Reductionism v Holism

Question 1

Reductionism

Answer 1

• It is about looking at the parts of something or someone and from the parts building up the knowledge to understand the whole
• The idea of breaking down a complex phenomenon into simpler components

Question 2

Holism

Answer 2

• The view that parts of something or someone never add up to the whole thing because the whole is more important than its constituent parts. We should study things in its entirety
• The view that parts of something can never add up to the whole thing because the whole is more than its constituent parts. The parts are in relation to one another.

Question 3

Explanation of Reductionism

Answer 3

• Has become a criticism in psychology because explanations of parts of complex behaviour or processing have meant that the whole complex has been missed.
• However, ‘reductionist’ in itself is not a criticism, more a statement.
• If a study is ‘reductionist’ it is scientific and useful in terms of giving reliable, objective and credible results.
• Useful in science/but lacks Validity as parts of something may not represent reality as it is more complex

Question 4

Reductionism v Holism

Answer 4

• Science is formulating a theory and drawing suggestions from it about the world, making a testable hypothesis. New knowledge is added or the theory is modified if not rejected. Testing gathers empirical data.
• Reductionism is breaking down complex phenomena into simpler components to allow for scientific testing. Holistic approach involves considers all aspects of the subject (nature or nurture). A case study for example

Question 5

Hypothetico-Deductive Method

Answer 5

• Hypthosis must be specific and measurable
• Sometimes difficult if the variable is too broad, so it is reduced to one feature (Milgram reduced Obedience to volts) Holism is the opposite, looking at it as a whole.
• Brain scans measure one part of the brain rather than looking at the working of the brain as the whole

Question 6

Reductionism in Psychology

Answer 6

• Is the belief that human behaviour can be explained by breaking down into smaller parts. It is the best way to understand. Looking at the simplest parts that make up our systems and use the simplest explanations to understand how they work.
• Based on the scientific assumption of Parsimony. (Complex phenomena should be explained by the simplest underlying principles possible)
• Supports say behaviour and mental processes should be explained within the framework of basic sciences
• Any explanation of behaviour at the simplest level is reductionist
• Experimental and labs are reductionist. Reduces complex behaviour to simple variables to try and obtain cause and effect

Question 7

Strengths of Reductionism

Answer 7

1.) Allows for scientific study, and reductionist approaches are consistent with prevailing scientific ideology/Breaking down behaviours into smaller, constituent parts allows for scientific testing of hypotheses, including identification, isolation and control over EVs/Confidently say the study is scientific, quantifiable and cause and effect relationships can be drawn.

Question 8

Weaknesses of Reductionism

Answer 8

1. ) Reductionist approaches lack V/involves incomplete or partial explanations of behaviour/may fail to recognise the complexity of behaviour and the understanding of the whole. Should be studied in context and wider setting.
2. ) Reductionist Approaches offer simplistic and incomplete explanations of behaviour/Humanists say it dehumanises and result in ignoring the self as the most important factor/Ignores unique qualities of humanness that contribute too human behaviour and the mind.

Question 9

Social Psychology and Reductionism

Answer 9

• Studies on Obedience
• Theories on Obedience
• Studies on Prejudice
• Theories of Prejudice
• Sherif

Question 10

SP: Studies on Obedience

Answer 10

Milgram (1963) & Variations
-Operationalised obedience into the maximum voltage participants would go to give electric shocks that increased in power. That is the level of obedience to an authority figure. Concluded that this caused prejudices and a combination of other variables like the setting and the cause. (65)
-Milgram’s variations that tested situational factors individually such as a rundown office block (48), the number of people conforming (20), telephonic instructions (22.5)
=Concluded that the varying levels were due to the single variable being manipulated. And not all of them working in conjunction. (Yale, worth cause, AF, willing volunteers)

