Reductionism and Holism Flashcards
(16 cards)
what is the link like between reductionism and holism?
there is no continuum between reductionism and holism
what is holism?
to understand people you must take into account the whole person and their individual experiences and emotions
what is reductionism?
explains behaviour in terms of its basic units and at the simplest level
what is reductionism based on?
parsimony
what is parsimony?
simple explanations are preferred to unnecessary complexity
what are levels of explanation?
there are different ways of explaining human behaviour ranging from most basic biological reductionist level to more complex holistic level
what is highest level of explanation?
cultural and social explanations
e.g. depression being explained by withdrawing from social activities, low energy levels
what is middle level of explanation?
psychological explanations
e.g. depression being explained by Becks negative triad and Ellis’ ABC model
what is lowest level of explanation?
biological explanations
e.g. depression being explained by candidate genes and neural factors
what is biological reductionism?
attempts to explain behaviour at lowest biological level e.g. in terms of genes
what is environmental reductionism?
attempts to explain behaviour in terms of stimulus-response that have been learned through experience
example of holistic approaches?
humanistic
psychodynamic
example of reductionist approaches?
biological
cognitive - machine reductionism
behaviourist - environmental
evaluation of reductionism vs holism debate (brief)
strength - reductionism is scientific
weakness - holism lacks practical application
weakness - reductionism ignores complexity of behaviour
strength of reductionism vs holism debate
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.
weaknesses of reductionism vs holism debate
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.
