holism and reductionism

Question 1

define reductionism

Answer 1

reductionism is the belief that human behaviour can be explained by breaking is down into simpler components

Question 2

what does the reductionist approach suggest in terms of levels

Answer 2

suggests explanations begin at highest level and look at component elements

Question 3

what are the levels of explanation for reductionist approach

Answer 3

• highest level (cultural and social explanations - how social groups affect our behaviour)
• middle level (psychological explanations of behaviour
• lower level (biological explanations (how hormones/genes affect behaviour)

Question 4

applied example of levels of explanation - memory

Answer 4

• memory can be applied to social and cultural level in terms of how cultural expectations affect what we remember
• memory can be explained on psychological level in terms of episodic memory
• memory can be explained at biological level in terms of areas of brain where memories are stored

Question 5

types of reductionism

Answer 5

• biological reductionism
• environmental reductionism (stimulus response)

Question 6

define biological reductionism

Answer 6

• biological psychologists try to reduce behaviour to physical level and explain in terms of neurons, neurotransmitters, hormones and brain structure

Question 7

example of biological determinism

Answer 7

• schizophrenia is caused by excessive activity of neurotransmitter dopamine because drugs that block this neurotransmitter reduce the symptoms of this disorder

Question 8

define environmental reductionism

Answer 8

• behaviourists believe all behaviour can be reduced to stimulus response associations
• external forces determine outcomes and behaviour
• behaviour can be reduced to simple relationship between behaviour and events in environment

Question 9

define holism

Answer 9

focusing on systems as a whole rather than parts to explain human behaviour

• states we cannot predict how the whole system will behave just from knowledge of individual components

Question 10

examples of holism approaches

Answer 10

• gestalt psychology
• humanistic psychology
• cognitive psychology

Question 11

define gestalt psychology

Answer 11

argues explanations for what we see only makes sense through consideration of whole rather than individual elements

• when we perceive something in real world we do so as a whole rather than collection of bits

Question 12

define how humanistic psychology is holistic

Answer 12

humanistic psychologists believe individual reacts as an organised whole rather than set of stimulus - response link

Question 13

define how cognitive psychology is holistic

Answer 13

• there are different parts of the brain (prefrontal cortex/brocas area) but cognitive psychologists believe brain comes together as a whole

Question 14

evaluation points for holism and reductionism

Answer 14

(-) case against holism - vague
(-) case against reductionism - oversimplifying
(+) case for holism - social behaviour
(+) case for reductionism - scientific basis

Question 15

expand on eval point - case against holism - vague

Answer 15

• holistic explanations in psych tend not to use rigorous scientific testing (become vague)
• example is humanistic psych tends to be criticised for its lack of empirical evidence (seen as loose concepts)
• higher explanations can easily be applied to real world e.g. SSRI’s in reductionist genetic explanations (holism cannot be as highly regarded due to inability to explain and apply theory to complex issues (depression)
• suggests lower level explanations may be more appropriate

Question 16

expand on eval point case against reductionism - oversimplifying

Answer 16

• reductionist approaches have been accused of oversimplifying complex phenomena leading to loss of validity
• explanations that operate at level of genes, neurons and neurotransmitters doesnt include any analysis of social context which behaviour occurs
• for instance - physiological processes involved in pointing a finger will be same regardless of context, however analysis of these will not tell us why the finger pointed

Question 17

expand on eval point case for holism - social behaviour

Answer 17

• often aspects of social behaviour that only emerge within group context cannot be understood at the level of individual group member
• example - considering effects of conformity to social roles of prisoners + guards in zimbardos stanford prison - cannot be understood by studying PTTs as individual (as it was interaction + behaviour that was important)
• shows holistic explanations provide more complete/global understanding behaviour than reductionist approaches

Question 18

expand on the eval point case for reductionism - scientific basis

Answer 18

• strength for reductionism is that it forms a scientific basis for research thereby meaning its easily measurable (reliable)
• example - operationalising variables into specific parts such as behavioural categories is seen as way of measuring behaviours (e.g. behavioural approach is able to show how complex learning can be broken down to simple stimulus response
• overall, this gives psychology greater credibility in the scientific field