9. Holism And Reductionism AO1 Flashcards
What is holism
People and behaviour should be studied as a whole system
Explain holism
Psychologists claimed the whole is greater than the sum of its parts - shared by humanistic psychologists
What is reductionism
Breaking down behaviour into constituent parts
Explain reductionism
Reductionist approaches analyse behaviour by breaking it down into similar units - based on principle of parsimony
What is parasimony
All phenomena should be explained using the most basic, lowest level and simplest principles
What does the notion of levels explanation suggest?
There are different ways of viewing the same phenomena in psychology - some are more reductionist than others
Explain the socio-cultural level in OCD
It involves behaviour most people would regard as odd
Explain the psychological level in OCD
The individuals experience of having obsessive thoughts
Explain the physical level in OCD
The sequence of movements involved in washing ones hands
Explain the physiological level in OCD
Hypersensitivity of the basal ganglia
Explain the neurochemical level in OCD
Underproduction of serotonin
What can psychology be replaced by?
Hierarchy of reductionism
What is hierarchy of reductionism
More precise and micro at the micro (physics) and the more general and macro at the top (sociology)
How do psychologists who favour reductionism feel
See psychology as ultimately being replaced by explanations derived from sciences lower down in the hierarchy
What is biological reductionism
Physiological and neurochemical level
What does biological reductionism claim
We are biological organisms made up of physiological structures and processes
Explain biological reductionism
All behaviour is at some level biological and can be explained through neurochemical, neurophysiological, evolutionary and genetic influences
What has biological reductionism been applied to
Successfully applied to explanation and treatment of mental illness
What is environmental reductionism
Physical level, behaviourist stimulus-response links
What is built on environmental reductionism
The behaviourist approach
Explain the behaviourist approaches beliefs
Behaviourists study observable behaviour and break complex learning up into simple stimulus-response links
When does the key unit occur in the behaviourist approach
Physical level
What is the behaviourist approach not concerned with?
Cognitive processes - the mind is regarded as a black box that is irrelevant to our understanding
