Holism And Reduction

Question 1

What is Holism?

Answer 1

Attempts to understanding human behaviour can only be done through by analysing the person or the behaviour as a whole rather than its constituent parts.

Question 2

What is Reductionism?

Answer 2

Analysing behaviour by breaking it down into
its constituent parts. It is based around the scientific principle of parsimony. All behaviour should be explained using the most basic (lowest levels) principles.

Question 3

What is Biological Reductionism?

Answer 3

refers to the way that biological
psychologists try to reduce behaviour to
a physical level and explain it in terms of
neurons, neurotransmitters, hormones,
brain structure, etc.

Question 4

What is Environmental Reductionism?

Answer 4

is also known as stimulus-response
reductionism. Behaviourists assume that
all behaviour can be reduced to the
simple building blocks of S-R (stimulus-
response) associations and that complex
behaviours are a series of S-R chains.

Question 5

What are the levels of Reductionism?

Answer 5

Highest level = Social and Cultural Explanations
Middle level = Psychological Explanations
Lowest level = Biological Explanations

Question 6

What are the two types of Holism?

Answer 6

Gestalt Pyschology and Humanistic Pyschology.

Question 7

What is Gestalt Psychology?

Answer 7

Gestalt psychology adopts a holistic
approach to perception: when we
perceive something in the real world,
we do so as a whole rather than as a
collection of bits and pieces.

Question 8

What is Humanistic Psychology?

Answer 8

Humanistic psychology argues that
humans react to stimuli as an organised whole, rather than a set of stimulus-response links. approach, it uses qualitative methods
to investigate all aspects of the
individual, as well as the interactions
between people.