Holism And Reductionism Flashcards
What is holism
The belief that behaviour is better understood by looking at it as an indivisible system rather than it’s constituent parts
State 2 examples which shows holism
- Gestalt psychology’s Insight Learning
- Humanism
What is Gestalt psychology
- a form of psychology developed through a group of German psychologists
- focus= perception and argued that explanations for what we see only makes sense through consideration of the whole rather than individual elements
What is Insight Learning
Can only learn when all the elements of a problem are understood as a meaningful whole
What is an example of Insight Learning
Chimpanzees could solve the problem of getting a peanut out of the bottom of a tube by filling the tube with water so the peanut rose with the water and chimpanzee could reach it
How does the chimpanzee example show support for holism
The chimps used water as a toll and had to take into account all aspects of problem in order to solve it = holistic approach
What is reductionism
The belief that behaviour is better understood by breaking it down into smaller constituent parts
What is biological reductionism
A form of reductionism which reduces behaviour to a biological level (action of genes, hormones etc.)
What is environmental reductionism
A form of reductionism which reduces behaviour to simple stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience
What is experimental reductionism
A form of reductionism where a complex behaviour is reduced to a single (isolated) variable for the purpose of testing
What is parsimony
The idea that complex phenomena should be explained in the simplest terms possible
What is meant by levels of explanation
Explanations for behaviour can vary from a lower basic level to a higher, more holistic level. Each one is more reductionist than the one above
What are the 3 levels of explanations starting with the most reductionist
Biological - psychological - social and cultural
What is an example being explained in terms of the different levels of explanation
Memory:
- can be explained at a social level in terms of how cultural expectations affect what we remember
- psychological level= in terms of episodic memories (memories of events in a person’s life)
- biological level= in terms of the areas of the brain where the memories are stored and the neurotransmitters involved in forming memories
State an example which shows biological reductionism and environmental reductionism
- Biological= explaining mental disorders (OCD and Schizophrenia) in terms of candidate genes and neurotransmitters
- Environmental= classical/operant conditioning
