Holism and reductionism debate

• taking a holistic approach means looking at something as a whole - looking at the components that make a whole
• the holism and reductionism debate refers to whether it is more appropriate to study behaviour by breaking it down into small component parts or to study many interacting and complex aspects of behaviour as a whole
• holism approach emphasises the whole system where parts of the theory cannot be understood except in their relation to the whole
• example of holism and reductionism debate

  • cake - holism
  • ingredients - reductionism
• advantages to holistic approach

  • provides more complete picture
  • accepts and deals with complex nature of behaviour
  • behaviour is influenced by many factors
• disadvanatages of holistic approach

  • difficult to investigate many differing levels of explanation
  • more hypothetical - not based on empirical evidence
  • neglects importance of biological influences
• reductionism refers to human behaviour being explained by breaking down into simpler component parts
• reductionism in psychology

  • OCD - can be understood in following ways - socio cultural context (repetitive hand washing) or psychological level (obsessive thoughts)
• biological reductionism is the way psychologists try to reduce behaviour to physical level and explain in terms of hormones, brain structure and neurons -psychopathology where biological approach claims OCD is caused by higher levels of dopamine and lower levels of serotonin
• environmental reductionism is where behaviourists believe all behaviour can be reduced to building blocks of SR associations and complex behaviours - psychopathology - behaviourist approach claims phobias are initiated through classical and maintained through operant conditioning
• machine reductionism uses information processing and machine systems and connects to describe/ explain human behaviour - cognitive approach where psychologists use computer models to show how memory works - generalising we receive info the same way as computer models
• reductionist approach advantages

  • consistent with scientific approach
  • high levels of predictive power
  • easier to explain behaviour (concrete and concise terms)
  • breaking phenomena down into smaller components means empirical method can be used
• reductionist approach disadvantages

  • ignores complexity of behaviour and can be overstimulated
  • context is important in understanding meaning of behaviour
  • focus on single level of explanation leaves out other levels
• gestadt psychology adopts a holistic approach

  • when we perceive something in real world we do as a whole rather than collection of bits and pieces
• evaluation - case for holism - strength

  • often aspects of social behaviour only emerge within a group context and cannot understand level of individual group members
  • for example -stanford prison experiment cannot be understood by studying individuals as it was the interaction between people and behaviour of group that was important
  • shows holistic explanation provides more complete and global understanding of behaviour
• evaluation - case against holism - limitation

  • holistic explanations in psychology can become too vague and speculative as they become more complex
  • for example - humanistic psych tends to be criticised for its lack of empirical evidence - instead seen as loose set of concepts
  • higher levels of explanations that combine differing perspectives can have huge impact - becomes difficult to establish which component is most influential
  • therefore holistic explanation could be seen as not gaining enough evidence for it to be believed or trusted
• evaluation - case for reductionism - strength

  • reductionist approach forms basis for scientific research
  • in order to create operationalised variables - need to break target behaviours down into parts - possible to conduct experiments/ record observations in way that is meaningful and reliable
  • example - behavioral approach shows how complex learning can be broken down to stimulus (parents behaviour)
  • therefore it gives psychology greater creditability
• evaluation - case against reductionism - limitation

  • approach accused of oversimplifying complex phenomena leading to loss of validity
  • for example psychological processes involved in pointing ones finger will be same regardless context
  • another example includes explanations that operate at level of gene - neurotransmitter/neuron dont include analysis of social context within which behaviour occurs.