Evaluation: Holism & Reductionism Flashcards

1
Q

State the 1st evaluation point of Holism & Reductionism

A

Biological reductionism - Developed drug therapies

  • more humane approaches to treatment of mental illness - lead to greater tolerance of mentally ill
  • although, drug therapies not always successful
  • reducing mental illness to biological level ignores context & function of such behaviour

psychological explanations take more account of casual factors & have produced many successful therapies

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2
Q

State the 2nd evaluation point of Holism & Reductionism

A

Environmental reductionism

  • Behavioural approach - developed using non-human animals
  • non-human animal’s behaviour explanations = not appropriate for more complex human behaviour
  • reductionist explanations ignore other influences (cognitive/emotional factors)

means environmental reductionism ignores other possible influences on human behaviour
such as, social context - intentions & emotions

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3
Q

State the 3rd evaluation point of Holism & Reductionism

A

Experimental reductionism

reducing behaviour to form that can be studied - may not tell us much about everyday life

e.g lab experiments - investigating eyewitness testimony - not always been confirmed by studies of real-life eyewitness where memories are accurate

  • operationalisation of variables may be measurable - but no resemblance to the real thing
  • factors that motivate performance can’t be recreated in an experiment

suggests experimental reductionism - negative effect on relevance of psychological research

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