Holism-reductionism

• holistic accounts of human behaviour tend to become hard to use as they become more complex
• If we accept that there are many different factors that contribute to depression then it becomes difficult to know which is most influential
• difficult to know which factor to prioritise as the basis of therapy
• in order to conduct well controlled research we need to operationalise the variables to be studied — to break target behaviours down into constituent parts
• operationalising variables makes it possible to conduct experiments or record observations in a way that is objective and reliable
• research on attachment operationalised component behaviours such as separation anxiety
• reductionist approaches have been accused of oversimplifying complex phenomena leading to reduced validity
• explanations that operate at the level of the gene or neurotransmitter do not include an analysis of social context within which behaviour occurs and this is where behaviour may derive its meaning