Reductionism or holism

Question 1

Reductionism

Answer 1

The belief that there is a single factor that is the cause of a certain behaviour
There is THE cause

Question 2

Strengths of reductionism

Answer 2

Research will be scientific: isolating all factors except THE factor to investigate cause and effect
Experiments are as a result highly controlled: standardised and replicable and accurate results

Question 3

Weaknesses of reductionism

Answer 3

Less ecologically valid of use of highly controlled experiments
Behaviour is too complex to be reduced to a single cause
Causes decoupling problem where irl causes of behaviour work in conjunction with each other, so controlling all except one factor won’t be accurate in its effect

Question 4

Holism

Answer 4

Belief that human behaviour is caused by multiple factors and their interactions with each other
Hence research includes multiple independent variables

Question 5

Strengths of holism

Answer 5

Lots of factors are considered so high face validity
High eco validity as the research considers multiple factors so this reflects real life

Question 6

Weaknesses of holism

Answer 6

Hard to know what factor has the largest factor
Not scientific as the claims are more vague, we are saying multiple factors effect behaviour rather than cause and effect of one IV
Hard to make predictions as a result