Holism and reductionism

Question 1

What is the holism- reductionism debate?

Answer 1

• the question of whether holism or reductionism is the better approach to use in order to understand human behaviour

Question 2

What approaches take a holism approach and what approaches take a reductionist approach?

Answer 2

• humanistic= holism
• reductionist= behaviourists, biological

Question 3

What is holism and who was this the view of ?

Answer 3

• theory that proposes that it only makes sense to study an indivisible system rather than its constituent parts
• Gestalt psychologists believe ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’
• knowing about the parts does not help us understand the essence of that person

Question 4

What is the relationship between the humanistic approach and holism?

Answer 4

• focuses on individual experience which is not something that can be reduced
• they use qualitative methods to investigate the self
• themes are analysed instead of breaking behaviour

Question 5

What is reductionism?

Answer 5

• seeks to analyse behaviour by breaking it down into its constituent parts
• based on the principle of parsimony (all phenomena should be explained using the simplest (lowest level) principles

Question 6

What are the levels of explanation?

Answer 6

• the idea that there are several ways (levels) that can be used to explain behaviour
• lowest level considers physiological/biological explanations
• middle level = psychological explanations
• highest level = social & cultural explanations

Question 7

What are the different ways we can explain OCD using the levels of explanation?

Answer 7

• socio- cultural = OCD interrupts social relationships
• psychological = the persons experience of anxiety
• physical = movements (washing hands)
• behavioural = learning experiences
• Physiological = abnormal functioning in frontal lobes
• Neurochemical - underproduction of serotonin

Question 8

What is biological reductionism and an example?

Answer 8

• a form of reductionism that attempts to explain behaviour at the lowest biological level (genes, hormones etc.)
• BR works backwards, drugs that increase serotonin > found to be effective
• therefore cause of OCD may be low serotonin (reduced OCD to neurotransmitter activity)

Question 9

What is environmental reductionism and an example?

Answer 9

• the attempt to explain all behaviours in terms of stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience
• behaviourist approach
• e.g. learning theory of attachment reduces the idea of love between baby & mother to a learned association between mother (NS) & food (UCR) resulting in pleasure (CR)

Question 10

What is a limitation of the holism approach?

Answer 10

• may lack practical value
• holistic accounts can become vague as behaviours become more complex which can present researchers with practical dilemma
• e.g. accepting humanistic perspective that depression is caused by many factors (past, present, job, family)
• difficult to know what is the most influential & which to prioritise as the basis of therapy
• highlights how holistic accounts could not be used for finding solutions to real-world problems R more appropriate

Question 11

What is a strength of the reductionist approach?

Answer 11

• often form the basis of a scientific approach
• in order to conduct well- controlled research we need to operationalise the variables to be studied (breaking down target behaviour to its constituent parts)
• makes it possible to conduct experiments or record observations in a way that is objective & reliable
  e.g. strange situation operationalised component behaviours such as separation anxiety
• gives psych greater credibility, placing it in equal terms with natural sciences

Question 12

What is a counterpoint to the strength of the reductionist approach?

Answer 12

• may lead to errors in understanding
• some psychologist argue that biological R ignores complexity of HB
• explanations that operate at the lowest level (e.g. genes, neurotransmitters) do not include an analysis of the social context within which behaviour occurs (behaviour may derive meaning from here)
• e.g. the physiological processes involved in pointing ones finger is the same regardless of context
• an analysis of these will not tell us why the finger is pointed
• oversimplifying complex behaviour can lead to potential loss in validity

Question 13

What is a strength of holism?

Answer 13

• they consider all aspects of behaviour
• holism can be used to understand a wide range of behaviour (R cannot)
• e.g. effects of conformity to social roles in the prisoners & guards in the Stanford prison study could not be understood by studying p’s as individuals
• instead it was the interaction between people & the behaviour of the group that was important
• There is no ‘conformity gene’ so social processes like this only be understood using higher level exp
• matters because it shows that in order for psychologists to provide a more complete & global understanding of behaviour they should adopt a holistic approach to produce more valid accounts