Holism and Reductionism Flashcards
define reductionism
2
an approach that breaks complex phenomena into more simple components
it also implies that this process is desirable because complex phenomena are best understood in terms of a simpler level of explanation
why are psychologists drawn to reductionism?
1
psychologists are drawn to reductionist explanations and methods of research because reductionism is a powerful tool which has led to major discoveries
reductionist levels of explanation
4
the reductionist approach suggests that explanations begin at the highest level and progressively look at component elements…
- highest level = cultural and social explanations of how social groups affect our behaviour
- middle level = psychological explanations of behaviour
- lower level = biological explanations of how hormones and genes affect our behaviour
example of levels of explanation in reductionism
5
any behaviour can be considered in terms of all three levels of explanation
for example, memory can be explained….
- at a social level in terms of how cultural expectations affect what we remember
- at a psychological level in terms of episodic memories which are memories of events in a persons life
- at a biological level in terms of the areas of the brain where memories are stored (hippocampus and temporal lobe) and the neurotransmitters involved in forming memories (acetylcholine)
biological reductionism
3
all animals are made up of atoms, meaning human behaviour can be reduced to and explained at this physical level
biological psychologists reduce behaviour to the action of neurons, neurotransmitters, hormones and so on
they explain mental illness in such biological terms — for example, it has been suggested that schizophrenia is caused by excessive activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine because drugs that block this neurotransmitter reduce the symptoms of schizophrenia
environmental reductionism
3
behaviourist explanations suggest that all behaviour can be explained in terms of simple stimulus response links
in other words, behaviour can be reduced to a simple relationship between behaviour and events in the environment
for example, the complex emotional bond of attachment is reduced to a set of probabilities — the mother is likely to provide food, which is reinforcing as it reduces discomfort, hence she is a rewarding individual and so becomes a ‘loved one’
experimental reductionism
2
reducing complex behaviours to isolated variables is a useful strategy for conducting research
it underlies the experimental approach where behaviours are reduced to operationalised variables that can be manipulated and measured to determine causal relationships
define holism
5
the alternative to reductionism
it is the view that simple components do not express the true essence of a behaviour or experience — the sum of the past does not equal whole
with respect to a behaviour such as memory or mental disorder, holism is perceiving the whole experience rather than just the individual features and relations between them
focuses on systems as a whole rather than on the constituent parts
suggests that we cannot predict how the whole system will behave simply from knowledge of individual components — thus suggesting that reductionist explanations only play a limited role in understanding behaviour
holism: gestalt psychology
4
gestalten means ‘the whole’ in German
it was an approach favoured by group of German psychologists in the early 20th century
they focused especially on perception, arguing that explanations for what we see only make sense through a consideration of the whole rather than the individual elements
this was illustrated by an illusion to show that the whole is not simply a sum of its parts
holism in humanistic psychology
3
humanist psychologists believe that the individual reacts as an organised whole rather than as a set of stimulus response links
what matters most is a persons sense of a unified identity and thus a lack of identity or sense of wholeness leads to mental disorder
the humanist approach involves studying the person as a whole rather than breaking down their behaviours into component parts
holism in cognitive psychology
5
memory is a complex system which in recent years has been understood in terms of connectionist networks
the idea of a network is that each unit (such as the neuron) is linked to many other units (other neurons)
these links develop through experience and with each new experience, the links are either strengthened or weakened
connectionist networks are described as holistic because the network as a whole behaves differently than the individual parts
on the other hand, linear models (where one item links only to the next in a sequence) assume that the sum of the parts equals the whole
x4 evaluation points
the danger of lower level explanations
implications of biological reductionism
experimental reductionism is not representative of everyday life
the mind body problem
EVALUATION
the danger of lower level explanations
7
offering explanations of behaviour at only one level creates problems, especially if the explanations are of the lower levels
if lower levels such as biological or behavioural explanations are taken in isolation, the meaning of a behaviour may be overlooked which may lead to fundamental errors of understanding
for example, Wolpe (1973) developed systematic desensitisation therapy and treated one particular women for a fear of insects
he found no improvement in her behaviour and it turned out that her husband, with whom she was having problems, was given an insect nickname
her fear was not the result of conditioning but actually a means of representing her marital problems, so to focus on the behavioural level and ignore meaning would have been an error
lower level explanations may distract us from a more appropriate level of explanation — for example, the administration of the amphetamine Ritalin to hyperactive children may ignore the real causes of a child’s hyperactive behaviour, which may be family or emotional problems
therefore, simply using lower level explanations may give a very limited account of behaviour as it may be ignoring other important factors contributing to that behaviour
EVALUATION
implications of biological reductionism
8
a positive consequence of biological reductionism is that it has led to the development of drug therapies
the strength of such treatments is that they have led to a considerable reduction in institutionalisation since the 1950s
it is also a more humane approach to treating mental illness as it does not blame the patient, which in turn may lead to greater tolerance of those who are mentally ill by society
demonstrates that biological reductionism can have useful applications in real life and significantly help those suffering with mental illness by reducing their symptoms
HOWEVER — these drug therapies are fraught with difficulties and problems
their success rates are questionable as they tend to treat the symptoms of mental illnesses rather than tackling the causes, thus not having long lasting effects
reducing mental illness to the biological levels also ignores the context and function of such behaviour — for instance, reducing a person’s mental illness to chemical imbalances may be inaccurate as it dismisses the possibility of their mental illness being caused by their life experiences
psychological explanations take these more into account and have produced many successful therapies
EVALUATION
experimental reductionism is not representative of everyday life
6
reducing behaviour to a form that can be studied may be a necessary part of understanding how things work but it also means that such findings may not reveal much about everyday life
for example, research into eyewitness testimony such as Loftus and Palmer’s research involves laboratory experiments
but their findings have not always been confirmed by studies of real life eye witnesses where memories have been found to be highly accurate e.g. Yuille and Cutshall (1986)
the operationalisation of variables such as eyewitness memory may result in something that is measurable but bears no resemblance to real life
furthermore, in real life there are many other factors that motivate performance which cannot be recreated in an experiment
therefore findings often do not reflect the real world which suggests that experimental reductionism is not representative of everyday life