Question 11

SP: Theories of Obedience

Answer 11

-Agency Theory: Reducing obedience down to being in the agentic state as a result of obeying an AF
-Social Impact Theory: reduces factors affecting down to a number, proximity and power. Characteristics of the person giving the orders only but not much to the person receiving them. For example, there may be personality types that are particularly compliant or rebellious.
-Authoritarianism: Reduces obedience to having a particular personality that has certain traits including hostility towards minority groups and an obsession with ranks.Doesn’t causes obedience. Research has shown the two things go together needs to be another factor linking them which is the real cause. Measured a wide range of variables and found many significant correlations. Only a correlation between two variables. Adorno claimed that the personality caused the obedience, but clearly this is not a full explanation of obedience.
-Locus of Control: Reduces to having a personality which makes you more likely to obey begin an external locus of control. Other personality factors related to locus of control (self-esteem) also predict resistance to social influence.
Psychopaths would administer the maximum shock in the Milgram situation but would enjoy it. Psychopaths in the Milgram situation would be driven by internal factors and so their total obedience is completely inconsistent with the prediction that individuals with an internal locus of control will resist social influence.
Caused to some extent by their cognitions (i.e. beliefs that their behaviour is determined mostly by internal or external factors).

Question 12

SP: Studies on Prejudice

Answer 12

Reicher and Haslam: Reduced conditions for prejudice down to the inequality of power between two groups.
1) social 2) organisational 3) clinical factors.

Question 13

SP: Theories of Prejudice

Answer 13

1. ) Realistic Conflict Theory: Reduces conditions for prejudice down to competition for resources and also reduces the solution to superordinate goals. America, policy for children to be transported to different schools to mix white & black population. Resisted by the white population because fears resources would be depleted. But clearly more factors at play and long histories.
2. ) Social Identity Theory: Reduces the rise of prejudice to three stages: Social Categorisation, Social Identification and Social Comparison.Is a reductionist explanation. This is too simplistic, the cause of prejudice is much more complex and S.I.T. ignores other factors. For example, competition. RCT says that social categorisation alone does not always lead to prejudice. Instead, prejudice is much more likely when different groups are competing. Competition between different groups for housing or jobs. Poppe and Linssen, (1999) found that Eastern European teenagers, when asked about stereotypes European countries, favoured their own country. Responses did not blindly favour their own and other EE countries. National stereotypes were upheld Germany = competent but least moral, UK = most moral, providing evidence for why S.I.T is such a simplistic idea.
3. )Contact Hypothesis: Reduces solution to increasing contact between two groups.
4. )Authoritarian: Specific Personality.

Question 14

SP: Sherif

Answer 14

• Reductionist
• Reduced reason for prejudice to Competition
• Reduced prejudice as hostility towards out-group with friendship levels (6.4% to 36.4%)
• Reduced hostility to verbal and physical aggression
• All are only situational factors
• The reduced solution to the complexity of prejudice down to subordinate goals.
• Sheriff reduced prejudice to a) separating groups, b) setting groups up to compete, c) putting groups back together to work on a superordinate goal, which shows a scientific element to their work. However, it could be argued that Sherif did aim to study the boys’ whole behaviour in the situation they created in their field experiment. This makes it less scientific and holism is valued more.
• No P beforehand but can’t be applied to others with complex histories.

Question 15

Cognitive Psychology and Reductionism

Answer 15

• Memory Models
• Studies on Memory
• Brain Scanning/Lab Experiments

Question 16

Cog P: Memory Models

Answer 16

• MSM: Reduces memory to three stores: SS, STM and LTM
• WMM: Reduces memory to four separate stores: Central Executives, Phonological Loop, Visuospatial sketchpad and Episodic Buffer
• Tulving: Episodic and Semantic with the addition of Procedural

Question 17

Cog P: Lab Experiments

Answer 17

• Operationalise memory into variables of recalling word lists (Baddeley)
• Operationalise memory into variables of recalling digits in order (Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil)
• Measuring memory is often quantitative (number of words recalled correctly)

Question 18

Cop P: Brain Scanning

Answer 18

• Reduces memory down to the activity of specific areas of the brain
• Ignores how other areas interact with other areas of the brain
• Doesn’t measure brain activity as a whole

Question 19

Cognitive Psychology and Holism

Answer 19

• Schemas

- Case Studies

Question 20

Cog P: Schemas

Answer 20

• Bartlett looked at how experiences otherwise known as schemas shape our memory
• Looks at the memory as a whole in how a schema changes memory and doesn’t break it down

Question 21

Cog P: Case Studies

Answer 21

• View an individual memory as a whole
• Research is based on experiences in their instead one specific factor
• Uses various types of both Quant and Qual methods.

