Issues & Debates : Holism vs Reductionism

Question 1

What is holism?

Answer 1

The idea human behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience and not separate parts. Focuses on individual experience which can’t be reduced (biological). Compatible w humanistic approach and uses qualitative measures

Question 2

Whats reductionism?

Answer 2

The belief that human behaviour is best understood by studying the smaller constituent parts (explanations via the simplest, lowest level principles

Question 3

What does humanistic psychology argue?

Answer 3

Humans react to stimuli as an organised whole, vs than a set of stimulus-response links. It used qualitative methods investigate all aspects of the individual, as well as the interactions between people (Maslow’s hierarchy and Roger’s person-centered therapy)

Question 4

Levels of explanation - What are they?

Answer 4

Explanations vary from a fundamental level (focusing on basic components) to those at a higher, more holistic multivariable levels

Question 5

Levels of explanation - Social and cultural

Answer 5

Most holistic level of explanation – social interactions, cultural norms, societal influences. Emphasizes the broader context where behavior occurs, integrating complex factors that influence an individual’s actions and experiences.

Question 6

Levels of explanation - Psychological

Answer 6

cognitive processes, emotions, and learned behaviors. Less reductionist than biological level, but still breaks down behavior into specific processes or learned associations

Question 7

Levels of explanation - Biological

Answer 7

most reductionist level, includes genetic, neurochemical, and physiological processes. Reduces complex behaviors to their simplest biological components.

Question 8

Whats environmental reduction?

Answer 8

all behaviour is acquired through stimulus-response (S-R) interactions (behaviourism)

Question 9

Whats biological reductionism?

Answer 9

all behaviour is explained through neurochemical, physiological, evolutionary and genetic mechanisms.

Question 10

Strengths of the theory of reductionism…

Answer 10

• Psychologists are drawn to its parsimony → most experimental psychology is based on the assumption that human behaviour can be studied effectively in simple experiments, where complex behaviour is reduced to isolated variables (experimental reductionism)
• Practical application in the development of effective drug therapies (mental disorders) → By adopting a reductionist perspective, researchers have been able to isolate specific biological factors

Question 11

Limitations of the theory of reductionism…

Answer 11

• Some psychologists argue biological reductionism can lead to errors of understanding because it ignores the complexity of human behaviour → For example, to treat conditions like ADHD with drugs believing that the condition is just neurochemical imbalancesl, mistakes the symptoms for the true cause. Ritalin may reduce these symptoms, but the conditions which gave rise to the ADHD have not been addressed.
• (environmental reductionism) focus on the lab experiment methodology → research in the behaviourist tradition uses animals as subjects.

Question 12

Strengths of the theory of holism…

Answer 12

• Considers the wider context surrounding an individual → conformity to social roles and deindividuation of the prisoners and guards in the Stanford Prison experiment cannot be understood by studying the participants as individuals, it was the interaction between people and the behaviour of the group that was important.

Question 13

Limitations of the theory of holism…

Answer 13

• adopts unscientific approaches leading to lack of empirical evidence → the humanistic approach is less scientific as it doesn’t study clear cause and effect behaviour through empirical methods.