Holism And Reductionsim Flashcards
(14 cards)
Is this an issue or a debate
Debate
What does this debate focus on
An important question of the philosophy of science: can complex behaviours be reduced to their simpler components, or do we need to study the behaviour as a whole.
What does reductionism mean
Explaining behaviours as breaking it down to its constitute parts. It’s based on a scientific principle of parsimony (that all phenomena should be explained using the simplest principles.
For example the principles of occams razor = the simplest explanation is usually the correct explanation.
What are the level of explainations
SHOWN ON A TRIANGLE
1. (Highest level) - social and cultural explainations (holistic)
2. (Middle level) - psychological explanations
3. (Lowest level) - biological explanations (reductionist)
Example of the social and cultural explainations (highest stage) of the level of explainations
Memory could be explained at a social and cultural level, for example, when white Americans were shown an image of a white aggressive man and a smart black man, they remembered it the other way around.
Example of psychological explainations (medium level) of the level of explanations
Cognitve psycholohists expamine particukar parts of memory such as during capacity and coding (say what they are)
Example of the biological explanation (lowest level) of the levels of explainations
Memory can be considered in terms of biological components. For example in the study of the London taxi drivers, a psychologist found an association with the size of the hippocampus (which is the part of the brain responsible for spatial navigation)
What are the types of reductionism and their definitions
Biological = refers to the way the body tries to reduce behaviour to a physical level and explain it in terms of Neurotransmittors, hormones and brain structure.
Environmental = (also known as stimulus-responce reductionism) this is when its assumed that all behaviour can be reduced to the simple building blocks of stimulus response communications and that complex behaviours are just a series of stimulus-response associations.
Example of biological reductionism
In Sz, positive symptoms are the result of hyperactivity at the D2 receptors and negative symptoms are the other way around.
OCD, genes and Neurotransmittors, the SERT gene affects serotonin as it lowers the levels
Gender - sex is determined by chromosomes
Example of environmental reductionism
Phobia - 2 process model = acquired through classical conditioning and maintained by operant.
Attachment - cup-board love theory.
What is holism
This theory suggest that it only makes senses to study human behaviour as a whole, and not in sepauration parts.
This is because only knowing the parts of a behaviour, doesn’t really tell us or help us understand the essence of a human.
Example of holiness through approaches
Humanistic - Rogers and Maslow consider all experiences and feelings, and they argues that we cant break down behaviour into individual parts. This approach also uses quantitative methods such as interviews and case studies, which allow psychologists to understand their while experiences and not isolate parts.
Psychodynamic - Freud argues that behaviour cant be determined through just one aspect, but it should be explained through conscious and unconscious processes. This apparatchiks considers the whole mind.
One strength for the reductionist approach
P- more scientific in comparison to the holistic approach
E- in most experimental psychology is based on the assumption that human behaviour can be studied effectively in relatively simple experiments, whereas compact behaviour is reduces to isolated and operationalised variables. For example, a study into female with CAH (a genetic disorder that causes more masculine features in females).
E- this is a strength because it allows researchers to study difference factors into the influence of human behaviour in a controlled manner whie establishing a casual relationship. This wouldn’t be possible if the psychologist was studimg all the parts that influenced behaviour at once.
HOWEVER, the reductionist approach does over simplify the complexity of human behaviours. For example the biological approach for studying gender doesn’t include the analysis of psychological explanations or the social context which the holistic approach would consider vital to include.
A strength for biological reductionism
P- lead to development of biological therapies
P- biological research has established that ocd and depression are associated with low serotonin therefore people can be given SSRIs, which prevents reabsorption
E- ths shows thagt the reductionist approach has practical value and possibly be more practical then the holistic approach. This is because the holistic approach would imply that there are many factors that contribute to mental illnesses, such as stress, family ect, and this could be difficult to identify which factor will be the most influential and wouldn’t know what to prioritise which in a theropy.
HOWEVER, to treat conditions with drugs, this must mean that the condition consists of nothing more then neurochemical imbalances and this can mistake the symptoms of the illness for its true cause. Drugs may reduce the symptoms but not necessarily the illness due to lots of contributing factors, therefore the holistic papacy may be better here
