Holism vs reductionism Flashcards
What is holism?
The belief that behaviour is better understood by looking at it as an indivisible system rather than its constituent parts.
What is reductionism?
The belief that behaviour is better understood by breaking it down into smaller constituent parts.
What is biological reductionism?
A form of reductionism which reduces behaviour to a biological level (action of genes, hormones etc.)
What is environmental reductionism?
A form of reductionism which reduces behaviour to simple stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience.
What is experimental reductionism?
A form of reductionism where a complex behaviour is reduced to a single (isolated) variable for the purpose of testing.
What is parsimony?
The idea that complex phenomena should be explained in the simplest terms possible.
What is meant by levels of explanation?
Explanations for behaviour can vary from a lower basic level to a higher, more holistic level
State an example which shows biological reductionism and environmental reductionism
- Biological= Explaining mental disorders (OCD and Schizophrenia) in terms of candidate genes and neurotransmitters
- Environmental= Classical/operant conditioning
State 2 examples which shows holism
Gestalt psychology and Humanism
What are the levels of explanation?
In terms of OCD
Social/ cultural- OCD interrupts social relationships
Psychological- the Pearsons experience of anxiety
Physical- movements e.g washing hands
Physiological- abnormal functioning in frontal lobes
Neurochemical- Underproduction of serotonin
(increased reductionism going down)
What is the strength of Holism?
More complete, global understanding- There are aspects of social behaviour that only emerge within a group context and cannot be understood at the level of the individual group members.
E.g. conformity to social roles shown by the prisoners and guards in the Stanford Prison experiment- these could not be understood by studying the participants as individuals, it was the interaction between people and the behaviour of the group that was important.
What is the limitation of Holism?
Lacks scientific credibility-
Holistic explanations tend to be vague and lack rigorous scientific testing.
E.g. humanistic psychology tends to be criticised for its lack of empirical evidence and is seen by many as a rather loose set of concepts.
Holistic explanations that combine many different perspectives makes it hard to establish which factor is most influential and so limits the practical application of the theory.
What are the two strengths of reductionism?
Scientific credibility-
A reductionist approach often forms the basis of scientific research. In order to create operationalised variables it is necessary to break target behaviours down into constituent parts. This makes it possible to conduct experiments or record observations (behavioural categories) in a way that is meaningful and reliable.
This gives psychology greater credibility, placing it on equal terms with the natural sciences.
COUNTER-ARGUMENT- Reducing behaviour to a form that can be studied may not tell us much about everyday life. The operationalisation of variables bears no resemblance to the real thing. Also, there are other factors that motivate performance which cannot be recreated in an experiment- therefore findings often do not reflect the real world.
E.g. The findings from laboratory experiments investigating Eyewitness testimony have not always been confirmed by studies of real-life eyewitnesses.
Practical applications-
Biological reductionism has led to the development of drug therapies, which has led to a considerable reduction in institutionalisation since the 1950s.
They are also a more humane approach to the treatment of mental illness as they do not blame the patients.
COUNTER-ARGUMENT- On the other hand, drug therapies are not always successful and reducing mental illness to the biological level ignores the context and function of such behaviour.
What is the limitation of reductionism?
Ignores complexity of human behaviour-
Reductionist approaches can lead to errors of understanding as it ignores complex human behaviours.
E.g., to treat conditions like ADHD with drugs (Ritalin) in the belief that the condition consists of nothing more than neurochemical imbalances is to mistaken. Ritalin may reduce these symptoms, but the conditions which gave rise to the ADHD have not been addressed.
