holism and reductionism

• not a continuum

  • debate = over which position is preferable for psychology
  • study the hole person (holism) or study component parts (reductionism)
  • as soon as you break down the 'whole', it isn't holistic
  • reductionism can down into levels of explanation
• holism ('the whole')

  • holism proposes that it only makes sense to study a whole system
  • Gestalt psychology = the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts
  • eg = humanistic psychology focuses on experience which can't be reduced to biological units, qualitative methods investigate themes
• reductionism ('breaking into parts')

  • reductionism is based on the scientific principle of parsimony
  • parsimony = that all phenomena should be explained using the simplest (lowest level) principles
• biological reductionism

  • suggests all behaviour can be explained through neurochemical, physiological, evolutionary and/or genetic influences
  • example = drugs that increase serotonin are used to treat OCD
  • => low serotonin may be a cause of OCD
  • we have reduced OCD to the level of neurotransmitter activity
• environmental reductionism

  • proposes that all behaviour is acquired through interactions with the environment
  • eg = the behaviourist approach (stimulus-response links)
  • example = the learning theory of attachment
  • reduces the idea of love (between baby and mother) to a learned association between the mother (neutral stimulus) and food (unconditioned stimulus) resulting in pleasure (conditioned response)
• levels of explanation (from highest to lowest)

  • levels change when looking at different topics
  • levels for understanding OCD may include:
  • socio-cultural level = behaviour most ppl would regard as odd (eg repetitive hand washing)
  • psychological level = individual's experience of having obsessive thoughts
  • physical level = sequence of movements involved in handwashing
  • environmental/behavioural level = learning experiences (conditioning)
  • physiological level = abnormal functioning in frontal lobes
  • neurochemical level = underproduction of serotonin
• limitation of holism = lack practical value

  • holistic accounts of human behaviour become hard to use as they become more complex which presents researchers with a practical dilemma
  • if many different factors contribute, to say, depression, then it becomes difficult to know which is most influential and which to prioritise for treatment
  • suggests that holistic accounts may lack practical value (whereas reductionist account may be better)
• strength or reductionism = scientific status

  • in order to conduct well-controlled research, variables need to be operationalised (target behaviours broken down into constituent parts)
  • this makes it possible to conduct experiments or record observations (behavioural categories) in way that is objective and reliable
  • this scientific approach gives psychology greater credibility = placing it on equal terms with the natural sciences
• counterpoint to strength of reductionism

  • reductionist explanations at the level of the gene or neurotransmitter do not include an analysis of the context within which behaviour occurs and => lack meaning
  • suggests that reductionist explanation can only ever form part of an explanation
• limitation of reductionism = need for higher level explanations

  • there are aspects of social behaviour that only emerge within a group context and cannot understand in terms of the individual group members
  • eg = the Stanford prison study could not be understood by observing the participants as individuals, it was the behaviour of the group that was important
  • this shows that, for some behaviours, higher (or even holistic) level explanations provide a more valid account
• extra evaluation = brain and mind

  • a reductionist account of consciousness would argue that we are thinking machines = that cognitive processes are associated with physical processes in the brain
  • on the other hand = neuroscientists struggle to explain the subjective experience of the same neural process
  • this is referred to as an 'explanatory gap' in brain science
  • suggests that not all aspects of consciousness, particularly individual differences in experience, can be explained by brain activity
• strengths of reductionism/weaknesses of holism

  • more scientific:
  • reducing variables and behaviour enables psychological studies to be conducted in a scientific (i.e. repeatable, quantifiable, and objective) way
  • practical applications:
  • reductive approaches have led to effective treatments
  • eg = biological reductionism has led to the creation of effective treatments for depression (e.g. SSRIs)
• weaknesses or reductionism/strength of holism

  • overly simplistic:
  • reductionism may overly simplify behaviour and miss out important details, whereas holism takes account of the full range and context of behaviours
  • eg = the Stanford prison experiment, which could only be understood with reference to the whole situation– particularly the interactions between the individuals.
  • a reductionist approach of only looking at a prison guard’s biology, for example, would miss the wider context of how the social role he was playing fed into that biological state