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Holism Vs Reductionism Essay

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Question: What are holism and reductionism? How are they used in psychology? Is one of method better than the other?

Answer:

The debate over reductionism and holism is controversy and has affected the way that psychology and psychologist do research. These two totally different approaches in psychology take different stands in the debate. Some psychologist believes that reductionism is much more useful than holism while some think holism should be the primary method to use in psychological field. In this paper, I will explore the meaning of each idea, how they are used in psychology and discover whether there is an absolute right method for psychology. To understand the ways these two approached used in psychology, we must understand their definitions. According to the lecture, reductionism is the belief that human mind and behaviors can be explained by breaking down into smaller component parts. Reductionists believe that the best way to understand why humans behave the way they do is to look clearly and closely at the very simple parts that make up our system in order to make the simplest explanations. Reductionism is actually based on a scientific assumption called parsimony, which is saying …show more content…

For example, when psychologist study social psychology, they usually studies social variables on individual behaviors, reactions, attitudes or perceptions. Social psychologists like to put their focus on whole group to understand human. One popular method to prove peer pressure in an individual is to put he/she in a group where the group is answering questions. Even though the questions are as easy as one plus one, when every other group members answer the same wrong answer, that individual would tend to have the same wrong answer because of peer pressure. This simple but meaningful experience starts out with holism approach as using a group to understand small parts and behavior/pressure of

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