Question 22

Cog P: Baddeley

Answer 22

• Reductionist. Reduced the operation of the LTM. Score on a recall test of 10 words; words must be recalled in the correct order. To try to distinguish if it encodes semantically or acoustically. Both either similar and dissimilar.
• Number of words recalled in the right order indicated how good memory was
• Number if A and S words recalled in different trails indicated the encoding of the STM or LTM.

Question 23

Biological Psychology and Reductionism

Answer 23

• Theories of Aggression

- Brain Scanning

Question 24

BP: Theories of Aggression

Answer 24

• Evolution reduces aggression down to biological causes of having a gene that aided survival which is innate. Evolutionary theory suggests that our behaviours (aggression) be a result of dispositional factors, ignoring the role of situational factors aggression or the role of the environment. It is likely that aggressive behaviour is, in fact, the result of both situational and dispositional factors. As such, maybe a more holistic explanation is needed; the evolutionary explanation is perhaps an over-simplistic explanation of human behaviour.
• Brain structure reduces agg to down to abnormality in the brain caused by damage to certain areas. For example, the pre-frontal cortex is responsible for self-control and personality and so someone is more likely to be impulsive if it’s damaged. Gage had an iron rod through his frontal lobe due to a railway track explosion and it changed his personality. Before he was responsible, intelligent, socially well adapted, respectful. After the incident, he was impulsive, used obscene language and offended people, and lost his job. Only considers brain structure in explaining aggressive behaviours. Therefore, lacks validity and ignores other factors, only biological factors.
• Neurotransmitter reduces agg to an imbalance of Dop and sero cause agg. Low levels of sero, ‘happy drug’, can lead to an increase in aggression levels. Sero is thought to inhibit our response to emotional stimuli that might otherwise lead to aggressive behaviour, so low levels of serotonin mean we will respond aggressively more often. Increased dop levels can produce increased levels of agg behaviour. The increased rates of agg behaviour found in the schizophrenic population are believed to be due to the raised levels of dopamine in the brain. It is a reductionist explanation of explaining aggression. The links between neurotransmitters and aggression are reductionist as they are insufficient on their own in explaining the complexity of human aggression. Therefore ignores social factors and environment, it only biological explanations.
• Hormones reduce agg down to an imbalance of testosterone and cortisol. High levels of testosterone cause agg. (Kalat) Cortisol is a steroid hormone, in the glucocorticoid class of hormones, and is produced within the adrenal gland. It is released in response to stress and low blood glucose. Which may lead to agg. Theories of human aggression are separated into the role of brain structure, brain functioning and hormones which is reductionist. Research should take a more holistic view that acknowledges the complexity of human behaviour and the interrelation of these factors in causing aggression.

Question 25

Bio: Brain Scanning

Answer 25

• Reduces agg to certain areas of the brain
• Scanning only focuses on activity in certain areas of the brain and doesn’t account for how different areas interact
• Gage’s behaviour focused on the prefrontal cortex only

Question 26

Biological Psychology and Holism

Answer 26

• Evolution as an Explanation for Aggression

- Case Studies

Question 27

Bio: Evolution as an Explanation for Aggression

Answer 27

• It looks at the change in the environment and how that can affect natural selection and genes that are passed on
• Creates a holistic view of aggression as focuses on the environment as well as biology
• Evolutionary theory is also reductionist; it suggests that our behaviours (aggression) be a result of dispositional factors, ignoring the role of situational factors aggression or the role of the environment. It is likely that aggressive behaviour is, in fact, the result of both situational and dispositional factors. As such, maybe a more holistic explanation is needed; the evolutionary explanation is perhaps an over-simplistic explanation of human behaviour.

