1. Reductionism and Holism
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Reductionism and Holism
Issues and Debates

2. What are they?
Gender and culture in psychology – universality and bias. Gender bias including androcentrism and alpha and beta bias; cultural bias, including ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.
Free will and determinism – hard and soft determinism; biological, environmental and psychic determinism. The scientific emphasis of causal explanations.
The nature and nurture debate; the relative importance of heredity and environment in determining behaviour; the interactionist approach.
Holism and reductionism; levels of explanation in psychology. Biological reductionism and environmental (stimulus and response) reductionism.
Idiographic and nomothetic approaches to psychological investigation
Ethical implications of research studies and theory, including reference to social sensitivity.

3. Objectives
To be able to outline what is meant by levels of explanations.
To be able to describe different types of reductionism.
To be able to describe what is meant by Holism.
To discuss problems with reductionism and holism.

4. What do you understand by the term reductionism and holism?
Starter
What do you understand by the term reductionism and holism?
Holism
Reductionism

5. Reductionism is the belief that human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into simpler component parts. Those who take a reductionist position believe that the best way to understand behaviour is to look closely at the parts that make up our systems, and then use the simplest explanations to understand how they work.
The reductionist approach suggests that there are different levels of explanation. The lowest level considers physiological (biological) explanations, where behaviour is explained in terms of neurochemicals, genes and brain structure; the middle level considers psychological explanations (e.g. cognitive and behavioural) and the highest level considers social and cultural explanations, where behaviour is explained in terms of the influence of social groups.

6. Levels of Explanation Biochemical and physiological Psychological
Social and cultural
Levels of explanation - the idea that any behaviour can be explained at different levels of reduction such as physiological, psychological or social and cultural level.

8. Aggression can be explained at a biological level in terms of hormones (e.g. testosterone) or brain structure (e.g. the amygdala); at a psychological level through either operant conditioning or observation and imitation (social learning). Furthermore, it could also be explained in terms of cultural norms .
The experience of love can be simply explained by the increase in the hormone oxytocin. This would be a reductionist explanation. AT what level?

9. Environmental Reductionism
Types of Reductionism
Biological Reductionism
Animals are made up of atoms so it should be possible to explain human behaviour at the level of neurons, neurotransmitters, hormones etc.
You could give the dopamine hypothesis as an example.
Environmental Reductionism
The behaviourist believe that behaviour can be explained in terms of stimulus – response links.
Examples of this are the attachment process – building associations between the mother and food.
The development of phobias – building associations between a stimulus and fear.

10. What is Holism
Here we consider that people are more than a sum of their parts.
Treat the person as an entire human not a number of parts.
This was put forward by Roger's and client entered therapy.
This is a rejection of behaviourist and psychodynamic therapies.

11. Humanistic Approach and Holism
This is the best example of a holistic approach in psychology
We respond as a whole individual rather than just a series of S-R links.
If we do not consider people as a whole and if there is a lack of identity or wholeness this can lead to mental illness.

12. What is the problem with a Reductionist View?
Lower levels of explanation may only explain part of the story.
Biological and environmental determinism taken in isolation may mean we lack understanding of behaviour.
This may distract from a more appropriate explanation.
For example giving someone with psychosis antipsychotics may not consider the importance of family interaction styles and environmental stressors.

13. Evaluation of Biological and Environmental Reductionism
The development of drugs
But ignores the psychological processes involved.
The use of non-human animals
Quantitatively different?
Cognitive and emotional factors?
Choose two of these to PEEL