Discuss the Holism and reductionism debate (16 marks.)
The Holism and reductionism debate focuses on whether complex human behaviour can be
reduced into simpler components.
The Holistic approach is the idea that human behaviour can be best understood by analysing
a person as a whole, rather than breaking their behaviour and experiences in separate
distinct parts. For example, Gestalt psychologists claimed ‘the whole is greater than the sum
of it parts’ and its inappropriate breaking up behaviour as it should be viewed as a whole.
The Reductionist approach argues human behaviour is best studied by breaking behaviour
down into smaller parts. For example, biological reductionism is a type of reductionism that
sees all biological organisms made up of physiological structure and processes and it
reduces human behaviour no matter how complex in terms of neuron, neurotransmitter,
hormones etc. For example, biological psychologists argue that OCD is caused by the
neurotransmitter dopamine and serotonin. Whereas Environmental reductionism attempts
to explain all behaviour in terms of stimuli and response links. An example of environmental
reductionism come from the behavioural explanation of Phobias which argues phobias are
acquired by classical conditioning and are maintained by operant conditioning.
A strength of reductionism is that is has scientific credibility. For example, the reductionist
approach often forms the basis of scientific research as target behaviours are reduced into
smaller parts so they can be studied effectively. This as a result allows researchers to study
different factors that influence human behaviour in a controlled manner while establishing
causal relationships. Thus, this gives psychology greater credibility as both biological and
envrionemtal reductionism are viewed as scientific approaches whereas holism is not.
A strength of holism is that it can explain key aspect of social behaviour. This is because
there are some aspects of social behaviour which only begin within a group context and so
cannot be explained by looking at individual members. For example, the effects of de-
individualisation of prisoners and guards in the Stanford prison experiment could not be
understood by studying the participants as individuals. This was because it was the
interactions between the people that was important. Therefore, this suggest holistic
explanations are needed for a more complete understanding of behaviour rather than
reductionist approaches.
A limitation of reductionism is that some psychologists argue that biological reductionism
can lead to errors of understanding human behaviour because it ignores the fact that
human behaviour is complex. For example, to treat conditions such as ADHD with drugs it is
believed that the condition is caused because of neurochemical imbalances is to mistake the
symptom of the phenomenon for its true cause. Ritalin may reduce the symptoms, but he
causes of ADHD has not been addressed. Moreover, since success rates of drug therapies is
highly variable, the purely biological understanding seems inadequate. Whereas holistic
explanations attempt to overcome this criticism by considering more things (bringing
together different explanations); the holistic theory attempts to provide a ‘whole’ complete
understanding of human behaviour. However holistic explanations do not establish cause
and effect because they do not examine behaviour in terms of operationalised variable that
The Holism and reductionism debate focuses on whether complex human behaviour can be
reduced into simpler components.
The Holistic approach is the idea that human behaviour can be best understood by analysing
a person as a whole, rather than breaking their behaviour and experiences in separate
distinct parts. For example, Gestalt psychologists claimed ‘the whole is greater than the sum
of it parts’ and its inappropriate breaking up behaviour as it should be viewed as a whole.
The Reductionist approach argues human behaviour is best studied by breaking behaviour
down into smaller parts. For example, biological reductionism is a type of reductionism that
sees all biological organisms made up of physiological structure and processes and it
reduces human behaviour no matter how complex in terms of neuron, neurotransmitter,
hormones etc. For example, biological psychologists argue that OCD is caused by the
neurotransmitter dopamine and serotonin. Whereas Environmental reductionism attempts
to explain all behaviour in terms of stimuli and response links. An example of environmental
reductionism come from the behavioural explanation of Phobias which argues phobias are
acquired by classical conditioning and are maintained by operant conditioning.
A strength of reductionism is that is has scientific credibility. For example, the reductionist
approach often forms the basis of scientific research as target behaviours are reduced into
smaller parts so they can be studied effectively. This as a result allows researchers to study
different factors that influence human behaviour in a controlled manner while establishing
causal relationships. Thus, this gives psychology greater credibility as both biological and
envrionemtal reductionism are viewed as scientific approaches whereas holism is not.
A strength of holism is that it can explain key aspect of social behaviour. This is because
there are some aspects of social behaviour which only begin within a group context and so
cannot be explained by looking at individual members. For example, the effects of de-
individualisation of prisoners and guards in the Stanford prison experiment could not be
understood by studying the participants as individuals. This was because it was the
interactions between the people that was important. Therefore, this suggest holistic
explanations are needed for a more complete understanding of behaviour rather than
reductionist approaches.
A limitation of reductionism is that some psychologists argue that biological reductionism
can lead to errors of understanding human behaviour because it ignores the fact that
human behaviour is complex. For example, to treat conditions such as ADHD with drugs it is
believed that the condition is caused because of neurochemical imbalances is to mistake the
symptom of the phenomenon for its true cause. Ritalin may reduce the symptoms, but he
causes of ADHD has not been addressed. Moreover, since success rates of drug therapies is
highly variable, the purely biological understanding seems inadequate. Whereas holistic
explanations attempt to overcome this criticism by considering more things (bringing
together different explanations); the holistic theory attempts to provide a ‘whole’ complete
understanding of human behaviour. However holistic explanations do not establish cause
and effect because they do not examine behaviour in terms of operationalised variable that
