1. Exam Questions due 29/03/11
Using an example from psychology, explain what is meant by reductionism 4mks
Identify&descirbe 1 limitation of reductionism in psychology 4mks
Explain what is meant by the nature-nurture debate in psychology. 4mks
In the context of holism&reductionism debate in psychology explain what is meant by holism. 4mks
In the context of holism&reductionism debate in psychology, outline 1 strength and 1 weakness of the holistic behaviour. 4 mks
Outline why some psychologists favour reductionist explanations of human behaviour. 4mks

2. Great Debates Holism Vs Reductionism Idiographic Vs Nomothetic
Free Will Vs Determinism
Nature Vs Nurture

3. What are the Debates? A spectrum of two concepts.
A disagreement about a range of issues.
The different positions lead to different approaches.

4. Holism Vs Reductionism
Emphasis on the whole person.
Gestalt Psychology.
Interactionist Approach.
Reductionism
Breaking down complex issues into simpler parts
Biological Reductionism.
Hierarchy of sciences.

5. Holism - Introduction Human behaviour is complex.
It should be looked at as a whole rather than in parts.

6. Holism – Gestalt Psychology
Gestalt – German, meaning ‘whole configuration’.
“The whole of behaviour and experience is more than the sum of its parts”.
Kohler (1925) demonstrated insight learning in chimpanzee’s.

7. Holism – Interactionist Approach
Explains human behaviour in terms of links or interactions between different levels of explanations.
Takes biological, psychological, social, etc factors into account to build a better understanding.

8. Holism - Strengths Provides a complete picture.
Does not ignore the complexity of behaviour.
The person is seen as an entity to be considered in its own right.
Seeks to integrate different components in order to understand the person as a whole.

9. Holism - Limitations
Does not lend itself to scientific inquiry and empirical testing.
Tends to neglect the importance of biological explanations specifically the role of genes.
More hypothetical than lower-level reductionist explanations and theories lack the predictive power of a scientific explanation.

10. Reductionism - Introduction
Complex phenomena can be explained by breaking them down into separate simpler components.

11. Reductionism – Biological
Attempts to explain all behaviour in terms of biology.
Assumes continuity of behaviour between animals and humans.

12. Reductionism – Hierarchy of Sciences
Less precise, more general sciences at the top.
More narrowly focused and precise sciences at the bottom.
Watson: “There is only one science, Physics: the rest is just social work”.
Sociology
Psychology
Biology
Chemistry
Physics

13. Reductionism - Strengths
Has brought with it both analytic and scientific ways of attempting to understand and explain behaviour.
Scientific investigation allows for empirical investigation.
Demonstrates how biology is for understanding and explaining behaviour.

14. Reductionism - Limitations
May lead to an over simplistic view of behaviour – the complexity is missed.
Many theories have been developed but no attempt has been made to combine the theories.
Some physicists argue it suffers from an infinite regress – parts can be reduced endlessly.

15. Holism/Reductionism Relating to Topics
Schizophrenia – in terms of neurotransmitters and genes (Reductionist) – in terms of socio-cultural explanations (higher level; more holistic).
Humanistic – a person can only be understood as a whole (Holistic).

16. Idiographic Vs Nomothetic
Focus on the individual and recognition of uniqueness.
Private, subjective and conscious experiences.
Qualitative methods of investigation.
Nomothetic
Attempts to establish laws and generalisations about people.
Three kinds of laws.
Objective knowledge through scientific methods.
Quantitative methods of investigation.

17. Idiographic - Introduction
Suggests everyone is unique and therefore every one should be studied in an individual way.
No general laws are possible because of chance, free will and the uniqueness of individuals.

18. Idiographic – Methods of Investigation
Tends to include quantitative data, investigating individuals in a personal and detailed way.
Methods of research include: case study, unstructured interviews, self-reports, autobiographies and personal documents.

19. Idiographic - Strengths
Provides a more complete or global understanding of the individual.
Satisfies key aim of science – description and understanding of behaviour.
Findings can serve as a source of ideas or hypotheses for later study.
The focuses mean the individual feels valued and unique.

20. Idiographic - Limitations
Difficult to generalise from detailed subjective knowledge about one person.
Often regarded as non-scientific as subjective experience cannot be empirically tested.
Largely neglects biological, especially genetic, influences.

21. Nomothetic - Introduction
Focuses on similarities between people.
Attempts to establish laws and generalisations about people.
Laws can be categorised into three kinds: classifying people into groups; establishing principles and establishing dimensions.

22. Nomothetic – Three Kinds
Classifying people into groups:
Such as the DSMIV for classifying people with mood disorders.
Establishing principles:
Such as the behaviourist laws of learning.
Establishing dimensions:
Such as Eysenck’s personality inventory which allows for comparisons between people.

23. Nomothetic – Methods of Investigation
Uses scientific and quantitative data.
Usually uses experiments and observations.
Group averages are statistically analysed to create predictions about people in general.

24. Nomothetic - Strengths
Regarded as scientific as it is: precise measurement; prediction and control of behaviour; investigations of large groups; objective and controlled methods allowing replication and generalisation.
Has helped psychology as a whole become scientific by developing laws and theories which can be empirically tested.
Combines biological and social aspects.

25. Nomothetic - Limitations
Predictions can be made about groups but these may not apply to individuals.
Approach has been accused of losing sight of the ‘whole person’.
Gives a superficial understanding – people may act the same but for different reasons.
Extensive use of controlled laboratory experiments creates a lack of generalisation to everyday life.

