Lesson 5: Holism And Reductionism

Question 1

Reductionism

Answer 1

• involved breaking a complex phenomenon down into constituent elements. Reductionism considers this process to be desirable because complex phenomena are best understood in terms of a simple explanation.

Question 2

What does the reductionist approach suggest?

Answer 2

• suggests that explanations for a behaviour should begin at the highest level and then progressively look at component elements:
  Highest level - culture and social explanations of behaviour
  Middle level: psychological explanations of behaviour
  Lowest level: biological explanations of behaviour

Question 3

Environmental reductionism

Answer 3

• argues that behaviour can be reduced to a simple relationship between behaviour and events. The complex emotion of attachment is reduced to a set of probabilities: the mother is likely to provide food which is reinforcing. Hence, she is a rewarding individual and becomes a ‘loved one’.

Question 4

Biological reductionism

Answer 4

• reduces human behaviour to the level of the action of neurons, neurotransmitters, hormones and so on. For example, it has been suggested that schizophrenia is caused by excessive activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine because drugs that block this neurotransmitter reduce schizophrenic symptoms.

Question 5

Holism

Answer 5

• focuses on systems as a whole rather than on the constituent parts, and suggests that we cannot predict how the whole system will behave just from knowledge of the individual components.

Question 6

Humanistic approach (Holism)

Answer 6

• believes that the individual reacts as an organised whole, rather than set of stimulus-response links. What matters if a person’s sense of a unified identity and thus a lack of identity or sense of ‘wholeness’ leads to a mental disorder

Question 7

Cognitive approach

Answer 7

• recognises the importance of understanding an entire system. Memory is a complex system which in recent years has been understood in terms of connected networks. Each neuron is linked to many other neurons. These links develop through experience and with each new experience the links are strengthened or weakened. The network as a whole behaves differently than individual parts.

Question 8

Strengths of reductionism

Answer 8

+ Both biological reductionism and environmental reductionism are viewed as scientific. Breaking complex behaviours into small constituent parts means that they can be scientifically tested and over time explanations of behaviour based on scientific evidence will emerge.

+ 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. The use of SSRIs in patients with OCD has helped to reduce the anxiety associated with OCD thus providing relief for some patients.

Question 9

Weaknesses of reductionism

Answer 9

• much of the research that supports environmental reductionism used animals (e.g. Pavlov and Skinner). Critics of reductionism point to the social context in which humans are embedded from the earliest moments of life and hard to measure factors like cognition, emotion and intentionality. In this case as well, the reductionist position seems, if not clearly incorrect then at least inadequate.
• environmental reductionism can mean the true meaning of a behaviour is overlooked. Wolpe (1973) treated a a women had a phobia of insects with systematic desensitisation but found no improvement. It turned out her husband that her husband, whom she was not getting along well with, had an insect nickname. Her phobia was not the result of classical conditioning but rather an expression of her marital difficulties.

Question 10

Strengths of Holism

Answer 10

+ there are aspects of social behaviour that can only emerge within a group context and cannot be understood by analysing each group member. For example, conformity and de-individual ion can only be studied by looking at group behaviour as a whole and not the individuals. This explains how Holism needs to be studied in psychology especially social psychology.

+ the holistic explanation attempts to blend different levels of explanation; holistic theory and approaches attempt to provide and complete and realistic understanding of human behaviour. For example, understanding that the causes of schizophrenia is a combination of many factors such as genes, upbringing and stressful events allow us to understand the complexity of the disorder by not breaking it down. It also helps us to understand that a combination of treatments for schizophrenia such as family therapy, CBT and drugs would benefit the sufferer much more than just one specific treatment.

Question 11

Weaknesses of Holism

Answer 11

• Holistic approaches do not lend themselves to rigorous scientific testing and can become vague and complex. For example, the humanistic approach which takes the holistic view to behaviour tends to be difficult to test scientifically and is criticised as being a loose set of concepts. For example, what causes someone to be self-actualised?
• Holistic explanations do not establish causation because they do not examine behaviour in terms of operationalised variables than can be manipulated and measured. This means that holistic explanations as unscientific.