A01

• What is holism?

  The belief that behaviour is better understood by looking at it as an indivisible system rather than its constituent parts
• State 2 examples which show holism

  1. Gestalt psychology's Insight Learning

  2. Humanism
• What is Gestalt Psychology?

  - A form of psychology developed by a group of German psychologists

  - Focus = perception and argued that explanations for what we see only makes sense through consideration of the whole rather than individual elements
• What is Insight Learning?

  Can only learn when all elements of a problem are understood as a meaningful whole
• What is an example of Insight Learning?

  Chimpanzees could solve the problem of getting a peanut out of the bottom of a tube by filling the tube with water so the peanut rose with the water and chimpanzee could reach it
• How does the chimpanzee example show support for holism?

  The chimps used the water as a tool -> had to take into account all aspects of problem in order to solve it = holistic approach
• What is reductionism?

  The belief that behaviour is better understood by breaking it down into smaller constituent parts
• What is biological reductionism?

  A form of reductionism which reduces behaviour to a biological level (action of genes, hormones etc.)
• What is environmental reductionism?

  A form of reductionism which reduces behaviour to simple stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience
• What is experimental reductionism?

  A form of reductionism where a complex behaviour is reduced to a single (isolated) variable for the purpose of testing
• What is parsimony?

  The idea that complex phenomena should be explained in the simplest terms possible
• What is meant by levels of explanation?

  - Explanations for behaviour can vary from a lower basic level to a higher, more holistic level

  - Each one is more reductionist than the one above
• What are the 3 levels of explanation starting with the most reductionist?

  Biological -> Psychological -> Social and cultural
• What is an example being explained in terms of the different levels of explanations?

  Memory:

  - Can be explained at a social level in terms of how cultural expectations affect what we remember

  - Psychological level = in terms of episodic memories (memories of events in a person's life)

  - Biological level = in terms of the areas of the brain where the memories are stored and the neurotransmitters involved in forming memories
• State an example which shows biological reductionism and environmental reductionism?

  1. Biological = Explaining mental disorders (OCD and Schizophrenia) in terms of candidate genes and neurotransmitters

  2. Environmental = Classical/operant conditioning