Issues and debates - holism and reductionism Flashcards
what is the holism-reductionism debate?
question of which is the better approach to understanding human behaviour.
unlike other debates, it’s not a continuum as holism cannot be broken down - no middle ground between the two
what is holism?
a theory that proposes it only makes sense to study a system as a whole rather than its constituent parts, as argued by Gestalt psychologists.
what approach best applies to holism?
humanistic psychology - focuses on the individual’s experience, which can’t be broken down.
what methods of research are used in holism/humanistic psychology?
qualitative methods - themes are analysed rather than breaking the concept into component behaviours
what is reductionism?
the belief that human behaviour is best explained by breaking it down into constituent parts.
what is parsimony?
the scientific principle that all phenomena should be studied using the simplest principles
the basis of reductionism
what are the levels of explanation?
different ways of explaining the same phenomena in psychology.
- biological level
- psychological level
- socio-cultural level
biological reductionism
neurochemical and psychological levels of explanation
based on the premise we’re all biological organisms, and therefore all behaviour is at some level biological
environmental reductionism
behaviour is learned and acquired through interactions with the environment.
reduced behaviour to basic stimulus-response links.
strength for holism - importance of group context
some aspects of social behaviour can’t be understood by breaking it own into smallest constituent parts.
Conformity couldn’t be understood by looking at participants individually - interaction is more informative, thus the system needs to be studied as a whole.
limitation for holism - may lack practical value
holistic accounts of human behaviour are complex and present researchers with practical issues.
It’s hard to derive an effective treatment if there isn’t once clear cause to target, difficult to know which to prioritise.
strength for reductionism - often forms the basis of a scientific approach
for operationalisation, it’s necessary to break down target behaviours into constituent parts.
This allows for well-controlled research and objective observations
limitation for reductionism - oversimplified complex phenomena
oversimplifying leads to reduced validity.
Biological reductionist explanations don’t include an analysis of the social context which can be crucial to understanding from where the behaviour derives its meaning
