reductionism

Question 1

holism

Answer 1

the idea that human behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrative experience and not as separate parts e.g., humanistic psychology

Question 2

reductionism

Answer 2

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

Question 3

levels of explanation

Answer 3

• social and cultural explanation e.g., the influence of social groups on behaviour (highest level)
• psychological explanations e.g., cognitive (middle level)
• biological explanations e.g., genetics (lowest level)

Question 4

biological reductionism

Answer 4

the way that beiological psychologists reduce behaviour to a physical level and explain it in terms of neurons, hormones etc

Question 5

environmental reductionism

Answer 5

behaviourists assume that all behaviour can be reduced to stimulus-response associations