holism

• Holism


  View behaviour as a whole - higher level explanations more meaningful
• Holistic methods


  Qualitative data, Valid, Unstructured interview, Case studies, Lab experiments = dehumanising Human behaviour = complex & idiographic
• 'The whole is greater than the sum of the parts'


  This sees the breaking up of human behaviour into smaller parts as inappropriate/we lose what it is to be human. All the pieces need putting together in order to fully understand human behaviour.
• Humanistic view on the holistic approach

  Takes a holistic approach as sees the reductionist approach as dehumanising. The focus of psychology should be on individual conscious thoughts & feelings. Humans have feelings so human behaviour cannot be reduced down to simple components as all people are individual & unique - idiographic approach.
• Advantage of taking a holistic approach

  The holistic approach focuses on more higher level explanations. Many human behaviours are complex & may have more than one simple cause.
• Holistic approach - topic links

  Social influence: Zimbardo, Asch, Milgram -> location, proximity, uniform & legitimacy of authority Humanistic approach
• Disadvantages of a holistic approach

  • Non-scientific, eg. case studies & unstructured interviews
  • Don't provide objective scientific evidence
  • Suffer from low internal validity
  • Difficult to come up with a way to treat conditions such as depression
• Holistic methods seek out many higher level explanations for behaviour


  Makes it more difficult to come up with a way to treat conditions such as depression
• Biological reductionist approach


  • Argues that the holistic approach ignores biological determinism
  • May miss out on the real reason for depression, eg. a biochemical imbalance
• Holism summary


  Complex behaviours cannot be fully explained by reducing them to explanations at lower levels but must be explained at the higher level. Advantages -> Gives filler more accurate picture as humans are complex. Some social behaviours only occur at the highest level. Disadvantages -> Ignores the role of biology so may miss out the real cause of a behaviour.