Question 28

Bio: Case Studies

Answer 28

• Phineas Gage provides detail on many elements of what caused agg
• Focuses on a holistic approach as a whole
• Interactionist method
• A multitude of methods employed

Question 29

Bio P: Raine

Answer 29

-Reductionist
-PET scan to determine whether brains of murders pleading NGRI were different from the brains of non-murders. Only measured brain activity and glucose uptake during the scan
-PET scanner to image brain functioning; a colour map of brain activity is generated by the machine. (FDG) a tracer injected to trace brain metabolism. Attaches itself to glucose being used by the brain. The tracer is radioactive so it, and therefore the glucose, can be picked up and mapped by the scanner.
(CPT) - this task has been shown to make the frontal lobes work especially hard, together with the right temporal and parietal lobes. The task consisted of spotting targets on a screen and pressing a button to indicate the target had been recognised. The CPT lasted 32 minutes.
-Only focuses on differences in certain parts of the brain (amygdala, parietal lobe) as an explanation for committing murder. NGRI had lower activity in the prefrontal cortex (both lateral and medial areas). Damage to this brain region can result in impulsivity, lack of self-control and the inability to modify behaviour which can, in turn, facilitate aggressive acts.
Right is 1.14v 1.11.
-Violent behaviour down to the brain activity when performing 32min CPT that involved spotting targets
-Ignores social factors. It considers the differences in brain activity between murderers and non-murderers. But there may have been other factors that contributed to their crime. We also do not know whether social or environmental issues were the cause of the brain differences.

Question 30

Learning Psychology and Reductionism

Answer 30

• Theories of Learning
• Studies on Learning
• Treatments for Phobias

Question 31

LP: Learning Theories

Answer 31

-Classical Conditioning is learning through association and was discovered by Pavlov, a Russian physiologist. It assumes learning is passive and is based on reflex behaviours that all humans and animals have. Ignoring bio factors that may affect the susceptibility of conditioning. Ignores interaction between nature (biology) and nurture (environment). Human behaviour is complex. This is because complex behaviour is broken down into smaller stimulus-response units of behaviour.
Supporters of a reductionist approach say that it is scientific. Breaking complicated behaviours down to small parts means that they can be scientifically tested. However, some would argue that the reductionist view lacks validity. Thus, whilst reductionism is useful, it can lead to incomplete explanations. Free-will is involved.
-Operant Conditioning.learning occurs due to the consequences of an action. The animal/human must do something first, for which it will then be rewarded if the behaviour is to continue. Reinforcement from the environment. The theory also focuses entirely on behaviours and ignores cognitions. Cognitions are thought-processes and include things like personality, willpower and motivation. Freud argued that a lot of self-destructive behaviour comes from hidden thought-processes in the unconscious mind and are not learned and cannot be un-learned so easily.
-Social Learning Conditioning. Reduces behaviour down to the observation of the behaviour being carried out by someone else. Reductionist, because not everyone follows what they see.

Question 32

LP: Reductionist Studies

Answer 32

• Pavlov reduces behaviour to reflexes of salivation to demonstrate something can be the condition. Developed CC after studying secretion in dogs. Noticed that when he worked with the same dog repeatedly, the dog began to salivate to stimuli associated with food, to the mere sight of food, to the food dish, to the presence of the person who regularly brought the food or even the sound of that person’s approaching footsteps. As this experiment used animals there are issues with generalising the results to humans due to the complex differences e.g. language, cognitive abilities. It might be assumed that humans would have different higher-order processing. This may reduce the credibility of the results.
• Bandura reduced learning agg to the observation of an adult being physically aggressive towards the Bobo doll and seeing if they would reproduce the same behaviours. The findings support the idea that children learn social behaviour such as aggression through the process of observation learning - through watching the behaviour of another person. The children in the aggressive model condition made more aggressive responses (12.7) than the children in the non-aggressive model condition. Ignores other factors. Cumberbatch (1990) reports that children who were unfamiliar with the doll were five times more likely to imitate aggression than those who were familiar with the doll.

