Holism vs reductionism Flashcards
What is holism?
Belief that it makes most sense to study an indivisible system rather than its constituent parts
What is reductionism?
Belief that human behaviour is best understood by studying smaller constituent parts
Which approach is holistic, and which is reductionist?
- Humanistic= holistic
- Behaviourist= reductionist
What are the key concepts of holism?
- Looks at the system as a whole
- Sees attempts to subdivided behaviour as inappropriate
- Gestalt psychs= whole is greater than the sum of its parts
- Humanistic= individual experience (not redcated to bio units)- qualitative methods, themes analysed
What are the key concepts of reductionism?
- Seek to analyse behaviour by breaking it down into its constituent parts
- Based on principle of parsimony (all phenomena should be explained using simplest principles)
What are the 6 levels of explanation?
(ways to explain behaviour- applied to OCD)
1) Socio-cultural (OCD interrupts social relationships)
2) Psychological (experience of anxiety)
3) Physical level (movements)
4) Environmental/behavioural (learning experiences)
5) Physiological (abnormal functioning in frontal lobes)
6) Neurochemical (underproduction of serotonin)
What are the 2 main types of reductionism?
- Biological
- Environmental
What is biological reductionism?
- Includes neurochem and physio levels, and evolutionary/genetic influences
- Based on premise that we are bio organisms so all behaviour is at some level biological
- Often works backwards (e.g. drugs increasing serotonin= effective in OCD treatment, so low serotonin levels may be a cause of OCD)
What is environmental reductionism?
- Behaviourism is built on environmental reductionism, proposing that all behaviour is learned/acquired through interaction with the environment
- Explain behaviour in terms of conditioning- focus on simple stimulus-response links (reduce behaviour to basic elements)
- E.g: attachment learning theory= love reduced to association between feeder and food= pleasure
Limitation-
I- Holism lacks practical value
D- Holistic accounts of behaviour are hard to use as they become more complex- presents practical dilemma. If we accept that there are many different factors contributing to depression, it becomes difficult to know which is most influential, difficult to know which to prioritise in therapy
E- Suggests holism lacks practical value, so reductionism is best
Strength-
I- Reductionism takes a scientific approach
D- Well-controlled research needs variables to be operationalised- to break down target behaviours into constituent parts. This makes conducting experiements/ recording observations possible in an objective/reliable way (e.g. SS= component behaviours operationalised- seperation anxiety)
E- Gives psychology greater credibility, placing it on equal terms with natural sciences
Limitation-
I- Reductionism oversimplifies complex phenomena
D- Explanations that operate at level of genes/ neurotransmitters do not include analysis of social context within which behaviour occurs (behaviour derives meaning here). E.g: physio processes involved in pointing your finger are same regardless of context, but analysis of these do not tell us why finger is pointed
E- Suggests reductionist explanations lack validity, and can only ever form part of an explanation
Limitation-
I- Only some behaviours can be understood at a higher level (reductionism)
D- Some aspects of social behaviour only emerge within group contexts and cannot be understood in terms of individual group members. E.g: effects of conformity to social roles of guards/prisoners could not be understood by observing participants as individuals- interaction= important. No conformity gene so social processes can only be explained at level which they occur
E- Suggests that for some behaviours, higher level/holistic explanations provide a more valid account
Evaluation extra-
I- Brain and mind
Strength- Reductionist accounts of consciousness argue that we are ‘thinking machines’ so thoughts are result of actions in our brains. Implication is that physical events in the brain and equal to mental events in the mind- extreme bio reductionism= basis of cog neuroscience
Limitation- Neuroscientists struggle to explain subjective experience of same neural process. E.g: thinking about colour blue involves same activity/region as thinking about red, but thought differs. Little room for individual differences, but experience and interaction with the world mediate our experience of neural events- explanatory gap (Levine)
E- Suggests that not all aspects of consciousness can be explained by brain activity
