Reductionism: Complex phenomena is broken down into more simple components. It should be explained by simple underlying principles. While this doesn't explore the whole picture, it does allow in-depth study and gain a better understanding.
Holism and Interactionism: Holism looks at same/higher level explanation. Interactionism shows how many aspects of a phenomenon or levels of explanation can interact together to provide a complete picture.
Examples in psychology:
• Evolutionary reductionism - behaviour must have been adaptive and inherited. Ignored cultural variations.
• Environmental reductionism - relates to behaviourist approach and tries to explain all human behaviour in terms of simple conditioning. Ignores cognitive processes.
• Methodological reductionism - Certain variables are identified and ten studied in a controlled experiment.
No comments:
Post a Comment