Holism & reductionism

define holism

An argument that proposed that the whole person should be considered as an indivisible system, any attempt to break up behaviour & experience is inappropriate as these can only be understood by analysing the person or behaviour as a whole

define reductionism

An attempt to break thought and action down into the smallest, simplest parts

define levels of explanation

The idea that there are several ways (levels) that can be used to explain behaviour. The lowest level considers physiological/biological explanations the middle level considers psychological explanations & the highest level considers social & cultural explanations

define biological reductionism

A form of reductionism which attempts to explain behaviour at the lowest biological level (in terms of genes, hormones ect.)

define environmental reductionism

A form of reductionism which attempts to explain all behaviour in terms of stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience

The holistic approach looks at a system as a…

whole & sees any attempt to subdivide behaviour/experience into smaller constituent units as inappropriate

what approach advocates for holism

the humanist approach

how does the humanist approach advocate for holism

humanists are anti-reductionist, they advocate for a holistic approach, where they look at an individual as a whole for a global and comprehensive account. Humanist psychology focuses on the individual’s experience which is not something that can be reduced into units - humanists use qualitative methods to investigate the self whereby themes are analysed rather than breaking the concept into component behaviours

Reductionism seeks to…

analyse behaviour by breaking it down into its constituent parts

what approach is reductionist

behaviourist approach

how is the behaviourist approach reductionist

it reduces complex behaviour (such as phobias) into simple stimulus response relationships (the behaviourist explanation for phobias is that they are first acquired through classical conditioning & then continue due to operant conditioning)

Levels of explanation argues that…

there are different ways of viewing the same phenomena in psychology - some levels are more reductionist than others and explain the same behaviour differently

give an example of levels in explanation

OCD can be understood on a neurochemical level (by low levels of serotonin), a physiological level (by abnormal functioning of an area in the frontal lobe associated with decision making), physical level (by the actual action involved in OCD e.g. sequence of movements involved in washing hands), a psychological level (by the obsessive thoughts experienced) and a socio-cultural level (by how the behaviour is regarded in society for example, repetitive hand washing might be viewed as odd or irrational).

what are the levels of explanation (from high to low reductionism)

neurochemical, physiological, physical, psychological, socio-cultural

Psychology can be placed in a…

hierarchy of science

what are the levels of hierarchy of science (from most to least reductionist)

physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, sociology

Biological reductionism is based on the premise that…

humans are biological organisms thus at some level all behaviour is biological

Biologically reductionist arguments work…

backwards

how do biologically reductionist arguments work backwards

the biological explanation for OCD argues that because drugs that increase serotonin have been found effective in treating OCD symptoms, low serotonin may be a cause of OCD reducing OCD to the level of neurotransmitter activity

Environmentally reductionism proposes that all behaviour is…

learned & acquired through interaction with the environment

Behaviourist psychologists explain all behaviour in terms of…

conditioning focused on simple stimulus-response links

how is the behaviourist approach environmentally reductionist

the learning theory of attachment reduces the idea of love (between the baby & the person who feeds the baby) to a learned association between the neutral stimulus (the feeder) and the unconditioned stimulus (food) resulting in a conditioned stimulus (pleasure)

Explain the argument for holism that there are some aspects of social behaviour that only emerge within a group context and cannot be understood at the level of the individual group members which happens in a reductionist approach

• the effects of conformity to social roles and the deindividuation of the prisoners and guards in the Stanford prison experiment could not be understood by studying the participants as individuals; interaction between people and the behaviour of the group was important.

• to understand why rates of conformity were so high in Asch’s line study it is necessary to consider the historical context in which the investigation was performed - when Asch conducted his research America was especially conformist due to the Cold War and McCarthyism, there was a fear of being accused communist, therefore people were less likely to want to be the odd one out in fear of persecution and this is why made sense to conform to social norms

explain how the reductionist approach is more appropiate when finding solutions for real-world problems

• they offer simple explanations for human behaviours.

• if we accept that there are many factors that contribute to behaviours, such as depression, it can become difficult to establish which is most influential and which one to use as a basis of therapy - this may create confusion in the medical world and highlights that psychology may not be a practical science to deal with real world issues.

• Humanistic psychology tends to be criticised for its lack of empirical evidence and is seen as a rather loose set of concepts as holistic explanations are not subjected to rigorous scientific testing becoming vague and speculative as they become more complex

Explain the argument for reductionism that reductionism gives psychology greater credibility by placing it on equal terms with the natural sciences lower down the reductionist hierarchy

Reductionism usually forms the basis of scientific research as in order to create operationalised variables it is necessary to break target behaviours down into constituent parts - which reductionism advocates for - operationalisation makes it possible to conduct experiments and record observations in a way that is meaningful and reliable

explain how reductionism has been accused of oversimplifying complex phenomena leading to a loss of validity

• For example, explanations that operate at the level of the gene, neurotransmitter or neuron do not include an analysis of the social context within which the behaviour occurs (where the behaviour may derive its meaning).

• reductionist explanations can only ever form part of an explanation. For example, the physiological processes involved in pointing one’s finger will be the same regardless of the context, however, an analysis of these will not tell us why the finger is pointed – to draw attention to some object or person, as an act of aggression etc.

• This means that the reductionist approach is a limited method of studying human behaviour reducing its usefulness due to the lack of validity in its conclusions.