Issues & Debates - Reductionism & Holism Flashcards
Define reductionism
Reductionism is the belief that human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into simpler component parts.
What are levels of explanation?
The lowest level considers biological explanations, where behaviour is explained in terms of neurochemicals, genes and brain structure.
The middle level considers psychological explanations (e.g. cognitive and behavioural).
The highest level considers social and cultural explanations, where behaviour is explained in terms of the influence of social groups.
What is biological reductionism?
Biological reductionism refers to the way that biological psychologists try to reduce behaviour to a physical level and explain it in terms of neurons, neurotransmitters, brain structure etc.
Give an example of biological reductionism
The biological approach claims that OCD is caused by higher levels of dopamine and lower levels of seratonin.
What is environmental reductionism?
Environmental reductionism is also known as stimulus-response reductionism. Behaviourists assume that all behaviour call be reduced to the simple building blocks of S-R associations and that complex behaviours are a series of S-R chains.
Give an example of environmental reductionism
The behaviourist approach claims that phobias are initiated through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning.
Define holism
The idea that human behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience, and not as separate parts.
Which psychologists support the holistic view?
Humanistic psychologists argue that humans react to stimuli as an organised whole, rather than as a set of S-R links.
As an approach, it uses qualitative methods to investigate all aspects of the individual, as well as the interactions between people.
How is the cognitive approach reductionist?
Cognitive psychologists apply machine reductionism by portraying people as information-processing systems and disregarding emotional influences on behaviour.
How is the cognitive approach reductionist?
Cognitive psychologists apply machine reductionism by portraying people as information-processing systems and disregarding emotional influences on behaviour.
How is the psychodynamic approach holistic?
As Freud often considered childhood experiences and other forces, the psychodynamic approach is relatively holistic, as explores interactions between various aspects of the psyche. The id, ego, and superego interact to form the person’s traits.
Evaluate reductionism - drugs
Biological reductionism has led to the development of biological therapies, such as drugs.
For example, SSRIs are more effective than placebos at treating the symptoms of OCD and reduce the symptoms for up to three months after the treatment (Soomro et al., 2008). The use of SSRIs in patients with OCD has helped to reduce the anxiety associated with OCD thus providing relief for some patients.
This shows that biological reductionism can have a real-life application by establishing a cause-effect relationship between a biological factor and a condition, from which a drug can be made to improve symptoms of that condition and improve someone’s quality of life.
Evaluate reductionism - scientific
Scientists (including psychologists) are drawn to reductionist explanations as a method of research.
For example, most experimental psychology is based on the assumption that human behaviour can be studied effectively in relatively simple experiments, where complex behaviour is reduced to isolated variables.
This allows researchers to study the different factors that influence human behaviour in a controlled manner while establishing a causal relationship.
This would not be possible if psychologists attempted to study all of the factors that influence human behaviour at once, as it would be too complex to interpret the findings.
Evaluate holism - unscientific
The holistic explanation attempts to blend different levels of explanation; holistic theory and approaches attempt to provide a complete and realistic understanding of human behaviour.
However, holistic explanations do not establish causation because they do not examine behaviour in terms of operationalised variables that can be manipulated and measured.
This means that holistic explanations are view as unscientific.
