Holism vs. Reductionism

Holism and reductionism

There are levels of explanation for behaviour. Given behaviours such as depression can be explained at separate levels. 

Level of explanation

Possible explanations for depression

Sociology- The structures and events in society cause our behaviours

The recession

Social psychology- Our immediate social environment causes our behaviours

Loss of a loved one

Individual psychology- The way we approach things as individuals causes our behaviours

Negative thinking

Physiology- Our body (e.g genetics) causes our behaviours

Gene for depression

Neural- our individual cells cause our behaviours

Lack of serotonin

The explanations at the top are holistic, while the ones nearest to the bottom are reductionist. 

Holism

The holistic approach looks at a system as a whole. It does not agree with any attempt to separate behaviour into categories. Humanistic psychology takes a holistic approach as they focus on an individual’s experience, using qualitative methods to investigate the self and analysing themes rather than breaking it down into component behaviours. 

Reductionism

Reductionism reduces explanations for…