Evaluation: Holism & Reductionism

Question 1

State the 1st evaluation point of Holism & Reductionism

Answer 1

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

Question 2

State the 2nd evaluation point of Holism & Reductionism

Answer 2

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

Question 3

State the 3rd evaluation point of Holism & Reductionism

Answer 3

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