holism and reductionism Flashcards
holism
to understand a system we should study it as a whole
reductionism
behaviour is best understood by breaking it down to its constituent parts
levels of explanation
increasingly reductionist
socio-cultural - psychological- physical - environmental - physiological - neurological
biological reductionism
explain behaviour at lowest biological level eg genes, hormones
environmental reductionism
explain behaviour through stimulus-response links learned through experience (behaviourists)
levels of explanation definition
the idea that there are several ways that can be used to explain behaviour
practical value
P - limitation of holism is may lack practical value
E - become hard to use as more complex
E - many different factors that contribute to eg depression, past, present, jobs, relationships - difficult to know which is most influential
L - holistic accounts may lack practical value
scientific approach
P - strength is reductionism is they often form the basis of a scientific approach
E - to conduct well-controlled research we need to operationalise the variables to be studied - breaking target behaviour to constituent parts
E - makes it possible to conduct experiments and observations
L - scientific approach gives psychology greater credibility - equal terms with natural sciences
P - reductionist approach accused of oversimplifying complex phenomena - reducing validity
E - explanations that operate at level of gene doesnt include social context
E - eg pointing finger is same regardless of context but no reason why the finger is pointed, aggression, attention
L - reductionist explanations can only ever form part of an explanation
higher level
P - limitation of reduction is some behaviours only understood at a higher level
E - social behaviour only emerge within in a group and cannot be understood in terms of individual group members
E - eg conformity to social roles - zimbardo - interactions between people of group important and no such research as currently found conformity gene
L - for some behaviours, high level explanations provide a more valid account