Cards (8)

    • WHAT IS REDUCTIONISM?
      Reductionism can be defined as the breaking down of a complex behaviour into simpler parts. e.g. over-simplify human behaviour or cognitive processes.
    • WHAT IS HOLISM?
      Emphasis on the whole than individual parts. So all factors are considered to explain behaviour (no important factor is overlooked)
    • BIOLOGICAL REDUCTIONISM:
      Refers to the way that biological psychologists try to reduce behaviour to a physical level and explain it in terms of neurons, neurotransmitters, hormones, brain structure, etc.
    • ENVIRONMENTAL REDUCTIONISM:
      Behaviourists assume that all behaviour can be reduced to the simple building blocks of S-R (stimulus-response) associations and that complex behaviour are a series of S-R chains.
    • EXPERIMENTAL REDUCTIONISM:
      Where a complex behaviour is reduced to a single (isolated) variable for the purpose of testing. For example, while the Multi-Store Model of Memory suggests that memory consists of three stores and each store has its own coding, capacity and duration, cognitive psychologists often examine memory in terms of isolated variables.
    • METHODOLOGICAL REDUCTIONISM:
      Method used reduces behaviour to small parts e.g. quantitative findings (qualitative is generally holistic).
    • Clinical - Biological reductionism (+)
      (+) the dopamine hypothesis is reductionist explains SZ a disorder with complex features by the smallest possible explanation- in imbalance of a single neurotransmitter. This ignores the complex interrelationships between other biological factors and social factors.
    • Social - ENVIRONMENTAL REDUCTIONISM
      (+) Social impact theory can be criticised as it develops a equation to calculate how people will behave under certain social conditions. It doesn't take into account how social conditions and individuals interact with one another, it ignores this interrelationship.
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