Holism and Reductionism

What is reductionism?

• An approach that reduces a complex phenomenon, such as human behaviour, to the simplest explanation

• E.G. Can explain behaviour and experiences in reference to one factor, e.g physiology

What is biological reductionism?

The idea that complex behaviours and mental processes can be explained by reducing them to their biological components, such as genes, hormones, neurotransmitters, or brain structure

What is environmental reductionism?

It is also known as stimulus-response reductionism. Behaviourists assume that all behaviour can be reduced to the simple building blocks of S-R (stimulus-response) associations and that complex behaviours are a series of S-R chains.

What are the advantages of reductionism?

• Helps understand the world better

• Has led to some great discoveries

• Easier to study one component rather than several

• Studies are more objective and scientifically acceptable because other variables are isolated

What is the disadvantage of holism?

• Makes complex behaviour very simplistic

• A component isolated doesn’t give a full explanation of behaviour

• Difficult to isolate the component influence of extraneous variables

What is holism?

• Looks at individuals as a whole, or perhaps looks at all factors which together might explain a behaviour

• Humanistic approach

What are the advantages of holism?

Provides a more complete picture. Helps understand the complexity of behaviour

What are the disadvantages of holism?

• Difficult to investigate all the different components; very costly

• More hypothetical: Not based on empirical evidence, so prevents predicting behaviour

• Neglects the importance of physiological influences

What are the links of reductionism to approaches?

• Biological Approach: Reductionism is often equated with physiological reductionism, offering explanations of behaviour in terms of physiological mechanisms

• Behaviourist Approach: Uses a very reductionist vocabulary: Stimulus, response, reinforcement and punishment. These concepts alone are used to explain all behaviour. This is called environmental reductionism because it explains behaviour in terms of simple environmental factors

• Cognitive Approach: Uses the principle of machine reductionism. Information-processing approaches use the analogy of machine systems and the simple components of such machines as a means to describe and explain behaviour

What are the links of holism to approaches and perspectives?

• Humanistic Psychology: Investigates all aspects of the individual as well as the interactions between people

• Social Psychology: Looks at the behaviour of individuals in a social context.

  • Group behaviour (e.g. conformity, de-individualisation) may show characteristics that are greater than the sum of the individuals which comprise it

• Individual Differences: Mental disorders are often explained by an interaction of biological, psychological and environmental factors.

  • An eclectic approach to therapy is often taken using drugs and psychotherapy

What are the levels of explanation from most reductionist to least?

• Most Reductionist:

  • Biological level of explanation: Focuses on the biological and chemical processes underlying behaviour, e.g. the role of hormones (testosterone in aggression), the role of brain structure and functioning (hypersensitivity of the basal ganglia in OCD) and the role of genes. This is the lower level focusing on basic components

  • Psychological level of explanation: Focuses on the psychological processes that are universal or at least very similar across humans. These key processes have been found to be the same across cultures and allow us to predict behaviour. For example, classical and operant conditioning. This level focuses on similarities rather than on individual differences

  • Socio-Cultural level of explanations: Focuses on the influence of the other people on behaviour by studying behaviour in social and cultural contexts. For example, a group in which conformity takes place. This level of explanation recognises that our behaviour is influenced by others. This level of explanation recognises that our behaviour is influenced by others, social norms and cultural factors. This is the higher level, it is a more holistic multivariable level

• Least Reductionist

What is the evaluation of holism?

• + It is a more complete account of complex human behaviour; for example, conformity and obedience cannot be explained without reference to the social context in which they take place

• - It is difficult to investigate how many different explanations interact and integrate. Research into mental disorders is beginning to understand the social, psychological and physiological causes of depression. However, this is a complex process, and it seems unlikely that this understanding could form the basis for a therapy. In this case, adopting a lower level of explanation seems to be more beneficial for the patient and society as a whole

What is the evaluation of reductionism?

• + The use of reductionist explanations allows them to be tested scientifically; by breaking down complex behaviours into constituent parts, we can test the effects of these parts through experiments. This has allowed therapies to be developed, e.g. focusing on the level of dopamine has led to the development of antipsychotic treatment for schizophrenics

• - The use of reductionist explanations fails to explain complex behaviors as human behaviour involves more than one factor, e.g. it involves the context in which it takes place and the past history and moral values of each individual as a reductionist explanation might lack validity

• An interactions approach is usually more appropriate as it combines the different levels of explanations, e.g. the diathesis-stress model

What is the conclusion of holism and reductionism?

Reductionism and Holism can be very useful in Psychology and has led to some great discoveries. However, they do have their limitations