AO3

• 'Practical Value'- Holism and Reductionism (IAD)

  • Limitation of the holistic approach
  • Holistic data of human behaviour, tend to become hard to use and become more complex
  • Presenting researchers with practical dilemma's, knowing many different factors that contribute to depression then it becomes too difficult to know which is the most influential - difficult to know what to prioritise in therapy
  • Holistic accounts may lack practical value
• 'Scientific Approach'- Holism and Reductionism (IAD)

  • Strength of Reductionism
  • Operationalise the variables to be studied - break target behaviours down into constituent parts
  • making it possible to conduct experiments, and observations in a way that is objective and reliable
  • Scientific approach = credibility place psychology on equal terms with natural sciences
• 'Higher Level'- Holism and Reductionism (IAD)

  • Limitation of reductionism
  • social behaviour that only emerge within a group context and cannot be understood to social roles in prisoners and guards, in SPE could not be understood by observing the ptpts as individuals
  • It was the interaction between people that was important
  • No conformity gene so social processes like conformity can only be explained at the level they occur
  • Suggesting some behaviours, higher level explanations (even holisitic) provide a more valid account