Free Will Vs Determinism & Reductionism vs Holism Flashcards
what does Holism mean?
the idea we need to understand behaviour as a whole experience to fully understand behaviours
what does Reductionism mean?
breaking down complex behaviours into their simplest components
what does Biological Reductionism mean?
reduces behaviour into the actions of neurons, neurotransmitters, hormones, e.c.t
what does Environmental reductionism mean?
reduces behaviour to simple stimulus response links
what are the levels of explanation?
from holistic to reductionist:
- socio-cultural
- psychological
- physical
- environmental / behavioural
- physiological
- neurochemical
Holism and reductionism weaknesses
- if something is too reductionist other factors can be overlooked meaning we may only treat symptoms and if not underlying causes
- environmental determinism is based off of animal studies which may ignore other influences on human behaviour
- Holism has less practical value due to their accounts of human behaviour being more complicated as it may be harder to pinpoint a cause for a problem
strength of reductionism and holism
- Drug therapies from reductionism have led to a considerable reduction in institutionalisation since 1950’s
- reductionism allows for us to operationalise variables making it possible to be objective and reliable in experiments
what does free will mean?
the idea that all humans are self-deciding and are free to choose their own behaviour and thoughts
what does hard determinism mean?
the idea that all human behaviour has a cause and assumes that everything we do is controlled by an internal or external force
what does soft determinism mean?
the idea that we do have free will in our thoughts and actions we are still influenced by external and internal forces - idea put forwards by William James
what does biological determinism mean?
the idea that behviour is cuased by biological influences that we cannot control- e.g. the autonomic system on the stress response
what does environmental determinism mean?
Skinner said that “free will is an illusion” and that all behaviour is the result of conditioning and that our decisions are just the result of reinforcements on us
what does psychic determinism mean?
Freud saw that behaviour was due to the influence of psychic drives and instincts - he also thought that behaviour was determined by unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood
strengths of free will
- has a high face validity as it makes more cognitive sense - this leads to people who believe in free will tending to be more mentally healthy (Roberts et al showing fatalists more likely to get depression)
- complies with the legal system as it allows for people to be charged as the crime they commit is fully due to their own decision and not some external force
weaknesses of free will
- doesnt comply with features of a science as it contradicts the idea that findings in a study are due to the independent variable
- Libet’s study where someone was asked to flick their wrist randomly whilst he measured their brain activity - he found that unconscious brain activity came about half a second before they consciously decided to move. this suggests that our brain determines all our decisions before we are conscious of them
