Refers to the way that biological psychologists try to reduce behaviour to a physical level and explain it in terms of neurons, neurotransmitters, hormones, brain structure etc
Environmental reductionism
Behaviourists assume that all behaviour can be reduced to the simple building blocks of S-R associations and that complex behaviours are a series of S-R chains
Experimental Reductionism
Where a complex behaviour is reduced to a single variable for the purpose of testing
Holism
The idea that human behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience and not as separate parts
Interactionist approach
argues that several levels of explanation are necessary to explain a particular behaviour, ranging from lower (biological) to higher levels (social and cultural)
Levels of explanations
The reductionist approach suggest that behaviour can be explained at different levels (eg social and cultural, psychological or biological)
Reductionism
The belief that human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into simpler component parts
