A03

• What are the strengths of holism?

  1. More complete, global understanding
• What are the limitations of holism?

  1. Lacks scientific credibility
• Strength (holism) = more complete, global understanding

  • There are some aspects of social behaviour that only emerge within a group context and cannot be understood at the level of the individual group members
  • E.g. conformity to social roles shown by prisoners and guards in Stanford Prison experiment
  • These could not be understood by studying the participants as individuals, it was the interaction between people and the behaviour of the group that was important
• Limitation (holism) = lacks scientific credibility

  • Holistic explanations tend to be vague and lack rigorous scientific testing
  • E.g. humanistic psychology tends to be criticised for its lack of empirical evidence and is seen by many as a rather loose set of concepts
  • Holistic explanations that combine many different perspectives make it hard to establish which factor is most influential and so limits the practical applications of the theory
• What are the strengths of reductionism?

  1. Scientific credibility
  2. Practical applications
• What are the limitations of reductionism?

  1. Ignores complexity of human behaviour
• Strength (reductionism) = scientific credibility

  • A reductionist approach often forms the basis of scientific research
  • In order to create operationalised variables it is necessary to break target behaviours down into constituent parts
  • This makes it possible to conduct experiments or record observations in a way that is meaningful and reliable
  • Gives psychology greater credibility, placing it on equal terms with natural sciences
  • HOWEVER - reducing behaviour to a form that can be studied may not tell us much about everyday life
  • E.g. findings from lab experiments investigating EWT
• Strength (reductionism) = practical applications

  • Biological reductionism has led to the development of drug therapies which has led to a considerable reduction in institutionalisation since the 1950s
  • They are also a more humane approach to the treatment of mental illness as they don’t blame the patients
  • HOWEVER - drug therapies are not always successful and reducing mental illness to the biological level ignores the context and function of such behaviour
• Limitation (reductionism) = ignores complexity of human behaviour

  • Reductionist approaches can lead to errors of understanding as it ignores complex human behaviours
  • E.g. treating conditions like ADHD with drugs (Ritalin) utilises the belief that the condition consists of nothing more than neurochemical imbalances
  • Ritalin may reduce these symptoms, but the conditions which gave rise to the ADHD have not been addressed