Reductionism and Holism - strengths and limitations

Read the statements and decide whether they refer to reductionism or holim, and whether they are a strength or a limitation of that approach.

Based on the reductionism v. holism debate for psyb4 in psychology

Credit where credit is due: none of this would be possible without my amazing psychology teachers, thank you both so much!

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  • Created by: Cara
  • Created on: 05-03-12 21:23
the complexity of behaviour is missed
reductionist limitation
1 of 11
provides a more complete picture of behaviour and experience
holism strength
2 of 11
by breaking down into smaller and simpler components, it allows for theories to be more easily empirically investigated and tested
reductionist strength
3 of 11
higher-level explanations do not ignore the complexity of behaviour and can therefore be more meaningful
holism strength
4 of 11
difficulty in integrating and investigating explanations from different levels
holism limitation
5 of 11
leads to an over-simplistic view of human behaviour and mental functioning and may distract from other levels of information
reductionist limitation
6 of 11
does not allow for rigorous scientific enquiry
holism limitation
7 of 11
consistent with a scientific approach to psychology and links the science to the more respected disciplines such as biology and neuroscience
reductionist strength
8 of 11
simplifies behaviour and so allows for it to be more easily explained in concrete and concise terms
reductionist strength
9 of 11
is more hypothetical than other explanations and so lacks the predictive power of a scientific explanation
holism limitation
10 of 11
can neglect the importance of biological explanations, e.g. the role of genes in human behaviour and mental disorders
holism limitation
11 of 11

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

provides a more complete picture of behaviour and experience

Back

holism strength

Card 3

Front

by breaking down into smaller and simpler components, it allows for theories to be more easily empirically investigated and tested

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

higher-level explanations do not ignore the complexity of behaviour and can therefore be more meaningful

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

difficulty in integrating and investigating explanations from different levels

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
View more cards

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