Holism And Reductionism

Question 1

What is the Holism-Reductionist debate?

Answer 1

• Question of whether reductionism of holism is a better approach to understanding human behaviour
• Within the reductionist approach there is a continuum - the levels of explanation

Question 2

What is Holism?

Answer 2

• Looks at a system as a whole and sees any attempt to subdivide behaviour into smaller units as inappropriate
• Gestalt psychologists who argued the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts
• Holistic psychologists use qualitative methods to investigate the self

Question 3

What is Reductionism?

Answer 3

• ## Analyse behaviour by breaking it down into constituent parts. Based on parsimony - phenomena should be explained at the lowest level

Question 4

What are the levels of Psychology?

Answer 4

Using OCD as an example:
- Socio-cultural level (social relationships)
- Psychological level (anxiety)
- Physical level (movements)
- Environmental/Behavioural level (learning experiences)
- Physiological level (abnormal functioning of the frontal lobes)
- Neurochemical (underproduction of serotonin)
Each level is more reductionist than the one before

Question 5

What is Biological Reductionism?

Answer 5

• Includes Neuroochemical and Physiological levels discussed previously, also evolutionary and genetic influences, based on the idea that we are all biological organisms
• Often works backwards (drugs that increase serotonin have been found effective in treating OCD, therefore, working backwards, low serotonin may be a cause of OCD.

Question 6

What is Environmental (stimulus-response) Reductionism?

Answer 6

• Behaviourist Approach is built on this, all behaviour is learned through interactions with the environment
• For example the idea of attachment and how a baby grows to love its mother.

Question 7

In what way may holism may not be practical in terms of real world application?

Answer 7

• Holism becomes impractical in the real world when, for example, trying to decipher a therapy focus when treating depression, as holism believes many things e.g family, job, past relationships etc. How, while maintaining a holistic perspective, is a researcher supposed to decipher what quality has the largest impact and what element to focus on in therapy? Therefore, this perspective may not be compatible with the real world and genuine diagnosis.

Question 8

How does the reductionist approach provide greater scientific credibility?

Answer 8

• In order to conduct well controlled scientific research, variables must be operationalised, this makes it possible to conduct experiments and observations that are objective and reliable e.g strange situations operationalised categories such as separation anxiety. This places psychology on equal terms with natural science

Question 9

How does the reductionist approach provide greater scientific credibility?

Answer 9

• In order to conduct well controlled scientific research, variables must be operationalised, this makes it possible to conduct experiments and observations that are objective and reliable e.g strange situations operationalised categories such as separation anxiety. This places psychology on equal terms with natural science