Question 33

LP: Treatments for Phobias

Answer 33

• Systematic Desensitization and Flooding both reduce the treatment for a phobia down to associating it with something good.
• They ignore the biological role in phobias.
• Based on CC which impact its effectiveness
• Only treats observable symptoms and doesn’t get the route of the problem
• Found 50% of social phobias resurfaced after six months

Question 34

Learning Psychology and Holism

Answer 34

Studies on Learning.

Question 35

LP: Holistic Studies

Answer 35

• Cooke and Mineka: Investigated the development of phobia through observing other monkeys getting scared at the sight of a snake and a crocodile which can involve biological factors of evolution causing them to fear predators
• Social observation and bio factors

Question 36

LP: Watson and Rayner

Answer 36

• Reductionist Study
• Broke behaviour down to stimulus responses actions due to using CC
• Operationalised fear of crying and moving away from the object
• Reduced the learning and generalisation of a phobia to hearing a learning a loud bang and associating it with the rat so he was scared.
• Watson & Rayner concluded that they had succeeded in conditioning in an infant fear of an animal the child would not ordinarily be frightened of, however, the pairings might have to be repeated.
• From the fact that the conditioned response was still present after 31 days, Watson & Rayner concluded it might last a lifetime. These experiments would seem to show conclusively that directly conditioned emotional responses lasted for a longer period than one month.
• Ignores dispositional factors, environmental factors, biological factors (chosen for his lack of emotions which makes him different)

Question 37

Clinical Psychology and Reductionism

Answer 37

• Diagnosis of Mental Disorders
• Explanations for Mental Disorders
• Treatments of Mental Disorders

Question 38

Clin P: Diagnosis of Mental Disorders

Answer 38

• Diagnosis of mental disorders isolates a complex phenomenon of mental disorders down to specific symptoms
• Manuals such as the ICD and DSM use specific quantifiers for disorders. ICD- 10 was accepted in May 1990 and is the current version, though it is currently under revision and ICD-11 will be released in 2018. The lCD addresses all diseases, not just those involved in mental disorders, unlike the DSM.
• DSM is a multi-axil tool. Clinicians have to consider whether the disorder is from Axis 1, clinical disorders and/or Axis 2, personality disorders. Then the patient’s general physical condition is considered, plus any social and environmental problems. This is used to assess the patient’s functioning on a scale from 1 to 100. This makes the DSM much more holistic in relation to diagnosis than the ICD’s rather reductionist approach to criteria-based diagnoses.
• In a counselling situation symptoms are treated as aspects of the whole person and mental health is the focus, not mental disorder. In counselling a diagnosis is not as important as treating the individual.

Question 39

Clin P: Explanations of Mental Disorders

Answer 39

• Biological explanation for SZH reduces it down to the abnormal activity of the NT dopamine and abnormalities in the bairn structure like enlarged ventricles
• Social Explanation of SZH reduces it down to stress caused from environmental factors like social, adversity, lower social class and immigration. Not everyone with detrimental environmental circumstances develops Sz although there may be environmental triggers. The diathesis stress explanation suggests that people with a genetic or n/t predisposition to the disorder will get Sz only if an environmental stressor triggers it. These environmental triggers may be more likely for those in lower classes.
• Biological Explanation of AN. Reduces it down to having a certain gene (EPHX2). A study last year suggested that a cholesterol gene could play a role in the disease, providing a potential new target for drug treatment. But the finding could not be replicated (and thus confirmed); the scientists are back at square one and the hunt begins again. too great an emphasis on the genetic basis of the illness could cause parents to feel fatalistic. They could feel hopeless we don’t want that. We know that there is a mix of environmental and genetic causes of anorexia.
• Social Explanation for AN reduces it down to medias influence of skinny models and cultural norms of thinness being desirable.Reductionism. The explanations are also reductionist because they only consider nurture. They are too simplistic as they do not consider other explanations for eating disorders such as biological and cognitive factors. Grice et al (2002) found evidence of a genetic link in anorexia nervosa. The study followed 192 families where one member had received a diagnosis and at least one other had received a diagnosis also. Initial findings did not show any significant genetic evidence until they focused on a subgroup of 37 families where at least two relatives have been diagnosed with the restrictive-type of anorexia. This sample showed strong evidence for susceptibility genes on chromosome 1 as similar markers were found in the afflicted pairs/groups in each family.
• The dopamine hypothesis is oversimplistic (reductionist). It is not as simple as schizophrenics have too high dopamine levels.

