Reduction and holism

• Define reductionism

  Breaks complex phenomena into simpler components, best understood in simpler terms
• Define levels of explanation-

  Explanations begin at the highest level and progressively look at component elements
• Describe biological reductionism, provide an example

  Human behaviour is reduced to or explained at a physical level

  • Eg- schizophrenia caused by excessive dopamine activity because drugs used to block this neurotransmitter reduce symptoms of this disorder
• Define environmental (S-R) reductionism and provide an example

  Behaviour can be reduced to a simple relationship between behaviour and the events in the environment

  • Eg- behaviourist explanation for attachment- providing food is the reinforcing stimulus, feeling love is the response
• Define and give an example of experimental reductionism

  Reducing complex behaviours to isolated and operationalised variables

  • Eg- different types of attachment- secure, insecure avoidant and insecure resistant
• Define holism

  With respect to behaviour, perceiving the whole experience rather than individual features and/or relations between them
• What is gestalt psychology?

  • Favoured by a group of German psychologists, focuses on perception
  • Explanations for what we see only make sense through a consideration of the whole rather than individual elements
• How does humanistic psychology relate to holism

  • Individual reacts as organised whole rather than as a set of S-R links
  • Persons sense of unified identity matters most - lack thereof leads to mental disorder
• How is cognitive psychology linked to holism?

  • Cognitive network as a whole behaves differently than individual parts
  • Eg linear models assume the sum of the parts equal the whole
• What are the three levels of explanation?

  • Highest- cultural and social explanations for behaviour
  • Middle- psychological explanations
  • Lowest- biological
• Evaluation of reduction and holism?

  • ☹️Only focusing on lower levels of explanation- can lead to ignoring other complex factors which may influence behaviour
  • ☺️Interactionism- non-physical mind interacts with physical brain (dualists) martin et Al- psychotherapy as effective as drugs in inducing changes in serotonin levels
  • ☺️Biological reductionism- drug therapy, reduction in institutionalisation, more humane as does not blame patient
  • ☹️Enviro reductionism- non human animals, behaviour explained simply, humans more complex, can’t be generalised
• What does parsimonious mean?

  The simplest explanation is often the best