Issues and debates: Holism and reductionism

Question 1

What’s holism?

Answer 1

An argument or theory which proposes that it only makes sense to study behaviour as a whole rather than breaking them into smaller parts.

The view that we can’t understand things by breaking them down into simpler parts but have to study them as a whole.

Question 2

What’s reductionism?

Answer 2

The belief that human behaviour is best explained by breaking it down into smaller constituent parts.

Question 3

3 types of reductionism?

Answer 3

Biological
Environmental
Experimental

Question 4

What’s biological reductionism?

Answer 4

all human behaviour can be explained, or reduced to, a physical explanation.

Genes, neurotransmitters, hormones and more can influence our behaviour, which is why biological reductionism believe that biology alone can explain human behaviour.

Question 5

What’s an example of biological reductionism?
OCD

Answer 5

The biological approach claims that OCD is caused by high levels of dopamine and lower levels of serotonin.

Question 6

What’s environmental reductionism?

Answer 6

Environmental reductionists believe that behaviour can be reduced to a relationship between stimulus and response links in the environment and that behaviour is explained by past experiences.
For example, social learning theory proposes that children will copy the behaviour of their role model (often a same-sex parent).

Question 7

What’s an example of environmental reductionism?
Phobias

Answer 7

Behaviourist approach claims that phobias are initiated through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning.

Question 8

What’s experimental reductionism?

Answer 8

Where a complex behaviour is reduced to a single (isolated) variable for the purpose of testing.

Question 9

What are the principles of parsimony?

Answer 9

States that if there are several different explanations that completely explain something, we should choose the simplest one.

Question 10

What are the 3 levels of reductionism?

Answer 10

Highest level: social and cultural explanations for behaviour
Middle level: psychological explanations for behaviour
Lowest level: biological explanations for behaviour

Question 11

What are the 3 types of holism?

Answer 11

Gestalt psychology
Humanistic psychology
Cognitive psychology

Question 12

What’s gestalt psychology?

Answer 12

Gestalt psychology focuses on perception and argued that explanations only make sense as a whole, and that looking at individual elements won’t make sense on their own.

Question 13

What’s humanistic psychology?

Answer 13

The humanistic approach argues that actions as a whole form an identity; so a lack of ‘wholeness’ or identity leads to a mental disorder.

The concept creates awareness of who an individual is and who they can be, leading to self-actualisation.

Question 14

What’s cognitive psychology?

Answer 14

Cognitive psychologists believe that the network of neurons in our brain (which are formed and destroyed by environmental experiences) acts differently as a whole than as individual components.

Question 15

AO3 Holism v reductionism

Answer 15

+Holism: Some aspects of behaviour can’t be understood at an individual level.
-Holism: Explanations become more vague as they become more complex.
+Reductionism: Improves scientifically credibility
-Reductionism: Oversimplification

Question 16

(+AO3) Holism: Some aspects of behaviour can’t be understood at an individual level.
SPE

Answer 16

Some aspects of social behaviour can’t be understood at the level of the individual group, e.g. conformity to social roles.

SPE, the de-individuation of prisoners and guards could not be understood by studying individuals. This shows that holistic explanations provide a more complete understanding of behaviour than reductionist approaches.

Question 17

(-AO3) Holism: Explanations become more vague as they become more complex
Depression

Answer 17

Higher level explanations that combine many different factors can make it difficult to establish which is most influential and for depression which one to use as a basis for therapy. This suggests then when finding solutions to real world problems, a lower level explanation may be more appropriate.

Question 18

(+AO3) Reductionism: Improves scientifically credibility

Answer 18

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 in a way that it meaningful and reliable.

This gives psychology greater credibility, placing it on equal terms with the natural sciences lower down in the reductionist hierarchy.

Question 19

(-AO3) Reductionism: Oversimplification

Answer 19

Criticised for oversimplifying complex phenomena leading to a lack of validity.
For example explanations of the gene, neurotransmitter or neuron do not include analysis of the social context. This means that reductionist explanations can ever form part on an explanation