Issues And Debates: Holism And Reductionism

Question 1

What Is Holism?

Answer 1

• An argument/theory which suggests we should only study an indivisible system, rather than its constituent parts.

Question 2

What Is Reductionism?

Answer 2

• The belief that human behaviour is best explained by breaking it down into smaller constituent parts.
• Based on the scientific principle of parsimony – all phenomena should be explained using the most basic (lowest level) principles.
• It is thought that the most basic principles are often the simplest, easiest and most economical level of explanation.

Question 3

What Is Biological Reductionism?

Answer 3

• A form of reductionism that attempts to explain social and psychological phenomena at a lower biological level.
• Reduce behaviour to a physical level.
• OCD is caused by lower levels of serotonin.
• Schizophrenia is caused by high levels of dopamine.

Question 4

What Is Environmental Reductionism?

Answer 4

• A form of reductionism that attempts to explain phenomena based on stimulus response bonds/learned associations.
• This is also known as stimulus-response reductionism.
• Behaviourists assume that all behaviour can be reduced to the simple building blocks of stimulus-response associations and that complex behaviours are a series of stimulus-response chains.
• Phobias are caused through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning.

Question 5

What Is Level Of Explanation In Psychology (Overview)?

Answer 5

• Different ways of viewing the same phenomena.
• Some ways are more reductionist than others.
• Consist of biological level of explanations, psychological level of explanations and social/cultural explanations.

Question 6

What Are The Three Levels Of Explanations?

Answer 6

• Lowest Level: Biological explanations, which considers the physiological or biological factors e.g. neurochemicals, genetics and brain structure.
• Medium Level: Considers the psychological explanations whether this is cognitive or behavioural explanations.
• Highest Level: Considers social & cultural explanations where we try to explain behaviour in terms of the influence of social groups on an individual.

Question 7

Holism And Humanistic.

Answer 7

• Humanistic psychologists argue that humans react to stimuli as an organised whole and not as a set of stimulus and response links, so they are very against the environmental reductionist point of view.
• As an approach, humanists really take a qualitative approach to investigate and individual and look at the interactions of people within society, so it is a very different approach.

Question 8

Evaluation: Strength - Psychology As A Science.

Answer 8

• It is possible to break behaviour into its constituent parts and scientifically test them.
• For example, the capacity, coding and duration of short-term memory can be separately tested.
• This means that the cause of behaviours can be established more easily.
• Taking a reductionist view of human behaviour therefore allows Psychology to be classed as a science.

Question 9

Evaluation: Weakness - Limited Real World Application.

Answer 9

• It is difficult to establish how much each individual factor contributes to any particular behaviour.
• For example, how much of schizophrenia is caused by an imbalance of dopamine?
• This means that explanations which look at behaviour from a holistic point of view are unsatisfactory in terms of application.
• This does not allow us to focus on any treatments for illnesses if we are consider behaviour from a holistic point of view.

Question 10

Evaluation: Strength - Real World Application.

Answer 10

• Biological reductionism has led to the development of biological therapies such as drugs.
• For example, SSRIs are more effective than placebos when treating the symptoms of OCD and reduce the symptoms for up to three months after treatment (Soomro et al 2008).
• The use of SSRIs in patients with OCD has helped reduce the anxiety associated with OCD.
• The relief that can be provided to some patients as a result of biological reductionism means that they are able to continue to work which aids the economy.

Question 11

Evaluation: Weakness - Reduces Psychology’s Scientific Credibility.

Answer 11

• Holism cannot be rigorously tested.
• Humanism considers individuals as active agents meaning that behaviour cannot be studied with reference to internal or external influences.
• This means that research cannot be gathered to support theories.
• Holistic explanations therefore do not fit with the requirements to be classed as scientific.

Question 12

Evaluation: Weakness - Reductionism Is Limited.

Answer 12

• Some psychologists argue that biological reductionism can lead to errors of understanding because it ignores the complexity of human behaviour.
• For example, to explain schizophrenia simply through neurochemical imbalances suggests that the condition can be explained very simply.
• This is not the case. Schizophrenia is a very complex disorder and it could be argued that it needs to be considered at a higher level of explanation for example at the psychological level.
• The holistic explanation attempts to overcome this criticism by blending different levels of explanations; holistic theory and approaches, therefore attempt to provide a complete and realistic understanding of human behaviour.