Holism and Reductionism

• The holism approacch looks at a system as a whole and sees any attempt to subdivide behaviour into smaller units as inappropriate

  For example humanistic psychology focuses on the individual's experience which is not something that can be reduced

  Also use qualitative methofs to investigate the self where themes are analysed rather than breaking down the concept into component behaviours
• Reductionism seeks to analyse behaviour by breaking it down into constituent parts

  It believes that human behaviour is best understood by studying the smaller constituent parts
• There are different ways to explain behaviour

  • socio cultural level
  • psychological level
  • physical level
  • environmental/behavioural
  • physiological level
  • neurochemical level
• Biological reductionism incluedes the neurochemical and physiological levels as well as evolutionary and genetic influences

  It suggests that all behaviour is at some level biological
• Environmental reductionism proposes that all behaviour is learned and acquired through interactions with the environment

  It attempts to explain all behaviour in terms of stimulus and response links that have been learned through experience
• The holism approach may lack practical value

  Holistic accounts of human behaviour are hard to use as they become more complex. This can present researchers with practical problems. For example, if we accept that there are many different factors that contribute to depression then it becomes difficult to know which is most influential. It is then difficult to know which type of therapy to prioritise
• Reductionism approaches often form the basis of a scientific approach

  In order to conduct well controlled research we need to operationalise the variables studied. this makes it possible to conduct experiments or record observations in a reliable and objective way.

  This gives psychology greater credibility placing it on equal terms with the natural sciences
• reductionist approaches have been criticised for oversimplifying complex phenomena, reducing validity.

  Explanations that operate on the level of the gene or neurotransmitter do not include an analysis of the social context within which behaviour occurs

  The psychological process of pointing a finger will be the same regardless of the context however, an analysis of these will not tell us why the finger was pointed

  Reductionist approach can only ever form part of an explanation
• Some behaviours can only be understood at a higher level

  There are aspects of social behaviour that only emerge within a group context and cannot be understood in terms of the individual group members. For example, the effects of conformity to social roles in the prisoners and guards in the Stanford prison study could not be understood by observing the participants as individuals

  There is no conformity 'gene' so social processes like conformity can only be explained at the level at which they occur