Holism vs Reductionism Flashcards
Explain what is meant by reductionism.
Understanding behaviour by breaking it down into its parts. It is based on the scientific principle of parsimony (choose the simplest scientific explanation that fits the evidence).
There are different types, including biological and environmental.
Outline what is meant by holism.
Holism supporters (e.g Humanistic Psychologists) argue, to understand people you must study the whole person, taking full account of individual experience, emotion, choice, and the world as the individual sees it. They believe behaviour is more complex and is affected by a multitude of influences at once.
Explain what is meant by biological reductionism. Give an example.
Complex behaviours can be reduced to being explained at a biological level (e.g neurochemical, physical structures evolutionary and genetic influences).
For example, Mental illnesses can be explained by neurotransmitters of the brain (dopamine and Sz, Serotonin and OCD/Depression).
Explain what is meant by environmental (stimulus-response) reductionism. Give an example.
Complex learning is broken up into simple measurable stimulus-response relationships.
For example in attachment: The complex emotion of attachment is reduced to production of food. This rewarding of the infant with food (a stimulus) leads to positive feelings to mother (response).
What is meant by levels of explanation.
The Reductionist approach considers “levels of explanation” that differ in terms of how reductionist they are considered.
HIGHEST LEVEL: Sociocultural Explanation (how social groups affect our behaviour)
MIDDLE LEVEL: Psychological Explanations (how cognitive thought processes affect behaviour)
LOWEST LEVEL: Biological Explanations (how behaviour is caused by hormones and genes)
Outline where the approaches stand on the reductionism vs holism debate.
Biological – Biological reductionism
Behaviourist – Environmental Reductionism
Cognitive – Reductionism
Humanism – Holism
Psychodynamic – Reductionism
Social Learning Theory – Slightly Reductionist
Explain the argument in support of reductionism.
P - Reductionism has had many practical applications.
E.g – In reducing mental illness to single biological causes it led to development of drug treatments.
Ex – Benefits come from reduction in need for other more extreme treatments and institutionalisation
H – drug treatments have their issues and so a more holistic approach to treatment might have even more significant benefits.
Explain the argument against reductionism.
P - Reductionist explanations are over simplified.
E.g – explanations that consider only the action of neurotransmitter as the cause for complex mental illnesses.
Ex – This means that other important explanations are ignored and underplayed. This leads to issues as it could lead to reoccurrence of the disorder because other causes haven’t been considered.
Explain the argument in support of holism.
P - Some areas of psychology have really benefited from a holistic explanation.
E.g – There are aspects of behaviour, like deindividuation shown by guards in Zimbardo’s prison, that can only be understood if they are considered within the socio-cultural context that they arise in.
Ex – This shows that the holistic explanation, or higher level reductionist explanations provide necessary understanding of behaviour & so are valuable.
Explain the argument against holism.
P - Holistic explanations tend not to lend themselves to scientific rigour and testing.
E.g – Humanistic Psychology (which supports Holism) is criticised for its lack of scientific, empirical evidence.
Ex – if multiple factors influence a behaviour it makes it difficult to research this. This leads to a lack of evidence to support holistic explanations and so they are considered more unscientific.
