broken down into individual unites for better understanding
What is Parsimony
Is the principle that a phenomena should be explained using the simplest principles possible, this is the basis of reductionism
What are the levels of reductionism and explain them (give examples)
The highest level
- Social and Cultural explanations: how our social group can affect our behavior
E.g the effect labeling can have on the development of depression
Middle level
-Psychological explanations
E.g like irrational thoughts and environmental factors
-Physiological explanations
E.g the role serotonin and specific genes have in depression
What are the two forms of reductionism
Biological reductionism and Environmental reductionism
What is biological reductionism
It is the focus on biological explanations for behavior (such as genetics, evolution, and neurochemistry)
What is environmental reductionism
It is the attempt to explain all behaviors in terms of a stimulus-response link and what we learn through experience
What is an example of biological reductionism
An example of biological reductionism is the Biological approach
What is an example of environmental reductionism
The Processes Model of Attachment
-they argue that an attachment is made when an association between the provider and food is made
Evaluation- Practical Value of Reductionism and Holism
Holism lacks practical value as it is more complex making it hard to determine the most important factors to target
Reductionism has practice value as it focuses on specific aspects of behavior so these aspects can be targeted for treatment
Evaluation - Effectiveness of Reductionist Drug Therapies
There have been developments of effective drug therapies like SSRIs and antipsychotics based on a reductionist focus on genes and neurotransmitters
Evaluation- Strength of Reductionism
It aligns with the scientific methods of psychology as it seeks to find the cause and effect and gives psychology more credibility
Evaluation- Limitation of Reductionism
REdeductiosim can oversimplify complex behaviors and ignore context, they only treat symptoms rather than the cause
