Holism Vs. Reductionism Flashcards
(11 cards)
reductionism
the belief human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into simpler component parts
holism
‘whole’ or ‘entire’ the idea human behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience, not separate parts
levels of reductionism
(part one AO1)
- the different ways you can explain behaviour
- lower levels (bio) most reductionist as they focus on basic components
- higher levels (cult and soci) holistic as take into account multiple factors
social and cultural
- highest level
- considers social and cultural exp.
- behaviour exp. by of influence of social groups
- example: gender schema theory affects what we remember
psychological explanations
- middle level
- considers psych exp. such as cog and psych
- example: miller examined capacity
bio explanations
- lowest level
- behaviour exp. by neurochemicals, genes and brain structure
- example: Maguire et al found an association between hippocampus size and memory for spatial navigation
environmental reductionism
- behaviour reduced to simple building blocks
- behaviours are a series of S-R chains
- e.g. cupboard Love (explain)
experimental reductionism
- complex behaviour reduced to single isolated variables for testing
- Peterson and Peterson examined duration of STM
examples of holism
- humanists: humans respond to stimuli as organised whole rather than set of S-R links
- Jahoda’s: normality has multiple components
advantages of H vs. R
Experimental allows scientific approach
- P&P in a lab, isolated variables
- controlled, establish casual relationships
Bio reductionism has real world apps
- candidate SERT and COMT genes
- identify risk and treatments
limitations of H vs. R
Experimental: limited explanation
- P&P artificial task
- findings won’t apply
Bio: limits understanding of mental health disorders
- OCD ccd rate MZ is 57%
- focusing on one level may ignore others
