Evaluate

• The social rank theory of depression can be considered reductionist as it only views depression as a process of evolution:


  an instinctive reaction to a situation where you have been a loser but it ignores individual differenced. Where one person could react with depression if they lose out on a job opportunity someone else may see this as a challenge and work harder.
• The theory suggests that depression is limited to losers and people of low social rank, but evidence does not support this:

  statistics say that depression is more common in people who are poorer and therefore more likely to be of a lower social rank, there are many people of high social rank who experience depression including actors, musicians and politicians.
• The theory also ignores instances of depression that can be triggered by life events other than social rank conflicts such as the stress of being a carer: 


  being a carer for a sick relative can result in depression as coping with symptoms that could get progressively worse could be hard to manage especially if the carer gets little social support. This is not explained by the social rank theory.
• The social rank theory is also reductionist within the biological approach as it fails to take into account other biological explanations of depression: 


  evolutionary psychology is biological and suggests we inherit psychological traits and have evolved so that we adapt and are more able to survive. However there are other biological theories – imbalance of neurotransmitters) dopamine and serotonin) could be an explanation. Therefore this view of depression is too narrow.