reductionism

• Hypothetico-deductive model


  Formulating a theory and drawing suggestions about the world from it, making a testable hypothesis involving gathering empirical data
• Reductionism


  The idea of breaking down a complex phenomenon into simpler components
• Holism


  Parts of something can never add up to a whole thing because the world is more than its constituent parts so we should study something in its entirety
• Parsimony


  Those who take a reductionist position believe that the best way to understand behaviour is to look closely at the parts that make up a system and use the simplest explanations to explain how they work
• Biological reductionism


  Reducing behaviour to its physical level with single biological components e.g. genetics
• Environmental reductionism


  Behaviour is shaped by a series of learnt associations between a stimulus and a response
• Pros of reductionism


  • Simplicity - easier to understand a complex process when the individual parts are considered separately
  • Easy to study - can test individual variables in a lab setting
  • Lends itself to scientific testing, predictions can be falsified and so increase credibility
• Cons of reductionism


  • Ignores interactions as only considers isolated aspects so misses the complexity of how they interact
  • Overlooks human complexity
  • A holistic approach may be more representative of human behaviour
  • Levels of explanation may be lost due to oversimplification
• Multi store model


  Explains memory in a simplistic processing with three unitary stores
• Working memory model


  Mainly focuses on the individual components of the short term memory so is reductionist however also mentions the role of the central executive which coordinates the slave systems which is slightly more holistic
• Reconstructive memory


  Schemas are memory files containing knowledge about the world, holistic as they are affected by internal processes and the environment (issues with falsification)
• Bartlett's war of the ghosts


  • More holistic as it showed how culture affected memory however it wasn't tested scientifically
• Baddeley


  • Reductionist as tested individual variables in a lab experiment e.g. 4 trials (lacked ecological validity)
  • Reductionist to explain how long term memory and short term memory encode (good as it helps understanding of memory processes, fails to consider how age may affect memory, applications to revision techniques)
  • Simplified model of memory with three separate stores which was later built on to produce the working memory model
• Classical conditioning


  Reduces the complex process of learning into reflex behaviours which come from the environment, uses a simplified formula
• Operant conditioning


  Removes any role of brain functioning as it says behaviours are maintained by the process of punishment and reward
• Social learning theory (SLT)


  Says that we learn through observation and imitation which is more holistic as it considers both cognitive and learning however still ignores biological factors e.g. high dopamine levels
• Animal studies


  • Reductionist as it looks at specific variables and fails to consider human complexities
• Watson and Rayner


  • Used the process of classical conditioning which reduces behaviour down to a formula
  • Lab experiment, allows us to investigate phobias development, biological factors not completely controlled for as Little Albert died of hydrocephalus
  • Oversimplification, may have been previous experiences which caused him to develop the phobia
• Evolution


  • More holistic as it accounts for experiences shaping selection and causing behaviour to be passed on through time
• Brain scans


  • Reductionist as they only look at sections of the brain at a time
• Neurotransmitters


  A reductionist explanation e.g. high dopamine and low serotonin leading to aggression
• Brendgen


  • More holistic as he looked at both physical and social aggression, sample was however reductionist because twins are rare in society
• Raine


  • Holistic approach as relative glucose metabolism was looked at in many different areas of the brain e.g. amygdala and hypothalamus, brain functioning in entirety not studied e.g. neurotransmitters
  • Breaks down biological factors which may make someone more likely to kill however doesn't look at environmental factors such as abuse in childhood which could have contributed to becoming a murderer
  • Reductionist sample as he only looked at NGRI murderers which isn't generalisable, positive applications of prescreening and early intervention strategies
• Social impact theory


  The formula can be used on other cultures as a predictive tool, tries to quantify a complex behaviour of obedience and factors such as strength are hard to measure
• Milgram


  • Broke obedience down into level of shock given so not representative of everyday obedience
• Realistic conflict theory


  More holistic as it looks at how factors such as competition can cause prejudice which considers both social groups and other factors e.g. self esteem levels
• Agency theory


  Reductionist as it reduces obedience into just two states (autonomous and agentic)
• Sherif


  • Field experiment which is a more holistic approach than a lab experiment, hard to create clear cause and effect about prejudice, applications to Aronson's jigsaw technique
  • Realistic conflict theory is the basis, reductionist as looks at how competition causes prejudice, Tyerman and Spencer didn't find the same results so may be other factors involved
  • Split the experiment into different phases which is reductionist but allows a clear cause and effect to be established
• Neurotransmitters


  Used to explain schizophrenia which is reductionist and doesn't consider environmental factors e.g. urbanicity
• Drug treatments


  Reductionist as only consider biological explanations (vice versa for token economy)
• Diathesis stress model


  More holistic as it considers a biological predisposition which is then triggered by environmental stressors
• Rosenhan


  • Experiment in a range of different hospitals which is more holistic however they were all in the east and west coast of America so may still not be representative
  • Only diagnosed using the DSM, may not have received the same diagnosis using the ICD, application to DSM reforms
  • Only looked at one mental illness of schizophrenia with the symptoms of hearing voices which were often unclear but resembled 'empty hollow thud'
  • Only studied them for a short amount of time (7-52 days) so reductionist