Reductionism and Holism

Question 1

what is the link like between reductionism and holism?

Answer 1

there is no continuum between reductionism and holism

Question 2

what is holism?

Answer 2

to understand people you must take into account the whole person and their individual experiences and emotions

Question 3

what is reductionism?

Answer 3

explains behaviour in terms of its basic units and at the simplest level

Question 4

what is reductionism based on?

Answer 4

parsimony

Question 5

what is parsimony?

Answer 5

simple explanations are preferred to unnecessary complexity

Question 6

what are levels of explanation?

Answer 6

there are different ways of explaining human behaviour ranging from most basic biological reductionist level to more complex holistic level

Question 7

what is highest level of explanation?

Answer 7

cultural and social explanations
e.g. depression being explained by withdrawing from social activities, low energy levels

Question 8

what is middle level of explanation?

Answer 8

psychological explanations
e.g. depression being explained by Becks negative triad and Ellis’ ABC model

Question 9

what is lowest level of explanation?

Answer 9

biological explanations
e.g. depression being explained by candidate genes and neural factors

Question 10

what is biological reductionism?

Answer 10

attempts to explain behaviour at lowest biological level e.g. in terms of genes

Question 11

what is environmental reductionism?

Answer 11

attempts to explain behaviour in terms of stimulus-response that have been learned through experience

Question 12

example of holistic approaches?

Answer 12

humanistic
psychodynamic

Question 13

example of reductionist approaches?

Answer 13

biological
cognitive - machine reductionism
behaviourist - environmental

Question 14

evaluation of reductionism vs holism debate (brief)

Answer 14

strength - reductionism is scientific
weakness - holism lacks practical application
weakness - reductionism ignores complexity of behaviour

Question 15

strength of reductionism vs holism debate

Answer 15

both environmental and biological reductionism are viewed as scientific. by breaking complex behaviours down to their simplest units it allows them to be scientifically tested. additionally, biological reductionism has led to the development of biological therapies such as drug treatment. for example, SSRIs are more effective than placebos at reducing the symptoms of OCD which provides patients with relief. this shows that reductionism has application in treatment.

Question 16

weaknesses of reductionism vs holism debate

Answer 16

holism lacks practical application. holism explanations consider many factors which can make them overly complex. for example, understanding depression from a humanistic perspective looks at a persons past, relationships, job, etc. this can make it difficult to establish the most influential factor which should be the focus of treatment. therefore the overly complex nature of holistic explanation can limit its effectiveness in therapies.

reductionism ignores complexity of human behaviour. reductionist explanation can result in a loss of validity as they ignore the social context in which a behaviour occurs that often gives behaviour meaning. for example, from a reductionist viewpoint, the act of speaking is the same across all scenarios as it involves the same biological mechanisms. however, this ignores the social context of speaking such as alerting someone or voicing an opinion. therefore this highlights the fact that reductionist explanations can simplify complex phenomena too much.