holism vs reductionism Flashcards
Holism
Group of gestalt scientists declared that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
What approaches are Holistic
Humanistic as they see the human as a whole and say that behaviour is determined by free will
Reductionism
Analyses behaviour by breaking it down by its constituent parts. It based on the scientific principle of parsimony.
Parsimony
all phenomena should be explained using the most basic principles
Hierarchy of reductionism
Sociology
Psychology
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
More precise and micro are at the bottom
More general and Macro is at the top
Biological reductionism
a form of reductionism which attempts to explain social and psychological phenomena at a lower biological level.
e.g. Neurochemicals, genetics, hormones
Example of biological reductionism
The biological approach has helped explain numerous types of behaviour. For example psychoactive drugs have contributed in the explanation of OCD, depression and schizophrenia at a biochemical level
Environmental reductionism (stimulus response)
attempts to explain all behaviour in terms of stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience.
Example of environmental reductionism
behaviourist approach Watson refers to the mind as a black box as it is irrelevant to our understanding of behaviour. He describes the thought as a sub-vocal speech (silent)
levels of explanation
The reductionist approach suggests that explanations
for behaviour begin at the highest level and are
progressively broken down to be explained at the lowest level.
explain Levels of explanation at higher, middle and lower levels
Highest level: cultural and social
explanations of how our social
groups affect our behaviour
Middle level: Psychological
explanations of our behaviour
Lower level:
Biological explanation of
how genes, hormones and
biological processes affect our behaviour.
