Holism reductionism

• What is the holism reductionism debate?

  The holism/reductionism debate is concerned with weather we should study psychology by looking at a particular entity as a whole (holism) or by braking it down into simple components (reductionism).
• What are the levels of explanations?

  Behaviours in psychology have different levels of explanations, the lowest level of explanation being biological e.g. behaviour is a product of genes, this is the most reductionism explanation. The next level is based on psychological explanations such as the cognitive approach e.g. behaviour is a product of information processing. Finally, the highest level of explanation is based on social and cultural factors e.g. behaviour is based on the influence of upbringing, and is the most holistic of the levels.
• What form of data collection does holism favour, include an example.

  The holistic approach favours idiographic, qualitative methods of data collection, with some examples including the humanistic approach that argues humans subjective experiences cannot be understood through investigating single components, and the cognitive interview as it incorporates the full context of the event from multiple perspectives and time points.
• What are the supporting arguments for holism?

  There are several strengths to the holistic approach, firstly, it provides a more comprehensive explanation of behaviour that has several influences, such as the conformity of Zimbardo's prisoners and guards in his Stanford Prison Experiment. Furthermore human beings do not live in a 'bubble' so taking a holistic approach to research, including these different influences, reflects real experiences more than a reductionist approach, increasing ecological validity. Holistic methods as used in the humanistic approach are well suited to promoting and encouraging good mental health such as client centred therapy.
• What are the opposing arguments for holism?

  it is difficult to investigate the different levels of explanations, creating issues for holistic researchers who attempt to combine many higher-level explanations, because it becomes difficult to identify which explanation is most influential and therefore which explanation it would be most useful to base treatment upon. Therefore, holistic explanations may not lead to the development of effective treatments for mental health disorders.humanism lacks empirical evidence and scientific rigour, and holistic viewpoints may simplify complex phenomena too far. Humanism is still seen as a set of rather loosely- joined abstract concepts. Therefore, holistic explanations may not be suited towards more complex behaviours.
• What methods of data collection is favoured by reductionism?

  The reductionist approach favours quantitative highly controlled methods.
• What are the two types of reductionism? Outline and include an example.

  biological - based on the idea that biological functions and structures can explain behaviours e.g. the dopamine hypothesis explanation of schizophrenia. environmental - based on the idea that external forces determine outcomes and behaviour (see the section on determinism for a similar explanation of behaviour).
• Give the supporting arguments for reductionism.

  One strength of this approach the use of laboratory conditions. Through this a high degree of control over extraneous variables ensures they cannot confound the results allowing a cause and effect relationship to be established. Furthermore the standardisation of variables means they can be measured accurately, increasing the internal reliability which in turn increases the external reliability as it can be easily replicated.However, reductionism has practical applications in the development of drug therapy e.g. SSRIs to treat depression, based on the view that a deficiency in serotonin causes depression (biological reductionism). This also reduces need for institutionalisation, where sufferers can continue with their day to day lives through the use of non-invasive treatment and without regular hospital visits. Therefore, reductionist approaches have had a positive impact on people's lives.
• Give the opposing arguments of reductionism.

  Reductionist explanations may lead to a loss of validity because they ignore the social context where behaviour occurs, which often gives behaviour its meaning. For example, from a reductionist viewpoint, the act of speaking would be the same across all scenarios due to each individual having the same biological mechanism for this. Another weakness of the reductionism approach is that itcan over-simplify complex behaviours e.g. the 'cupboard love' theory of attachment is based purely on a conditioned response to being fed rather than on the complex array of factors involved in the development of a child's attachment to adult caregivers. Furthermore, self-report measures such as questionnaires/surveys do not give a full, valid picture of each individual and the various, subjective influences on their stress/personality so such measures could be reductionist unless they are used in conjunction with qualitative research such as interviews.