holism and reductionism

• holism


  proposes that it only makes sense to look at a system as a whole and sees dividing behaviour up, like the reductionist approach, is inappropriate
• reductionism


  the belief that human behaviour is best understood by studying the smaller constituent parts
• humanistic psychology


  holistic

  because it focuses on individuals experiences which is not something that can be reduced to

  humanistic psychologists use qualitative methods
• levels of explanation in psychology

  there are different ways to explain behaviour for example OCD may be understood as : social-cultural levels, psychological levels, environmental/behavioural levels etc.
• biological reductionism


  attempts to explain behaviour at the lowest biological level

  in terms of the action of genes/hormones etc
• environmental reductionism


  the attempt to explain behaviour in terms of stimulus- response link that have been learned through experience
• limitation of the holistic approach

  one limitation is that it may lack practical value

  holistic views of behaviour may be too complex and this presents researchers with practical dilemmas

  this suggests that the reductionist approach may be more practical
• strength of the reductionist approach

  one strength of the reductionist approach is that they often form the basis of scientific approach

  this scientific approach gives psychology a better credibility making it equal with the natural sciences
• what approach is built on environmental reductionism?

  behaviourist approach
• reductionist approaches


  biological, behavioural and cognitive
• holistic approaches


  psychodynamic and humanistic