holism v reductionism Flashcards
holism Ao1
can only understand human behaviour by looking at the whole person
should not attempt to break down behaviours into its constituent parts
holism was developed by a group of Gestalt psychologists - suggested the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
reductionist
the ebst way to explain human behaviour is bu breaking the behaviour down into its constituent parts and then focus on one of these parts
based on scientific principle of parsimony - suggests that behabiour should be explained using the most basic/simplistic ideas
there are different levels of explanation - all these levels can be used to explain the same behaviour. they get progressively more reductionist and less hollistic
reductionist - levels of explanation
social and cultural Explanations
- e.g repetitive hand wahsing (OCD)
psychological explanntions
- cromer found over half of the people with ocd experienced a traumatic event
biological explanations
- nestadt found 68% of identical twins shared ocd as opposed to 31% of non-identical
biological reductionism
suggests all behaviour can be explained through neurochemical, physiological evolutionary or genetic influences
example:
drugs that increase serotonin are used to treat OCD. so low serotonin may be a cause of oCD. have reduced OCD to the level of neurotransmitter activity
environmentla reductionism
all behaviour is acquired through intercations with the environment
example:
the elanring theory of attachment reduces the idea of love (between mother and baby) to. alearned association between the mum (neutral stimulus) and food (unconditioned stimulus) resulting in pleasure (conditioned repsonse)
one limitation of holism is that it may lack practical value
holistic accounts become hard to use as they become more complex which creates. apractical dilemma.
if many different factors contribute to for example depression then its hard to know which is most influential and which to prioritise for tretament
suggests that holistic accounts may lack practical value and reductionist account may be better
one strength of reductionism is its scientific status
in order to conduct well-controlled reserach variables need to be operationalised
this makes it possible to conduct expeirments or record observations in a way thatis objective and reliable
this scientific approach gives psychology greater credibility
one limitation of reductionism si the need for higher level explanntions
there are aspects of social behaviour tat only emerge within a group context and cannot be understoof in terms of the indivifual group members
for example, stanford prison study could not be understood by observing the participants as individuals it was the behaviour of hte group that was important
this hsows that for some behaviours higher (holistic) levels of explanation provide. amore valid account
holism synoptic - point
The humanistic approach is anti-reductionist and is based on holistic investigation of all aspects of the individual.
holism synoptic - evidence
In key approaches, in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, all of the four lower levels need to be met before the individual can work towards self-actualisation. Rogers argues personal growth requires an individual’s concept of self to be congruent with their ideal self.
holism synoptic - explain
This supports the holistic debate as it emphasises the importance of viewing the individual/self as a whole to enable growth and the understanding of human behaviour.
environmental reductionism - point
The behaviourist approach reduces complex learning into stimulus-response units.
environmental reductionism - evidence
In forensic psychology, differential association theory explains how offenders learn attitudes when they are exposed to certain values in a socialised group. They learn particular techniques to commit offences by interacting with people with pro-crime attitudes.
environmental reductionism - explain
this supports environmental reductionism debate as it shows how behaviour is learnt and through interactions in the environment.
biological reductionism - point
The biological approach reduces and explains human behaviour at the level of the gene or neuron.
biological reductionism - evidence
In psychopathology, Nestadt et al. reviewed twin studies and found that 68% of identical twins shared OCD as opposed to 31% of non-identical twins.
biological reductionism - explain
This supports biological reductionism as it reduces the cause of OCD down to being genetic as identical twins who share 100% of their DNA are more likely to share OCD. However, as concordance rates aren’t 100% there may be environmental influences as well as the biological.
