holism vs reductionism Flashcards
reductionism definition
the belief that human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into simpler component parts
levels of reductionism
highest level - social and cultural explanations
middle level - psychological explanations
lowest level - biological explanations
what is the topic example for levels of reductionism?
Year 1 Memory
explain memory in highest level of reductionism
social and cultural: memory can be explained at a social and cultural level as research suggests that cultural expectations affect what we remember and how we recall information
explain memory in middle level of reductionism
memory can also be explained at a psychological level. for example, cognitive psychologists examined the capacity of STM and Peterson and Peterson examined the duration of STM
explain memory in lowest level of reductionism
memory can also be explained in terms of biological components. for example, maguire found an association between the size of the hippocampus and memory for spatial navigation
what are the types of reductionism
biological reductionism
environmental reductionism
what is biological reductionism
refers to the way that biological psychologists try to reduce behaviour to a physical level and explain it in terms of neurons, neurotransmitters, hormones, brain structure etc.
what is environmental reductionism
also known as stimulus-response reductionism. behaviour can be reduced to the simple building blocks of stimulus-response associations
what is the topic example for the types of reductionism
year 1 psychopathology
explain psychopathology as an example of biological reductionism
the biological approach claims that OCD is caused by higher levels of dopamine and lower levels of serotonin
explain psychopathology as an example of environmental reductionism
the behaviourist approach claims that phobias are initiated through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning
holism definition
comes from Greek word ‘holos’ which means ‘all’ ‘whole’ and is the idea that human behaviour should be viewed as whole integrated experience, and not as separate parts.
example of holism
humanistic psychology: argues that humans react to stimuli as an organised whole, rather than a set of stimulus-response links. As an approach it uses qualitative methods to investigate all aspects of the individual, as well as the interactions between people.
strength of reductionism
- why are scientists drawn to reductionist explanations?
scientists (including psychologists) are drawn to reductionist explanations as a method of research. for example, most experimental psychology is based on the assumption that human behaviour can be studied effectively in relatively simple experiments, where complex behaviour is reduced to isolated variables. this allows researchers to study the different factors that influence human behaviour in a controlled manner while establishing a causal relationship. this would not be possible if psychologists attempted to study all of the factors that influence human behaviour at once, as it would be too complex to interpret the findings.