26. Idiographic/Nomothetic Working Together
Both have a role but relative value of each depends on the purpose of the research.
Two approaches can be complementary – idiographic can further develop a nomothetic law.
Both can contribute to scientific approach – idiographic suited to description; nomothetic to predictions.

27. Idiographic/Nomothetic Relating to Topics
Child development – Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory (Nomothetic).
Memory – case studies on how memory is affected by brain damage (Idiographic complemented nomothetic, furthering general laws).
Humanistic – emphasises individual (Idiographic)
Psychodynamic – use of case studies (Idiographic).

28. Free Will Vs Determinism
The ability to make decisions and choose behaviours freely.
How is it tested?
Determinism
All behaviour is caused by prior events.
Internal and external.
Hard and soft determinism.
Biological, psychic and environmental determinism.

29. Free Will - Introduction
Dictionary – A hypothetical and often reified internal agency that functions independently of externally imposed forces.

30. Free Will – How is it Tested?
Cannot meet the rigours of scientific testing due to the lack of an operational definition.
Abstract and hypothetical concepts have to be turned into measureable and observable operations.

31. Free Will - Strengths
Allows individual differences and the uniqueness of a person.
Observable that some people choose to act in a way different to others.

32. Free Will - Limitations
Difficult to measure/prove.
Difficult to accept an explanation of behaviour if we follow free will.
Not scientific.
Nearly always there are some sort of forces in making a decision.

33. Determinism - Introduction
All behaviour is caused by underlying factors.

34. Determinism – Internal/External
Internal Determinism
Internal causes of behaviour are seen as causes of behaviour.
Such as biological factors and mental processes.
External Determinism
Behaviour occurs because there is a cause in the environment.

35. Determinism - Hard/Soft
Hard Determinism
Behaviour is caused by events outside one’s personal control.
See’s free will as an illusion as behaviour is always predictable and therefore determined.
Soft Determinism
Behaviour is determined or caused by a person’s own character, wishes or conscious desires.
A compromise – free will plays a part but there are always other forces.

36. Determinism - Biological
Includes the controlling role of different parts of the brain, hormonal system and genetics on behaviour.
Some studies have indicated a genetic predisposition towards some behaviours.

37. Determinism - Psychic Represented by Freud’s psychodynamic theory.
Human behaviour, thoughts and feelings are caused by the life and death instincts and by repressed conflicts, wishes and memories in the unconscious mind.
Because it is unconscious people believe they are free.

38. Determinism - Environmental
Behaviour is caused by factors within the external environment.
The power of the situation (as demonstrated by Asch and Milgram) and how social factors can have a strong effect on behaviour.
Free will is seen as an illusion.

39. Determinism - Strengths
More scientific as it can be measured.
Has a compromise for free will and explains why it seems as if it is free will when in reality it is not.
Can be applied to many areas of psychology.
Helps Psychology be seen as a science as it means all behaviour is predictable and can be controled.

40. Determinism - Limitations
Some behaviour is unpredictable and does not follow the conventions/predictions.
Takes away individuals choices and uniqueness.

41. Free Will/Determinism Relating to Topics
Obedience – Milgrim’s participants felt that had to obey him (Deterministic).
Offending behaviour – most theories include some elements of determinism.
Humanistic – people direct their own lives and goals (Free will).
Cognitive – people select what they want (Soft determinism).

42. Nature Vs Nurture Nature The effect of genes.
Methods of investigating effect of Nature.
Nurture
The effect of the environment.
Types of environmental influence.
Levels of environment.
Methods of investigating effect of Nurture.

43. Nature - Introduction Concerned with how genes influence behaviour.
Genes are passed to offspring from the parents.
Genotype.

44. Nature – Methods of Investigating
Twin Studies – Using MZ twins; if they have a high concordance nature must play a part.
Adoption studies – If the offspring act the same as their biological parents rather than adoptive parents nature must play a part.
Largely scientific.

45. Nature – Strengths
Can be seen in many studies that Nature has a large part.
Experiments have influenced useful applications for treatments.
Scientifically tested.

46. Nature - Limitations Neglects the role of the environment.
Often hard to find twins or adoption studies to relate to the topic of interest.

47. Nurture - Introduction
Concerned with the role of the environment.
The environment shapes all of a persons personality and behaviours.
Phenotype.

48. Nurture – Types of Environmental Influence
External and individual.
Post-natal.
Acting on a passive individual.

49. Nurture – Levels of Environment
Lerner (1986).
The influence of the environment can be narrow, such as pre-natal, or more general, such as sociocultural environment.
Mother’s Psychological State
Postbirth Experiences
Where and when born

50. Nurture – Methods of Investigation
Twin studies – Using MZ twins reared apart; if there is low concordance nurture may play a large part.
Adoption studies – If there is a high concordance between adoptive parents and low concordance between biological parents nurture may play a large part.

51. Nurture – Strengths Takes the environment into consideration.
Has created useful treatments such as behaviour therapy.

52. Nurture - Limitations Neglects the biological impact on behaviour.
Often hard to find twins or adoption studies that satisfy the needs of a relevant topic of interest.

53. Nature/Nurture Relating to Topics
Biological – all behaviour is due to innate forces (Nature).
Behaviourist – all behaviour is due to environmental forces (Nurture).
Gender – Batista Boys; hormones overtook upbringing (Nature).
Schizophrenia – Family and twin studies show high concordance rates (Nature).
Child Development – Harlow’s Monkeys; they attached because of external forces (Nurture).