Holism Vs Reductionism

Question 1

What is the holism vs reductionism debate about

Answer 1

Is holism or reductionism better to use to understand human behaviour?

Question 2

What is holism

Answer 2

The idea of looking at something as a whole

Question 3

What is reductionism

Answer 3

When a component is broken down

Question 4

When does something stop being holistic

Answer 4

As soon as it gets subdivided

Question 5

What was gesalts psychologists view on holism

Answer 5

They beloved that if a concept gets subdivided, its inappropriate and that the ‘whole’ is better than ‘the sum of its parts’

Question 6

What approach does the concept of holism link with

Answer 6

Humanistic approach

Question 7

What type of experience does holism focus on

Answer 7

Individual experiences

Question 8

What principle is reductionism based on

Answer 8

Principle of parsimony

Question 9

What is the principle of parsimony

Answer 9

That all phenomena should be explained in its simplest way

Question 10

What are the different levels of explanations of behaviour in psychology

Answer 10

-socio cultural
-psychological
- physical
-environmental
-physiological
-neurochemical

Question 11

Do all the different levels of behavioural explanations have the same level of reductionism?

Answer 11

No

Question 12

What are the 2 main types of reductionism

Answer 12

Biological and environmental

Question 13

What is biological reductionism

Answer 13

The idea that all behaviour has a biological basis to some extent and it is based on the fact that we are biological organisms

Question 14

What does the biological reductionism consist of (including the level of explanations)

Answer 14

Neurochemical and physiological level and evolutionary and genetic influences

Question 15

What does it mean when we say that biological reductionism works backwards

Answer 15

That we see certain treatments target a specific cause which can ultimately reduce that illness to a certain basis

Question 16

What is an example of biological reductionism working backwards

Answer 16

Ocd is treated with drugs which increase levels of serotonin therefore ocd can be caused by a lack of serotonin which therefore shows that ocd is reduced to a neurochemical basis

Question 17

What is environmental determinism

Answer 17

The idea that there is a stimulus which creates a response and that behaviour is learnt and retrieved from environmental interaction

Question 18

What approach does environmental determinism link to

Answer 18

Behaviourist approach

Question 19

What is conditioning based on in relation to environmental determinism

Answer 19

It’s based on stimulus and response

Question 20

What is an example of how environmental reductionism is expressed in psychology

Answer 20

learning theory of attachment reduces the idea of love between an infant and caregiver to the association of a food provider as the infant gains pleasure from receiving food and so they associate the pleasure they get from the food to the one who provides it

Question 21

What is the strengths of reductionism

Answer 21

.scientific approach to reductionist approaches which gives psych a greater credibility
.well controlled research needs operationalised variables which mental that the target behaviour is broken down

Question 22

What is the counterpoint of scientific strength of reductionism

Answer 22

.the use of scientific approach for reductionism is that it has been accused of oversimplifying complex phenomena which has reduced validity.
.Some observations don’t include the analysis of another context which it could do
.This means that reductionism can only ever be a part of an explanation of a behaviour

Question 23

What is a limitation of holism

Answer 23

.Holistic accounts of human behaviour tend to become hard to use as they become more complex. This can present researchers with a practical dilemma
. If we accept, from a humanistic perspective, that there are many different factors that contribute to a disorder then it becomes difficult to know which is most influential
.This suggests that holistic accounts may lack practical value

Question 24

What is a limitation of reductionism

Answer 24

.only some behaviours can be understood at a higher level
. social behaviours emerge within a group and cannot be explained by looking at individuals alone.
. Eg in the Stanford prison study, the effects of conformity in prisoners and guards were due to group interactions, not individual actions
.This means that for some behaviours, higher-level or holistic explanations are more accurate