Holism

• Holism

  An approach that focuses on the whole system rather than its individual features
• Gestalt psychology

  Explanations of what we see are only explained when considering the whole
• Gestalt psychology

  Gestalt illusions - illustrate that the whole is not simply a sum of its parts (e.g. triangle illusion)
• Humanistic psychology

  An individual reacts as an orgaised whole, rather than a set of stimulus-response links - a lack of this unified identity may lead to a mental health disorder
• Humanistic psychology

  Acknowledging the full life history of an individual and the importance of an end goal - understanding people as a whole greater than a sum of their parts
• Cognitive psychology

  Connective networks can be used to explain behaviour
• Cognitive psychology

  In memory for example, (one neuron can be linked to millions of others) and the network as a whole behaves differently to the parts of the linear model.
• +   Useful explanation 

  Holism is the only way to explain some behaviours e.g. social behaviours like deindividuation which cannot be studied in a reductionist way.

  --> A holistic approach offers utility in psychological explanations that may not be possible with reductionist approaches.
• -       Low utility 

  High-level complex theories don’t lend themselves to scientific testing and may need to be broken down to be understandable. In these situations, holism may not be useful as it is not always applicable. 

  --> This limits its psychological utility and real-world application 
• +   Explanatory power

  Holistic approached can have greater explanatory power as they take in more information and offer a wider view. This allows a deeper understanding of the topic.

  However, in practice, holism isn’t always practical as considering a large topic as a whole can often be difficult.