holism and reductionism

• Reductionism is the belief that human behaviour is best explained by breaking it down into smaller constituent parts
• biological reductionism

  A form of reductionism which attempts to explain social and psychological phenomena at a lower biological level (E.g. with genes, hormones etc.) This is the assumption of the biological approach and has been applied to a range of areas in psychology
• environmental reductionism

  A form of reductionism which attempts to explain all behaviour in terms of stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience. The behaviourism approach is built on environmental reductionism – behaviourists study observable behaviour only and break up complex learning into simple stimulus-response links
• Holism proposes it only makes sense to study a whole system and that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts (Gestalt psychology).
• Schizophrenia – Bio-psychologists reduce SZ down to dopamine activity, however the diathesis-stress model uses a more holistic approach of looking at vulnerability and stressors interacting
• Attachments – Behavioural psychologists suggests attachments form due to conditioning (environmental reductionism) where as bio psychologists put it down to evolution (biological reductionism)
• Relationships – evolutionary explanation for partner preferences is biologically reductionist as it implies there is genetic transmission of behaviour (inheriting genes)
• The reductionist approach suggests that there are different levels of explanation.

  Any behaviour can be explained using these levels

  
• strength - reductionism

  reductionism makes the scientific approach feasible, which allows the generalisation of human behaviour explanations
• strength - reductionism

  given the presence of reductionism, chemical treatments for certain mental disorders have been developed
• weakness - reductionism

  biological reductionism overlooks the complexity of human behaviour
• weakness - reductionism

  reductionism can lead to partial explaations
• strengths - holism

  holism considers all factors and components that can influence behaviour
• strengths - holism

  holism has a high ecological validity because it considers all aspects that influence behaviour
• strengths - holism

  humanistic approaches are useful in therapy because it considers many different aspects of a persons life when adressing potential issues
• weakness - holism

  since holism does not break down behvaiour into isolated variables, it cannot easily establish cause and effect in human behaviour
• weakness - holism

  holism is not a concept that psychologists can easily work with given its complexity of it
• weakness - holism

  the holistic view may be overcomplicating the explanations of certain behaviours, when these may indeed be simple