Holism vs reductionism

• Holism = the theory that we should study the 'whole' the indivisible system rather than its constituent parts.
• Reductionism = the belief that human behaviour is better understood by breaking it down into its simpler smaller constituent parts.
• Holism looks at the whole system. Those that believed in this were called gestalt psychologist and argued that the whole was greater than the sum of ots parts.
• The humanistic approach is an example of this as it looks at the whole person thier individual experinces and uses qualitative methods that are analysed.
• Reductionism is based in the principle of parsimony. There are 6 levels of explanation to explain behaviour.
• Socio-cultural

  Psychological

  Physical

  Environmental

  Physiological

  Nuerochemical

  Sally-Clark Picks Pickles Everyday Past noon.
• Biological reductionism includes neurochemical and physiological. Also evolutionary and genetic influences with the belief that most behaviour is at some level of biological
• The behaviourist approach is based on environmental determinism. They believe that behaviour is learned and through interactions with the environment. And example is the learning theory of attachment.
• A limitation of holism is that it lacks practical value. This is because when behaviour becomes complex its harder to understand the most influential factors and what to focus on for treatment.
• A strength of the reductionism approach is that it forms the basis of the scientific approach. Variables are operationalised which means that behaviour has to broken down into simpler parts like behavioural categories in Ainsworths strange situation. This makes it more credible as a science.
• However the reductionism is criticised for over simplifying behaviour. This is because it doesn't take in social contexts where analysis of whole picture is necessary. This reduces validity.