Reductionism/ Holism Flashcards
Key concepts?
Reductionism:
Complex explanations can be reduced to the sum of more fundamental things.
Holism:
Living matter is made up of unified wholes that are greater than the simple sum of their parts.
Applications?
Medical models:
Help reduce complex psychological disorders to simple chemical changes in the brain leading to psychological disorders (depression)
Links to core studies?
Casey:
Explained delay of gratification in terms of brain structures (frontal lobe)
Baron-Cohen:
Reduced explanations of autism spectrum disorder to a lack of theory of mind.
Similarities and differences?
Similarities:
Reductionism is similar to determinism (reduce to chemical changed which control our behaviour)
differences:
Reductionism differs from situational explanations (where a more holistic approach is needed because behaviour is harder to quantify)
Evaluations?
+ Scientific
breaking complex systems down to lower-level units may enhance understanding.
-Oversimplification
May fail to represent the true complexity of behaviour (emotions)