Question 40

Clin P: Treatments

Answer 40

• Drug Treatments of SZ and AN reduce the cause to biological factors and so the treatment to biological.Ferguson et al (1999): compared 24 patients taking SSRIs and 16 patients treated on the same ward without SSRIs. There was no significant difference between them in terms of age or body weight or clinical symptoms or anxiety. This suggests that the use of drugs had no significant impact on treatment outcomes. Ignores psychological reasons. Only mask.
• SZ have drug treatments of antipsychotics for dopamine
• AN has SSRIs for serration and antispyhcotics is for dopamine
• Token economy of AN reduces the treatment down to reading rewards for desired behaviour go gaining weight.

Question 41

Clinical Psychology and Holism

Answer 41

• Twin Studies
• Explanations of Mental Disorders
• Environmental Treatments for MD
• Case Studies

Question 42

Clin P: Twin Studies

Answer 42

• It looks genetic and the environment of the twins in how they differ with certain environmental factors triggering certain genes
• This is more holistic as there is never a 100% concordance rate showing that there must be an element of both biological and social
• The idea that your genetics entirely shapes the person you grow up to be is biological determinism. However, most psychologists today are not determinists; they think that people are influenced by a mixture of environmental and genetic influences. This limits the usefulness of twin studies because they rarely show a concordance rate of anything like 100%. The best they can show is that concordance is slightly higher in MZ twins than DZ, suggesting that genetics influences this behaviour, but doesn’t entirely cause it.

Question 43

Clin P: Explanations for Mental Disorders (Holism)

Answer 43

• If someone has the biological factor of a certain gene this can get triggered by environmental factors such as stress to cause the development of the disorder like SZH
• The diathesis-stress model takes into account both genetic explanations and environmental factors to explain a characteristic. It is about being predisposed towards a characteristic genetically and there perhaps being stress in the environment or some environmental cause to trigger the characteristic.
• Gottesman and Shields’s study showed that in MZ twins there was a concordance rate for schizophrenia of between 35 per cent and 58 per cent and in DZ twins a concordance rate of between 9 per cent and 26 per cent. This means that for MZ twins, around 42 per cent of the time when one twin has schizophrenia the other has it too. The study therefore strongly suggests that there is at least some genetic basis for schizophrenia. The researchers thought that the diathesis-stress model was the one that best explained the results. This model suggests that behaviour comes in part from genetic predisposition and in part from environmental triggers. Gottesman and Shields thought that particular genes predispose someone to schizophrenia by lowering the threshold for coping with stress. Even if it is suggested that there is a single gene for schizophrenia (Gottesman and Shields believe there is a set of genes responsible), their explanation still stands – that there is a genetic tendency to schizophrenia, which environmental factors can trigger.

Question 44

Clin P: Environmental Treatments

Answer 44

-ACT as a treatment of SZ is more holistic due to not being sufficient enough on its own so is often paired with drug treatment
-It assesses the individual and how environmental factors affect their disorder and helps them to function better
-This is being combined with drug therapy tackles both factors. Although therapies such as ACT help to prevent
relapses they do not seem to have an effect on actual functioning, and reducing positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia or helping with employment prospects. Supportive employment programmes would have to be provided, as well as ways to reduce the effect of symptoms of schizophrenia.
-Bond (2002) found that ACT was extremely effective in most mental health disorders, across gender, age and culture, and suggests that it allows client choice. Only about 11 per cent of clients in surveys say they find it restricting. The strength here is that it has been shown to be effective by studies.

