Holism and Reductionism Flashcards

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1
Q

What is holism?

A
  • The argument that human behaviour is more complex than the processes that other sciences study, e.g. chemical processes,
  • Means it should be viewed as the product of different influences, which all interact,
  • Trying to separate these influences by just studying one of them means that complex behaviour can be misunderstood, a holistic approach avoids this,
  • It is difficult to test integrated theories because you can’t isolate the variable; hard to establish cause and effect.
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2
Q

What is reductionism?

A
  • The view that it should be possible to explain complex things by reducing them to their most simple structures or processes,
  • In psychology, this means explaining behaviour by boiling theories down to some basic principles, e.g. aggression is caused by conditioning,
  • Testing this in an experiment means that it is possible to establish cause and effect,
  • Experiments are often unrealistically simplified and ignore other influences, they may not be testing real behaviour.
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3
Q

Holism/reductionism in the psychodynamic approach

A
  • By considering unconscious forces and childhood experiences, the psychodynamic approach is a relatively holistic approach,
  • For instance, Freud emphasised that personality is the result of interaction between different components, such as the Id and the ego, which is a more holistic view.
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4
Q

Holism/reductionism in the biological approach

A
  • All behaviours can be explained as the product of biological influences like genetics, brain structure, and brain chemistry,
  • This is biological reductionism,
  • Aims to establish cause and effect, focuses less on other influences on behaviour.
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5
Q

Holism/reductionism in the cognitive approach

A
  • Brain’s cognitive processes are compared to the working of a computer; machine reductionism,
  • There is input, various stages of processing, and then an output,
  • Reductionist as it doesn’t explain why humans function differently to computers.
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6
Q

Holism/reductionism in the behaviourist approach

A
  • Human behaviour is shaped by the environment through the processes of operant and classical conditioning; known as environmental reductionism,
  • Other possible influences (e.g. genetics) are focused on less.
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7
Q

Holism/reductionism in the humanistic approach

A
  • Holistic as it studies the individual in the context and tries to understand their subjective experiences,
  • Uses self-report techniques, rather than breaking down behaviour into its component parts,
  • Disagrees with reducing behaviour to cause and effect reactions.
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