Holism and Reductionism: Debates Flashcards
Define holism in psychology
respect to a behaviour such as memory and mental disorder, perceiving the WHOLE EXPERIENCE rather than individual features/ relations between them
-shared by humanistic psychologists - therapy of bringing “whole person” together / cognitive psychology (memory as a network of connections)
evaluation of holism
research support of stanford prison experiment
Stanford prison experiment
- conformity of the role of prisoners and guards must be studied as the interaction between people and behaviour of group
-holistic explanation provide more complete understanding of human behaviours
-ve evaluation lack scientific testing, rather vague
humanistic approach tends to be criticised for lack of empirical evidence loose concepts such as “sense of self”
-practical dilemma and unable to determine which factor is must influential (therapy for depression as ex)
Define reductionism in psychology (valued in psychology)
analyse behaviours by breaking complex phenomena into simple components
-based on the scientific principle of “parsimony”, offering the easiest level of explanation
-valuable in psychology and led to great discoveries
evaluation of reductionism
reinforces the idea of “psychology as a science”
associated with scientific research
-operationalise variables to break down behaviours enables experiments (operationalise IV and DV or behavioural categories)
-high control of variables enables the study to be replicated (increases reliability)
oversimplification leads to low validity
example: analysis of just a single neurotransmitter ignores wide context in which that function operates
(neurotransmitters combine tgt to work ) in order to understand full behaviors
levels of explanations in psychology
social-cultural context
psychological level
biological level
(most reductionist)
different ways of viewing same phenomena
highest level: cultural and social explanations (memory -cultural expectations and social cues)
mid-level: psychological explanations
(episodic memory)
lower level: biological explanations (hormones and genes)
(where memory is stored and neurotransmitters are involved)
psychology is placed within the hierarchy of science (precise leading to general)
value reductionist or holistic depending on aligning with different approaches
favour reductionist accounts of behaviours-> psychology being replaced by explanations from approaches lower in the hierarchy.
environmental reductionism
-based on stimulus-response (relates to classical and operant conditioning)
behaviourist approach built on the environmental reductionism
-break complex learning to simple stimulus-response (measurable in the
laboratory) learn through classical or operant conditioning
eg complex emotion of attachment reduced by association of mother with provision of food (time of feeding as CC) (rewarding reduction in discomfort of hunger OC)
evaluation of environmental reductionism
not suitable to explain human behaviours
-most experiments are done on animals, not as complex as human behaviours
-as our behaviours are influenced by social context, intentions… ignore other possible influences such as cognitive or emotional factors
Biological reductionism
behavioural can be explained through neurochemical, evolutionary and genetic influences.
-psychoactive drugs on brain -> understanding of neural processes and explanation to mental disorders such as OCD depression at biochemical level
evaluation on biological reductionism
development of drug therapies in the field of psychology
-reduce the number of people suffering from mental illnesses being institutionalised
-takes on a more humane view of mental illness (does not blame an individual)
-ve HOWEVER success rate varies and might not have lasting effects
-ignores context and function of behaviours (instead psychological explanations takes much more account of these-> family therapy and CBT seen more successful)
taking an interactionist approach
-diathesis-stress model (using schizophrenia as an example)
-different levels of explanations combine and interact
DIATHESIS STRESS MODEL !! explain mental disorders (schizophrenia ex. predisposed by genetics but also other social or psychological factors that may trigger the illness)
-encourages a multidisciplinary approach (holistic approach )
ex. schizophrenia patients randomly allocated to medication (CBT and supportive counselling group to a control group medication only ) patients in two combinations groups showed lower level of symptoms
