5. holism and reductionism

what is the holism-reductionism debate

the question of whether holism or reductionism is the better approach to use in order to understand behaviour

holism definition

an argument of theory which proposes that it only makes sense to study an individual system rather than its constituent parts

what is the holistic approach

• looks at a system as a whole 

• sees any attempt to subdivide behaviour or experience into smaller units as inappropriate 

• it is the view of Gestalt psychologists who argued that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts 

• 
  

holistic approach example

humanistic psychology 

• focuses on the individuals experience which is not something that can be reduced to, for example, biological units 

• they use qualitative methods to investigate the self whereby themes are analysed rather than breaking the concept into component behaviours 

what is reductionism

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

• based on the scientific principle of parsimony - all phenomena should e explained using the simplest (lowest level) principles 

what are levels of explanation

the idea that there are several ways (levels) that can be used to explain behaviour

understanding OCD with levels of explanation

1. socio-cultural level - interrupts social relationships 

2. psychological level - experience of anxiety 

3. physical level - movements, ie washing hands 

4. environmental/behavioural level - learning experiences

5. physiological level - abnormal functioning in the frontal lobes

6. neurochemical level - underproduction of serotonin

each level is more reductionist than the one before 

hierarchy of sciences

1. sociology 

2. psychology 

3. biology 

4. chemistry 

5. physics 

reductionism types

1. biological

2. environmental 

biological reductionism

attempts to explain behaviour at the lowest biology level (genes, hormones)

• includes neurochemical and physiological levels, and also evolutionary and genetic influences 

• based on the premise we are biological organisms, thus all behaviour is at some level biological 

biological reductionism example

their arguments often work backwards

• eg drugs that increase serotonin have been found effective in treating OCD 

• therefore, low serotonin may be a cause of OCD (reduced it to the level of neurotransmitter activity)

environmental (stimulus-response) reductionism

attempt to explain all behaviour in terms of stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience 

environmental reductionism example

behaviourist approach

• built on this proposing all behaviour is learned and acquired through interactions with the environment 

• explain behaviour in terms of conditioning which is focused on simple stimulus-response links, reducing behaviour to these basic elements 

• eg learning theory of attachment reduces the idea of love to a learned association between the person doing the feeding (NS) and food (UCS) resulting in pleasure (CR)

evaluation of holism

1. higher level explanations

2. practical value

higher level explanations

• a strength of holism is that some behaviours can only be understood at a higher level

• social behaviours such as conformity or deindividuation emerge from group interaction and cannot be explained by studying individuals in isolation

• reductionist approaches miss the influence of social context, whereas holism can explain how interactions between different factors combine to produce behaviour 

• suggests it provides a more complex explanation of complex behaviours 

practical value

• a limitation of holism is that it lacks practical value

• holistic accounts consider multiple factors (eg biological, social, psychological) but are often too complex to test or treat effectively 

• harder to establish which factor is important when explaining or treating behaviour, reducing usefullness in applied settings - however reductionist approaches (eg drug treatment) are simpler and more effective in practice 

• therefore it is less beneficial for real world applications

reductionist evaluation

1. scientific 

2. oversimplifies 

scientific 

• a strength of reductionism is its scientific basis 

• breaking behaviour into component parts allows variables to be operationalised and tested under controlled conditions (eg lab studies on memory)

• improves reliability, as studies can be replicated, and gives psychology greater scientific credibility by adopting methods similar to the natural sciences

• strengthens status as a scientific discipline 

oversimplification

• oversimplifies complex behaviours

• eg biological reductionism explains mental disorders like OCD purely in terms of genes or neurotransmitters, ignoring other psychological or social factors

• means reductionist explanations may lose validity, as they fail to consider the wider context in which behaviour occurs so provide a narrow and incomplete understanding of human behaviour