reductionism vs holism

• what is reductionism?


  human behaviours explained by breaking it down into simpler component parts
• what is biological reductionism?

  reduces behaviour to a physical level & explains it in terms of neurones, hormones etc
• what is environmental reductionism?

  all behaviour can be reduced to simple building blocks or stimulus response associations & complex behaviours are a series of stimulus responsw chains
• what is holism?


  behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience & not separate parts
• what is machine reductionism?

  reduces complex thought processes down to simple mechanical, computer like, processes
• which approach takes the biological reductionist view?


  biological
• which approach takes the environmental reductionist view?

  behaviourist
• which approaches take the multi-level reductionist view?

  social learning theory & psychodynamic
• which approach takes the machine reductionist view?

  cognitive
• which approaches take the holistic view?

  humanistic
• why is the biological approach biological reductionist?

  behaviours reduced to simple biological structures like genes and neurotransmitters
• why is the behaviourist approach environmental reductionist?

  behaviours reduced to simple stimulus-response associations and consequences
• why is the social learning theory multi level reductionist?

  considers the role of environmental factors (role models) and cognitive factors (mediations processes)
• why is the cognitive approach machine reductionist?

  the minds broken down to a simple info processing system with input, processing, output
• why is the psychodynamic approach multi level reductionist?

  behaviours reduced to innate biological drives, whilst taking into account of other factors like childhood relationships and developmental milestones
• why is the humanist approach holistic?

  focuses on understanding all aspects of human experience and interaction