reductionism vs holism

• Holism

  An argument or theory which proposes that it only makes sense to study an indivisible system rather than its constituent parts (which is the reductionist approach)
• Reductionism

  The belief that human behaviour is best understood by studying the smaller constituent parts
• Levels of explanation

  • Physiological/biological explanations
  • Psychological explanations
  • Social and cultural explanations
• Biological reductionism

  A form of reductionism which attempts to explain behaviour at the lowest biological level.

  • reduces complex behaviours down to psychological structures and processes
  • genetics, biological structures, neurochemistry and evolution

  E.g - OCD caused by low serotonin and treated by SSRI
• Environmental reductionism - behaviourism

  The attempt to explain all observable behaviour in terms of stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience

  E.g - learning theory of attachment: food leads to response of love due to association made between caregiver and food
• reductionism

  • analyses behaviour by breaking it down into its constituent parts
  • scientific principle of parismony
  • all phenomena should by explained using the most basic or lowest level principles
  • simplest, easiest and most economical level of explanation
• reductionist hierarchy of sciences

  A) sociology

  B) psychology

  C) biology

  D) chemistry

  E) physics

  
• reductionism in psychology - levels of explanation

  There are different ways of viewing the same phenomena in psychology

  each level is more reductionist than the one before

  • highest level:

  sociocultural level and how behaviour influences how and where we live

  • middle level:

  psychological explanations of behaviour: behavioural, cognitive and social explanations

  • lowest level:

  biological/physiological explanations of how hormones, brain structures and genes affect our behaviour
• reductionism in psychology - levels of explanations

  MEMORY -

  • highest level

  How cultural expectations affect what we remember

  • middle level

  Episodic memories, working memory, cognitive explanations

  • lowest level

  areas of the brain where memories are stored e.g. hippocampus, cerebellum, prefrontal cortex, neurotransmitters involved in forming memories
• reductionism in psychology - levels of explanations

  cause of OCD -

  • highest level

  social expectations about being clean or possessions kept

  • middle level

  being reinforced by parents to be clean or to wash frequently. Having a role model with similar traits

  • lowest level

  low levels of serotonin in people with OCD, or inheriting the SERT gene
• AO3 reductionism strength

  P: Specific variables can be identified as to what is causing behaviour

  E: Can lead to treatment options. If a variable or influence is causing behaviour that variable can be used to treat the behaviour

  E: Drug treatment to reduce dopamine transmission in schizophrenia

  L: This means the reductionist approach holds practical use in medical field for helping people live a better life
• AO3 reductionism limitation

  P: Too simplified. Downplays the complexity of human behaviour

  E: When treating using a reductionist explanation the treatment might not fully help the individual

  E: In schizophrenia- dysfunctional families play a key part in maintaining schizophrenia, therefore drug treatment alone may not help

  L: There are other factors the reductionist approach cannot ignore
• Holism

  • complex phenomena cannot be understood through an analysis of the constituent parts alone - behaviour of the whole system cannot be explained in terms of the sum of the behaviour of all the different parts
  • looks at a person as a whole
• Why holism?

  • reductionist not appropriate when we want to understand subjective human experience
  • whole person
  • important to consider how the parts of a whole interact
• examples of holism

  • humanistic psychology - investigating all aspects of the individual / their interactions
  • social influence - group behaviour shows characteristics that are greater than the sum of the individuals which make it up - conformity to social rooles
• AO3 - strengths of holism

  • gives a more complete and global understanding of behaviour
  • tries to look at the big picture and take all factors into consideration
  • some aspects of social behaviour only emerge within a group context cant be understood at the individual level
• AO3 - limitations of holism

  • it is less scientific

  Doesn't lend itself to rigorous scientific testing

  vague and speculative

  lack of empirical evidence

  • gives a practical dilemma

  lots of factors that contribute

  cant establish which is the most influential
• The interactionist approach

  • considers how different levels of explanation may combine and interact
  • diathesis-stress model - explain the onset of mental disorders
  • schizophrenia and depression
  • come about as the result of a predisposition which is triggered by some trigger
• supporting approaches

  A) biological

  B) behaviourist

  C) cognitive

  D) psychodynamic

  E) humanistic