Reduction vs holism

Question 1

What is the reductionism debate?

Answer 1

The belief that human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into simpler component parts

Question 2

What is biological reductionism?

Answer 2

Refers to the way that biological psychologists try to reduce behaviour to a physical level and explain it in terms of neutrons, neurotransmitters, hormones, brain structure etc

Question 3

What is environmental reductionism?

Answer 3

Also known as stimulus-response reductionism. Behaviourists assume that all behaviour can be reduced to the simple building blocks of S-R associations and that complex behaviours are a series of S-R chains

Question 4

What is the holism debate?

Answer 4

The idea that human behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience, and not separate parts