Holism and Reductionism

Question 1

Holism definition

Answer 1

Perceiving the whole experience, rather than the individual features or relations between them. E.g. A mental disorder.

Question 2

Reductionism definition

Answer 2

An approach that breaks complex phenomena into more simple components- making it more desirable

Question 3

Levels of explanation for reductionism

Answer 3

Highest level- Cultural and social explanations of how our social groups affect our behaviour
Middle level- Psychological explanations of behaviour
Lower level- Biological explanations of how hormones and genes etc. affect our behaviour

Question 4

Biological reductionism

Answer 4

Biological psychologists reduce behaviour to the action of neurotransmitters, neurons, hormones etc.

Question 5

Environmental reductionism

Answer 5

Behaviour can be reduced to a simple relationship between behaviour and events. E.g. attachment study of rhesus monkey

Question 6

Gestalt psychology

Answer 6

Explanations for what we see only make sense through the consideration of a whole rather than individual elements.

Question 7

Humanistic psychology

Answer 7

Individual reacts as an organised whole. A lack of a sense of wholeness leads to a mental disorder.