Reductionism and Holism

Question 1

what is this debate about?

Answer 1

whether human behaviour should be understood by reducing it to their simplest structures of parts, or to view human behaviour as a whole integrated experience

Question 2

what is reductionism?

Answer 2

the belief that human behaviour is best explained by breaking it down into simpler components

Question 3

what is parsimony?

Answer 3

the idea that complex behaviour should always be explained in its smaller parts

Question 4

what are levels of explanation?

Answer 4

• introduced by Rose (1976) arguing that there are different levels of viewing the same phenomena in psychology
• lowest being the most reductionist and highest being the least reductionist

Question 5

what’s the highest level of explanation?

Answer 5

social and cultural explanations where behaviour is explained in regards to social groups
e.g.:
- Mead found that gender was shaped by social factors and cultural norms

Question 6

what’s the middle level of explanation?

Answer 6

psychological explanations, such as cognitive and behavioural
e.g.:
- Kohlberg explains gender development through stages of cognitive intellectual development

Question 7

what’s the lowest level of explanation?

Answer 7

biological explanations
e.g.:
- high levels of testosterone have been used to explain masculine behaviour

Question 8

what is experimental reductionism?

Answer 8

reducing complex behaviours to isolated variable when conducting research

Question 9

what is biological reductionism?

Answer 9

• reducing behaviour to a physical level
• explaining behaviour in terms of neurons, neurotransmitters, hormones and brain structure
• e.g.: depression can be explained biochemically, through low levels of serotonin

Question 10

what is environmental reductionism?

Answer 10

• behaviour can be reduced to simple building blocks of stimulus-response associations
• complex behaviours are a series of stimulus-response chains
• e.g.: phobias are obtained and maintained using classical and operant conditioning

Question 11

give an evaluation point to reductionism

Answer 11

• supports a scientific approach
• has useful applications
• oversimplified

Question 12

explain how reductionism supports a scientific approach

Answer 12

• reductionism is consistent with the aims of science because it allows for behaviour to be controlled and predicted
• ‘cause and effect’ relationships can be easily established with reductionism

Question 13

explain the useful applications of biological reductionism

Answer 13

• drug therapy
• development of SSRIs is based on the view that a deficiency of serotonin causes depression
• also leads to a more human approach to treatment of mental disorders

Question 14

explain why biological reductionism oversimplified

Answer 14

• ignores the complexity of human behaviour
• results in other variables being overlooked
• reducing behaviour and illness to the biological levels ignored the complexity; context and function of such behaviour

Question 15

what is holism?

Answer 15

the argument that human behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience and not through separating its parts

Question 16

what is gestalt psychology?

Answer 16

• an approach that argue explanations foe what we see only make sense through a consideration of the whole rather than individual elements
• therefore by separating human behaviour into parts, complex behaviour can be easily misunderstood

Question 17

how is humanistic psychology holistic?

Answer 17

humanists believe that the individual reacts as an organised whole rather then a set of stimulus-response links

Question 18

give an evaluation of holism

Answer 18

• it is hypothetical and not based on empirical evidence
• some things may be better by looking at as a whole

Question 19

explain how holism is hypothetical

Answer 19

• lack of empirical evidence associated with higher-levels of explanation
• holistic viewpoints may simplify complex phenomena too far
• suitable for humanism, as it is seen as a set of rather loosely joined abstract concepts
• holistic explanations may not be suited towards more complex behaviours

Question 20

explain why holism may be better than reductionism

Answer 20

separating behaviour may mean that complex behaviours can be misunderstood