9. Holism And Reductionism AO1

Question 1

What is holism

Answer 1

People and behaviour should be studied as a whole system

Question 2

Explain holism

Answer 2

Psychologists claimed the whole is greater than the sum of its parts - shared by humanistic psychologists

Question 3

What is reductionism

Answer 3

Breaking down behaviour into constituent parts

Question 4

Explain reductionism

Answer 4

Reductionist approaches analyse behaviour by breaking it down into similar units - based on principle of parsimony

Question 5

What is parasimony

Answer 5

All phenomena should be explained using the most basic, lowest level and simplest principles

Question 6

What does the notion of levels explanation suggest?

Answer 6

There are different ways of viewing the same phenomena in psychology - some are more reductionist than others

Question 7

Explain the socio-cultural level in OCD

Answer 7

It involves behaviour most people would regard as odd

Question 8

Explain the psychological level in OCD

Answer 8

The individuals experience of having obsessive thoughts

Question 9

Explain the physical level in OCD

Answer 9

The sequence of movements involved in washing ones hands

Question 10

Explain the physiological level in OCD

Answer 10

Hypersensitivity of the basal ganglia

Question 11

Explain the neurochemical level in OCD

Answer 11

Underproduction of serotonin

Question 12

What can psychology be replaced by?

Answer 12

Hierarchy of reductionism

Question 13

What is hierarchy of reductionism

Answer 13

More precise and micro at the micro (physics) and the more general and macro at the top (sociology)

Question 14

How do psychologists who favour reductionism feel

Answer 14

See psychology as ultimately being replaced by explanations derived from sciences lower down in the hierarchy

Question 15

What is biological reductionism

Answer 15

Physiological and neurochemical level

Question 16

What does biological reductionism claim

Answer 16

We are biological organisms made up of physiological structures and processes

Question 17

Explain biological reductionism

Answer 17

All behaviour is at some level biological and can be explained through neurochemical, neurophysiological, evolutionary and genetic influences

Question 18

What has biological reductionism been applied to

Answer 18

Successfully applied to explanation and treatment of mental illness

Question 19

What is environmental reductionism

Answer 19

Physical level, behaviourist stimulus-response links

Question 20

What is built on environmental reductionism

Answer 20

The behaviourist approach

Question 21

Explain the behaviourist approaches beliefs

Answer 21

Behaviourists study observable behaviour and break complex learning up into simple stimulus-response links

Question 22

When does the key unit occur in the behaviourist approach

Answer 22

Physical level

Question 23

What is the behaviourist approach not concerned with?

Answer 23

Cognitive processes - the mind is regarded as a black box that is irrelevant to our understanding