Question 45

Case Studies

Answer 45

• Case studies look at one individual or a small group in depth to gather detailed data, usually from a number of sources.
• Considers patients as a whole
• Looking at many different reasons for the development of their disorder like biological (brain structure) and social (poverty) factors (for SZH)
• Also the effects of treatments
• Triangulation means taking data from different sources and checking whether the data agree. If the same data are gathered using different means, then the data are reliable. The data are also likely to be valid, because if data match and some data at least come directly from an individual, then the data are likely to be measuring what they claim to measure, which gives the data validity. Triangulation, being likely to confirm reliability and validity, adds credibility to the results of a study. Case studies tend to use more than one means of collecting data.
• Luk and Aghoha is an example and it uses many different methods to determine the cause of 14-year-olds AN with many methods of treating it

Question 46

Rosenhan

Answer 46

• Reductionist
• Operationalised the R and V of diagnosis using the DSM with whether the pseudopatients all received the same diagnosis
• Operationalised the symptoms as hearings the word ‘thud’. The pseudo-patients said the voices were unclear but seemed to be saying ‘empty’, ‘hollow’ or ‘thud’. These words were chosen because they seemed to place an emphasis on the person’s life (for example, life is hollow)
• Reduced staff treatment as to how many times they talked to them or made eye contact
• Staff reduced the behaviour of patients to writing things down and being too polite based on the label of having SZH.

Question 47

Criminal Psyhcology and Redcutionsism

Answer 47

• Lab/Field Expiremnets
• Explanations of Criminality
• Biological Treatments for Criminality

Question 48

Crim Psychology: Experiments

Answer 48

• Memory is operationlised as how many things can be accurately recalled after witnessing a crime in the EWT
• Experiments reduce what is being studied to small parts so that there can be objectivity and cause-and- effect conclusions. Experiments are reductionist and this is so there can be reliability, objectivity and credibility.
• Erickson et al. (2014) used three different ‘object’ conditions in their study of eyewitness identification. They used a glass, chicken and a gun to represent a neutral, novel and threatening object. This was reducing witness situations to something measurable and some realism would be lost in the process
• Bias in JDM is reduced to factors like pre-court publicity, attractiveness, race and not internal factors or environmental ones or even biological
• Causes of EWT memory impairment are down to stress and arousal, attention and weapon focus

Question 49

Crim Psychology: Explanations of Criminality

Answer 49

• Biological Explanations of Criminality reduces offending behaviour to biological factors
• Brian injury reduces criminality to abnormalities in specific areas of the brain. Charles Whitman killed around 16 people. An autopsy showed he had a large brain tumour which affected the amygdala, a brain area known to be linked with aggression. Prefrontal cortex causing impulsivity. The relation is hard. Diaz (1995) points out, scientific evidence is hard to find. There are other factors relating to criminal behaviours, such as being young and male, witnessing violence in the family, having previous convictions or possibly having PTSD with anger and impulsivity as well as drug and alcohol misuse. It is hard to pinpoint brain injury alone as a cause for criminal behaviour, even though some studies show a relationship. No cause and effect conclusions can be made.
• XXY syndrome reduces criminality down to having an extra Y chromosome. Can cause learning difficulties which can lead to anti-social behaviour. Studies seem to suggest that it is not that an XYY chromosome pattern leads to criminality, but there might be labelling and a self-fulfilling prophecy that can lead those with XYY syndrome into crime. Genetically, someone might have XYY syndrome but any effect from the genetic difference can be down to environmental influences. A problem is in splitting nature and nurture when looking for a cause.
• SLT. Reduces criminality down to observing others committing a crime. Social learning theory suggests that people commit crimes because of an association with others. Not only is it possible to be exposed to criminal models, but it is also possible to be ‘reinforced’ for the crime. Crime becomes not only acceptable but also desirable. Positive reinforcement might come from financial or material gain from the crime, or approval from one’s peers. Negative reinforcement might come from the removal of something unpleasant such as removing financial hardship. The theory does not account for criminal behaviour that is opportunistic and has not been observed first, it tends to account more for stealing, aggression and other crimes that are reasonably easily observed in society, rather than murders. Therefore, the theory does not account for all crime.

