Holism & Reductionism

• Holism and Reductionism debate centres around whether it is best to understand humans by breaking complex behaviours down into their simple, component parts (reductionism) OR by viewing behaviour as a whole integrated experience & not separate parts (holism).
• • In reductionism, the components are then studied in order to understand the overall behaviour.
  • The implication is that a simpler level of explanation is better for understanding- known as "Occam's Razor".
• Biological reductionism: explains behaviour at its simplest biological level- genes, neurons etc.
• Environmental reductionism: (aka stimulus-response reductionism) explains behaviour as a result of simple stimilus-response links, eg explaining phobias as being caused by classical conditioning.
• • Holism says that breaking complex behaviours down into component parts loses the essence of the entire behaviour or attribute.
  • Parts of a whole are intimately interconnected, such that they cannot exist independently or be understood separately from the whole.
• Approach which advocates holism:

  • Humanistic psychology- to fully understand a human, you need to see the whole picture.
  • Humanists reject a quantitative, scientific approach to studying human behaviour in favour of detailed, qualitative analysis.
• Levels of explanation

  • Reductionist approach argues there are different levels of explanation when looking at human behaviours, ie the same behaviour can be explained at different levels of reduction:
  • Low level- biological explanations about how our genes, hormones, brain structures etc affect our behaviours.
  • Mid level- psychological explanations of behaviour, ie an individuals' cognitive thought process.
  • High level- cultural & social explanations about how our social groups affect our behaviours.
• Levels of explanation- Depression example:

  • Low level- depression caused by neurotransmitter imbalance, ie low levels of serotonin & treatment would be with drugs to correct biological imbalance.
  • Mid level- depression explained through faulty thought processes & irrational biases & could treat with individual therapies like CBT.
  • High level- depression explained by societal or cultural expectations that individuals cannot meet. Could use family therapy to treat or remove harsh or punitive interactions.
• Evaluation of holism & reductionism- strength:

  • Biological reductionism has formed the basis of successful drug therapies.
  • For example, the development of antipsychotic drugs have decreased hospital admissions & assured people to live relatively normal lives.
  • Indicates that reducing psychological illness to a biological level can have benefits for patient outcomes.
• Evaluation of holism & reductionism- weakness:

  • There are many issues with drug treatments, eg poor long term success rates, treats symptoms & not causes, gives side effects & ignores context/ social triggers.
  • Conversely, indicates that reducing mental illness to a biological level ignores context & functions of such behaviour, hence successful treatment needs to take into account more holistic psychological aspects.
• Evaluation of holism & reductionism- strength:

  • It is beneficial to reduce behaviours for experimental research, we need to isolate specific variables in order to study them scientifically & make firm conclusions about cause & effect- this is by its nature, reductionist.
  • Experimental research has vastly expanded our understanding of human behaviour, and it would not have been possible without a degree of reductionism.
• Evaluation of holism & reductionism- weakness:

  • Experimental reductionism may lead to artificial results, eg Loftus & Palmer studied eyewitness testimony under laboratory conditions & their findings have not always been replicated in real life.
  • Indicates that the level of explanation is insufficient as it can't be applied to explaining real life human behaviour.