Evaluation: Holism & Reductionism Flashcards
State the 1st evaluation point of Holism & Reductionism
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
State the 2nd evaluation point of Holism & Reductionism
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
State the 3rd evaluation point of Holism & Reductionism
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