Monday, 20 July 2015

Reductionism Vs Holism and Interactionism

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.

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