holism and reductionism

Question 1

the holism-reductionism debate

Answer 1

• the question of whether holism or reductionism is the better approach in order to understand human behaviour
• the holistic approach is about studying the ‘whole’, as soon as you start to break this down it isn’t holistic anymore
• therefore there is no continuum between holism and reductionism

Question 2

holism

Answer 2

• holistic approach looks at a system as a whole, sees any attempt to subdivide behaviour or experience as inappropriate
• the Gestalt psychologists argued that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
• humanistic psychology focuses on the individual’s experience, cannot be reduced to biological units etc
• humanistic psychologists use qualitative methods to investigate the self, themes are analysed rather than broken down
• humanistic psychologists saw successful therapy as bringing together all aspects, not breaking down behaviour or testing specific factors

Question 3

reductionism

Answer 3

• seeks to analyse behaviour by breaking it into its constituent parts
• based on scientific principle of parsimony (all phenomena should be explained using the simplest principles)
• levels of explanation are the different ways of explaining behaviour (socio-cultural level, psychological level, physical level, environmental / behavioural level, physiological level, neurochemical level)
• each level is more reductionist than the one before

Question 4

biological reductionism

Answer 4

• includes the neurochemical and physiological levels, as well as evolutionary and genetic influences
• based on premise that we are biological organisms, therefore all behaviour is at some level biological
• biologically reductionist arguments often work backwards
• for example, drugs that increase serotonin are found to be effective in treating OCD, therefore, low serotonin may be a cause of OCD (OCD has been reduced to the level of neurotransmitter activity)

Question 5

environmental (stimulus-response) reductionism

Answer 5

• behaviourist approach built on environmental reductionism, all behaviour is learned and acquired through interactions with environment
• behaviourists explain behaviour in terms of conditioning, focused on simple stimulus-response links, reducing behaviour to these simple elements

Question 6

evaluation - practical value

Answer 6

• holistic accounts of human behaviour often become hard to use as they become more complex
• if we accept that there are many different factors that contribute to depression, becomes difficult to know which is most influential, then difficult to know what to prioritise as the basis of therapy, for example

Question 7

evaluation - scientific approach

Answer 7

• reductionist approaches often form basis of a scientific approach
• to conduct research we need to operationalise the variables (breaking down target behaviours into constituent parts), making it possible to conduct experiments or record observations in a way that is objective and reliable
• scientific approach gives psychology greater credibility

Question 8

evaluation - higher level

Answer 8

• in reductionism, some behaviours can only be understood at a higher level
• often aspects of social behaviour that only emerge in group settings, cannot be understood in terms of the individual members
• for example, there is no conformity gene so social processes such as conformity can only be explained at the level at which they occur
• for some behaviours, higher level explanations provide a more valid account