holism & reductionism

Question 1

what is holism

Answer 1

the theory that the parts of any whole cannot be understood except in their relation to the whole.
you cannot break something down into it’s parts and expect to understand it as a whole

Question 2

what is reductionism

Answer 2

the theory that all complex systems can be understood in terms of their components.
you can break something down into smaller parts in order to study/treat the whole

Question 3

how does holism view depression

Answer 3

• someone can be depressed due to a multitude of factors
• eg insomnia leading to poor sleep/feeling stressed, poor mental health, working too much (2 jobs), recently losing a loved one or a history of mental illness in the family
• holism says that depression can only be understood as a combination of all of these factors

Question 4

how does reductionism view depression

Answer 4

• due to a lack of serotonin in the synapses (biological reductionism)
• or due to faulty information processing eg negative triad (cognitive)

Question 5

what are levels of explanation

Answer 5

• many levels of explanation for any given behaviour
• ranges from the most specific, measurable and scientific to more general social and cultural influences
• the holism/reductionist debate asks whether it is right to look at just 1 level or more than 1
• ranges from cellular biology and biochemistry to social groups/family and cultural

Question 6

what’re negatives/positives of holism

Answer 6

+ does explain social behaviours
- lacks practical value

Question 7

how is explaining social behaviours a strength of holism

Answer 7

• some behaviours are only understood from a holistic view, eg studying ISI/NSI
• here it is inappropriate to study an individual as the behaviour can only be understood by observing interactions between groups of people
• therefore the holistic approach is able to explain complex behaviours which may not be able to be explained from s reductionist perspective

Question 8

how is lacking practical value a limitation of holism

Answer 8

• holistic areas eg humanism consider many aspects eg depression may have contributing factors such as present relationships, job or income. all are very difficult to know which are the most important to address in therapy
• it becomes difficult to administer an efficient and effective therapy, making the holistic approach lack practical value

Question 9

what’re strengths/weaknesses of reductionism

Answer 9

+ very scientific
- loses ‘the bigger picture’

Question 10

how is it’s scientific measuring a strength of reductionism

Answer 10

• approaches eg behaviourist/biological approaches study behaviour using operationalised variables and carrying out highly controlled lab experiments
• eg behaviourism uses replicable lab research on rats and dogs. the bio approach uses highly objective brain scans and twin studies to collect data
• this gives the reductionist stance greater credibility

Question 11

how is losing ‘the bigger picture’ a limitation of the reductionist approach

Answer 11

• reductionism tends to simplify behaviours down to basic parts - eg reducing OCD down to a single gene
• this may explain a cause of Sz but not it’s context, eg it doesn’t tell us how someone with Sz feels, or why they have unique symptoms that other sufferers don’t
• therefore the reductionist approach can only ever form part of an explanation as, alone, it cannot provide a full explanation.
• this means that, alone, the reductionist approach lacks validity