Holism vs reductionism

• Holism - we should analyse a person by considering them as a whole instead of breaking up human behaviour and experience.
• Reductionism - breaking behaviour down into smaller parts
• There are three types of reductionism - biological, environmental, machine.
• Biological reductionism - all behaviour must be biological as we are made of physiological structures and processes.
• Environmental reductionism - break complex learning up into simple stimuli-response links that can be measured.
• Machine reductionism - the belief that human functions are the result of the “units” of activity in information processing systems.
• Holism AO3 - we require a complete understanding of behaviour. Effects of things like conformity can only be understood at the level of the group. Holistic explanations can provide more understanding of behaviour.
• Holism AO3 - Holism cant be tested scientifically, as it is vague and seen as a “set of loose concepts” Explanations that combine many different perspectives make it difficult to establish which is most influential.
• Reductionism AO3 - reductionism forms the basis of scientific research. It gives more credibility as we need to break behaviours down into parts.
• Reductionism AO3 - It oversimplifies complex behaviours and thoughts, leading to a loss of validity.