holism and reductionism

• holism is an argument which states that human behaviour should be a whole integrated experience, and not as separate parts
• reductionism is the idea that behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into simpler component parts
• biological reductionism is where behaviour is reduced to a physical level and is explained in terms of neurons, neurotransmitters etc.

  for example the biological approach in terms of OCD
• environmental reductionism is where behaviour is reduced to simple building blocks of stimulus-response associations

  for example, mowrer’s 2 process theory
• there are levels of explanation in order to explain behaviour:

  • socio-cultural level - high level
  • psychological level
  • physical level
  • environmental/behavioural level
  • physiological level
  • biological level - lowest level
• the levels of reductionism increase as we go down the hierarchy
• AO3 of reductionism:

  • enables testability as focus on elements
  • scientific approach
  • misses complexity and context
• humanist psychology is holistic
• AO3 of holism:

  • appreciated the complexity of human experience
  • untestable and unscientific
• an example of reductionism is the biological explanations for schizophrenia
• an example of holism is an interactionalist approach to schizophrenia