HOLISM AND REDUCTIONISM

AO1:
Holism: Reductionism: Biological reductionism:
 The view that the whole is greater than the  Analyses behaviour by breaking it down into  Based on the idea that we are biological
sum of its parts component parts organisms made up of psychological
structures/processes
 Any attempt to break up the whole to  Based on the scientific principle of parsimony
understand a concept or behaviour would not (the phenomena should be explained using the  All behaviour at some level is biological and so
allow you to develop a full understanding most basic principles) can be explained through neurochemical,
neuropsychological and genetic influences
 Successful therapy is bringing all aspects of the  Most simplified and easiest level of explanation
‘whole person’. Reductionist explanations
would play a limited role
Environmental (stimulus-response) reductionism: Levels of explanations (within reductionism):
 Breaks down behaviour to simple external causes from our surrounding  Highest level – cultural and social explanations of how social groups effect
(e.g. reinforcement and stimuli) behaviour

 Researchers study observable behaviour and break complex learning up  Middle level – psychological explanations of behaviour
into stimulus response links that are measurable within the laboratory
 Lower level – biological explanations of how hormones and genes affect
 Sees behaviour on a physical level – doesn’t concern itself with mental behaviour
(cognitive) processes of the mind that occur at a psychological level. The
mind is disregarded as a ‘black box’ – in our understanding of behaviour
because it does not lie within the environment

 Reductionism and treatments
P A strength of the reductionist
approach is its application to the
development of treatments
E This is because reductionism
requires breaking down a
phenomenon to its simplest
factors. Viewing complex mental
illnesses such as OCD at their
lowest levels – in terms of
neurotransmitter imbalances has
allowed psychologists to create
psychoactive drugs such as SSRIs,
which can help to treat the illness
E Furthermore, researchers such as
Soomoro have shown that SSRIs
work in around 70% of OCD
patients that take it
L This further adds validity to
taking a reductionist approach to
explaining behaviour as it
illustrates that the applications
drawn from the reductionist
theories are successful
AO2/AO3:
ー Holism is not scientific
P A weakness of holistic
approaches is that they do not
lend themselves to rigorous
scientific testing and can become E This is because in order to draw
vague in their explanation of
human behaviour
E For example, humanistic
psychology, which takes a holistic
approach, tends to be criticised
for its lack of empirical evidence
in support for ‘broader’ concepts
such as self-actualisation. This is a
problem as while psychology is
trying to become scientific, non-
scientific branches such as
humanistic psychology may be
holding the field back in achieving
its scientific aspirations
E Furthermore, higher level
explanations pose problems for
researchers. If we accept that
there are many factors that
contribute to a disorder such as
depression, it becomes difficult to
measure them in a controlled
environment and come up with
specific treatments to target any
inadequacies
L Such problems may harm the
validity of the holistic approach
 Reductionism is scientific
P Reductionism also lends itself
well to psychology’s aim to be
more scientific
up reductionist explanations, it is
more important to create
operationalised variables, which
break target behaviours down
into component parts. This makes
it possible to conduct
experiments or record
observations in a way that is valid
and reliable
E For example, the behaviourist
approach was able to show how
complex learning can often be
broken down to simple stimulus-
response links which could be
measured empirically and
scientifically
L Therefore, such practices allow
for the develop of specific cause
and effect relationships and also
facilitate better replication,
allowing for greater reliability,
giving psychology greater
scientific credibility
ー Reductionism oversimplifies
P A problem with reductionism is
that the breaking down of
complicated concepts into
component parts, may reduce the
validity of explanations
E For example, explanations that
operate on a gene,
neurotransmitter or neuron level
do not include analysis of the
social context within which
behaviour occurs
E Thus, whilst depression has been
strongly linked to lower levels of
serotonin, to see it as only a
neurotransmitter issue will ignore
factors such as major life events
that may also contribute to its
onset
L This means that reductionist
explanations can only ever form a
part of the explanation and may
be considered incomplete in their
explanation of complex human
behaviour

NOTE: Only select the relevant AO1s (e.g. 2/3 points) and four evaluation points (AO2/AO3)