Question 50

Crim Psychology: Biological Treatments for Criminality

Answer 50

• Hormone treatments are reductionist are they reduce criminality to biological reasons
• Treat Criminality with certain types of medication that reduces testosterone levels
• Anti-Androgens. Cyproterone acetate (CPA) quickly reduces sexual drive and deviant fantasies, though it is not available in the USA, just in Canada, according to Bradbury and Kaye (1999). There are side-effects, such as liver dysfunction and adrenal suppression. It is as effective as castration in reducing recidivism related to offenders.
• Studies tend to look at sexual offenders having anti-androgen therapy but also psychotherapy. A weakness of hormone therapy is that it does not stand alone so it is hard to evaluate on its own. Psychotherapy includes cognitive-behavioural treatments and supervised probation or parole, as well as community-based interventions. When there is more than one therapy, it is hard to say which therapy is effective.

Question 51

Criminal Psychology and Holism

Answer 51

• Environmental Treatments for Criminality
• Case Studies
• Psychological Case Formation

Question 52

Crim Psychology: Environmental Treatments

Answer 52

• Anger management is based on CBT which combines cognitive and behavioural factors and psychological methods
• Two different approaches that are combined to form a more holistic treatment

Question 53

Criminal Psychology: Case Studies

Answer 53

• View offender as a whole
• Many different reasons for offending and focused on bio and social factors
• Triangulation
• Predictions for future offenders

Question 54

Crim: Psychological Case Formation

Answer 54

-Case formulation includes offence analysis because it goes from the assessment, which gives the information, to the analysis, and linking to theory, which can then hopefully suggest a useful and effective treatment plan.
-In a forensic context, case formulation can also have a slightly different meaning, focusing on treatability, risk assessment and likelihood of re-offending, and can be something prepared for a judge, for example.
-In a way, the ABC model reduces behaviour to antecedent, behaviour and consequence, which is an example of reductionism. In other ways formulation is individualised and takes a holistic view, taking the whole person into account, which is not a reductionist way of uncovering information.
-Connell (2014) says, there is interpretation in doing a case formulation. The person doing the formulation takes a lot of information from an assessment and then puts together a simple and concise summary that must be valid and needs to inform a treatment plan
for an individual offender. Interpretation means some information will be chosen to be left out and other information will be left in. Also interpreting from examples of behaviour and incidents in someone’s life to involve theory in an explanation can bring bias according to a clinician’s preferences regarding theory, for example. Checking back with the offender and those who know them, as well as using a reflexive journal to chart the formulation, can help with validity. However, a case formulation may well be different depending on who carries it out, which does suggest it might lack reliability as well as validity.

Question 55

Crim Psychology: Loftus and Palmer

Answer 55

• Reductionist
• Operationlised the phenom of EWT to accuracy when a leading question is used
• LQ was operationalised as a change in verb used to suggest the speed of a car in a crash
• Reduced accuracy of EWT to a correct or incorrect answer of the critical question in the second experiment (Glass or no glass) as week later

Question 56

Most Reductionist Areas of Psychology

Answer 56

1. ) Social Psychology

2. ) Learning Psychology

Question 57

Least Reductionist Areas of Psychology

Answer 57

1. ) Clinical Psychology

2. ) Criminal Psychology

Question 58

Strengths of Reductionism

Answer 58

1. ) High R. Reducing complex phenomena to simpler components makes it easier to test for consistency and to compare
2. ) High V. Due to the control over variables allowing for a cause and effect relationship
3. ) The scientific status that reductionism allows makes the data and any conclusions more credible
4. ) Appropriate for certain levels of explanation such as some mental disorders being explained on a neurological level allowing for more understanding of treatment
5. ) Since all animals are made of atoms our behaviours must be explainable at this level so it can be physically reduced to this level

Question 59

Weaknesses of Reductionism

Answer 59

1. ) Low EV. Reduced variables so they can be tested into a lab which doesn’t rep real life.
2. ) Low V. Concepts are abstract which means that oporlisation may be inadequate or incorrect at representing the whole
3. ) Inapproitrae for psychology as it reduces behaviour and ignores its complexity.
4. ) Humanists argue reductionism dehumanises psychological perspectives in attempts to simplify testing