Reductionism & Holism

• Gestalt psychologists suggested that the ‘whole is greater than the sum of its parts’. This is the view of holism in Psychology.
• Reductionism analyses behaviour by breaking it down into its constituent parts.
• Reductionism is based on the scientific idea of parsimony, that all behaviour should be explained using the most basic principles.
• Parsimony Psychology is generally defined as finding the simplest accurate explanation for cognitive processes and behaviours.
• The notion of ‘levels of explanation’ suggests that there are different ways of viewing the same phenomena in Psychology.
• Biological reductionism is the idea that all behaviour can be explained by reducing down biological influences such as genetics or biochemistry.
• Environmental reductionism is the idea that all behaviour can be explained by reducing external factors to simple causes or influences.
• Psychic determinism uses the principles of the psychodynamic approach to reduce behaviour down into more simpler parts.
• One weakness of the reductionist approach is that it oversimplifies complex phenomena.
• The reductionist approach allows us to break behaviours down into constituent parts, meaning we can draw more reliable and therefore arguably more accurate conclusions.
• Biological reductionism refers to the way that psychologists try to reduce behaviour to a physical level and explain it in terms of neurons, neurotransmitters, hormones and brain structure.
• Environmental reductionism is also known as stimulus-response reductionism.
• Behaviourists assume that all behaviour can be reduced to the simple building blocks of S-R (stimulus-response) associations and that complex behaviours are a series of S-R sequences.
• Holism is an approach where behaviour is studied through analysing the person as a whole without breaking down their behaviours into distinct, separate parts.
• Reductionism states that in order to understand why people behave the way they do, it is best to break the behaviours down into smaller parts so that we can see the underlying causes for that behaviour in its constituent parts.
• An example of biological reductionism might suggest that elevated levels of dopamine are implicated in the increase in positive symptoms for Schizophrenia.
• One strength of the holism debate is that it encapsulates the influences of several variables on human behaviour and considers their effect as a whole.
• Adopting a holistic view of mental illness helps us to understand how that particular individual is affected and how we could treat them.
• By taking a holistic approach, we cannot establish very clear specific cause and effect around behaviour.
• One strength of the reductionism side of the debate is that it holds scientific credibility.
• By manipulating independent variables in lab-based research, we are able to get a reductionist view of the cause of the behaviour.
• The holistic approach does not lend itself to the scientific method and empirical testing.
• Reductionist explanations can be criticised for ignoring psychological, social and cultural factors.
• Cognitive Psychology with its use of the computer analogy reduces behaviour to the level of a machine, mechanistic reductionism.
• The reductionist approach suggests that there are different levels of explanation.
• The lowest level of reductionism considers physiological (biological) explanations, where behaviour is explained in terms of neurochemicals, genes and brain structure.
• The middle level of reductionism considers psychological explanations (e.g. cognitive and behavioural).
• The highest level of reductionism considers social and cultural explanations, where behaviour is explained in terms of the influence of social groups.
• If we imagine a funnel reductionism would be at the bottom (narrow) whereas holism would be at the top (open).