Reductionism and Holism - 2

Question 1

Reductionist

Answer 1

the practice of reductionism

Question 2

Reductionism

Answer 2

1. Reductionism is the theory of describing something using its basic parts or the simplest explanation and reasoning
2. It is based on the belief that any human behaviour or cognitive process is explained best when looking at the parts that make up that behaviour or process to understand how it works.
3. Scientists often reduce complex behaviour into basic parts because it means that we can be more certain that one thing causes another which can investigate what causes a behaviour
4. A theory or study that describes a behaviour by a single, simple explanation is said to be reductionist

Question 3

Reductionism - scientific methods

Answer 3

associated with laboratory experiments where factors that may explain a behaviour can be isolated and tested under controlled conditions

Question 4

Strengths of reductionism

Answer 4

1. it is desirable scientific practice and can be appropriate in circumstances where there is a clear, single explanation
2. It is easy to conduct and make a conclusion

Question 5

Weaknesses of reductionism

Answer 5

1. May result in an explanation that is overly simplistic and may ignore other causes of that behaviour
2. Does not take under-consideration the interaction of different factors that can result in an effect

Question 6

Holistic

Answer 6

the practice of holism

Question 7

holism

Answer 7

1. Holism can be described as the theory of trying to understand the whole behaviour rather than its parts.
2. When something is considered holistic, one is trying to understand the topic as a whole.
3. This approach takes into account the fact that many different factors together can cause a behaviour, and therefore dividing up these factors is not useful in understanding the behaviour as a whole.
4. the theory of explaining something as a whole
5. opposite of reductionism

Question 8

Holism - scientific methods

Answer 8

Holistic approaches tend to use qualitative methods to gain greater insight into the causes of behaviour and try to understand the whole person and their beliefs.

Question 9

Strengths of Holism

Answer 9

This shows that holistic explanations provide a more complete and global understanding of behaviour than reductionist approaches.

Question 10

Weaknesses of Holism

Answer 10

1. It is difficult to make a conclusion because in order to understand the whole individual, every variable must be investigated and understood and used at the same time.
2. This also makes it time-consuming
3. It is also unscientific because the findings can only apply to a particular individual- the resulting theories cannot apply to everyone else.

Question 11

Reductionism applying to human memory research

Answer 11

1. The area of cognitive psychology concerned with memory and other cognitive processes are regarded to be reductionist
2. MSMM is reductionist as it describes our memory as a series of component memory stores with specific functions such as rehearsal. However the research used is reductionist as experiments tend to isolate variables to investigate without considering other factors that can also affect the behaviour

Question 12

Holism applying to human memory research

Answer 12

1. Bartlett’s work is considered holistic because of the way he conducted his research.
2. He used qualitative analysis to explore the reconstructive nature of memory as he understood how each person’s schemas affected recall of stories.
3. He researched the character and background of the participants in his sample for him to understand how their schemas were formed.