Holism and Reductionism

Question 1

what is reductionism

Answer 1

the belief that human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into component parts

Question 2

what is reductionism based on

Answer 2

parsimony

Question 3

what is parsimony

Answer 3

the idea that complex phenomena should be explained in the simplest terms possible

Question 4

what are levels of explanation

Answer 4

the component parts of behaviour

Question 5

what are the three levels of explanation

Answer 5

biological ex
psychological ex
social and cultural ex

Question 6

what is the lowest level of explanation

Answer 6

biological

Question 7

what is the middle level of explanation

Answer 7

psychological

Question 8

what is the highest level of explanation

Answer 8

social and cultural

Question 9

what is the biological explanation

Answer 9

behaviour in terms of neurochemicals, genes, brain structure

Question 10

what is the psychological explanation

Answer 10

behaviour in terms of cognitive and behaviour factors

Question 11

what is the social and cultural explanation

Answer 11

behaviour in terms of the influence of social groups

Question 12

the higher the level the more …

Answer 12

holistic

Question 13

the lower the level the more …

Answer 13

reductionist

Question 14

explain memory using social and cultural explanations

Answer 14

cultural expectations affect what we remember and how we recall info

Question 15

explain memory using psychological explanations

Answer 15

the capacity, duration and coding of memory

Question 16

explain memory using biological explanations

Answer 16

associations between size of the hippocampus and memory for spatial navigation

Question 17

explain OCD using social and cultural explanations

Answer 17

social groups affect our behaviour - repetitive hand washing being considered abnormal

Question 18

explain OCD using psychological explanations

Answer 18

associating hand washing with reduced anxiety, obsessive thoughts

Question 19

explain OCD using biological explanations

Answer 19

low levels of serotonin vs high levels of dopamine

Question 20

what is experimental reductionism

Answer 20

breaking behaviour down into component parts allow causal relationships to be established - not possible otherwise

Question 21

what is holism

Answer 21

only makes sense to study an indivisible (the whole) system rather than its component parts

Question 22

how can cognitive psychologists provide an example of holism

Answer 22

visual illusions (what we see) demonstrate humans perceive more than the sum of the sensations on the retina - therefore we shouldn’t just look at individual elements of vision

Question 23

how can the humanistic approach provide an example of holism

Answer 23

humans react to stimuli as an organised whole rather than set of stimuli-response links