Classic Studies Reductionsism In The Explanation Of Behaviour

Question 1

Sherif et al

Answer 1

• simplified aggression into physical and verbal aggression only
• didn’t look into factors that could effect prejudice e.g the cultures of the boys
• only looked at the factor of competition to increase levels of prejudice
• BUT was a field experiment so holistic aspect

Question 2

Baddeley

Answer 2

• reduced memory encoding into a list of 10 words
• lab experiment so had objective measures of memory recall
• oversimplified memory recall to a list of words (and only used one language)

Question 3

Raine et al

Answer 3

• PET scans as an objective measurement as brain activity
• reduced aggression in the criminals down to brain activity in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala
• ignored enviromental factors e.g social learning theory

Question 4

Watson and Rayner

Answer 4

• reduced phobia learning down to stimulus response pairing
• lab experiment
• reduced all phobias down to fear of a white rat
• only one type of conditioning

Question 5

Rosenhan

Answer 5

• oversimplified symptoms of sz down to 3 words (empty hollow thud)
• reliance on quantitative data highlights reductionism in a mining behaviour
• the observed data overlooked the internal perceptions of the pseudo patients e.g subjective experience
• however holistic aspect as field experiment