holism vs reductionism Flashcards
(14 cards)
what is holism?
GESTALT:
- whole is greater than some of the parts
- whole individual and their experiences
- holism is a humanistic perspective
what is reductionism?
-explaining behaviours by breaking them down into simple components / constructs / elements
what is holism?
GESTALT:
- whole is greater than some of the parts
- whole individual and their experiences
- holism is a humanistic perspective
what is reductionism?
- explaining behaviours by breaking them down into simple components / constructs / elements
what is biological reductionism?
- biological approach
- explaining behaviour using biological constructs
- e.g. genetics / hormones
- neurotransmitters
- low level explanation
what is environmental reductionism?
- behaviourist approach
- explaining behaviour in environmental constructs
- stimulus > response
- conditioning
- mid-level explanation
what is machine reductionism?
- cognitive approach
- explains behaviour in terms of mechanistic models
- computer analogy
what are the levels of explanation?
- different perspectives offer different levels of explanation when looking at behaviour
- (top) social and cultural explanations - the influence of social groups on behaviour
- (middle) psychological explanations - cognitive, behavioural and environmental
- (bottom) biological explanations - neurochemical, genetic, brain structure
examples of biological reductionism in psychology
- OCD > COMT / SERT gene
- attachment > bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment > genetic blueprint
- schizophrenia > dopamine hypothesis
examples of environmental reductionism in psychology
- approaches > skinners rats > operant conditioning > reinforcement and punishment
- attachment > cupboard love theory > conditioning level
- psychopathology > 2 process model > acquired through classical conditioning > maintained through operant conditioning
- forensics > dealing with offending behaviour > token economies
- forensics > differential association theory > rewards
examples of machine reductionism in psychology
- memory > MSM > breaks memory down into 3 steps
- memory > WMM > information processing
evaluation of reductonism
SCIENTIFIC (+)
- identifying and breaking down into components allows causality to be inferred
- operationalised
CA
- ignoring the role of other factors
- variables missed
- insufficient explanation
- limited
PARSIMONIOUS (+)
- easier to understand
CA
- lacks validity
- not realistic
- loss of meaning
- lose element of behaviour
PRACTICAL APPLICATION (+)
- facilitate therapy
- isolating variables
- economic implications
CA
- root cause may be missed / overlooked
- social problems > high level
evaluation of holism
LOOKS AT WHOLE BEHAVIOUR (+)
- true to life
- greater understanding
- more valid
- higher level
CA
- lacks scientific credibility
- subjective
- difficult to measure and quantify
- hard to identify which factor is most important
conclusion
- interactionist approach > solution > diathesis-stress
