Reductionism Notes
Y12-Psychology – Extra notes
What is Reductionism?
Reductionism is the belief that human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into smaller component parts.
Reductionists say that the best way to understand why we behave as we do is to look closely at the very simplest parts that make up our systems, and use the simplest explanations to understand how they work. It is based on the scientific assumption of parsimony - that complex phenomena should be explained by the simplest underlying principles possible.
Strong supporters of reductionism believe that behaviour and mental processes should be explained within the framework of basic sciences (e.g. physiology, chemistry.... ). However any explanation of behaviour at its simplest level can be deemed reductionist. The experimental and laboratory approach in various areas of psychology (e.g. behaviourism, biological, cognitive) reflects a reductionist position. This approach inevitably must reduce a complex behaviour to a simple set of variables that offer the possibility of identifying a cause and an effect (i.e. Reductionism is a form of determinism).
Behaviourists such as Skinner explain all behaviour as being a result of past learning. The relationships between stimuli and our responses to them are the basis for all we know and how we behave. This is a reductionist view because complex behaviour is being reduced to a simple stimulus and response relationship. We might also consider the biological approach to abnormality as reductionist. The biological approach says that psychological problems can be treated like a disease and so are often treatable with drugs. Identifying the source of someone‟s mental illness as an imbalance of chemicals in the brain is being reductionist.
Y12-Psychology – Extra notes
Reductionism works at different levels. The lowest level of reductionism offers physiological explanation: these attempts to explain behaviour in terms of
What is Reductionism?
Reductionism is the belief that human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into smaller component parts.
Reductionists say that the best way to understand why we behave as we do is to look closely at the very simplest parts that make up our systems, and use the simplest explanations to understand how they work. It is based on the scientific assumption of parsimony - that complex phenomena should be explained by the simplest underlying principles possible.
Strong supporters of reductionism believe that behaviour and mental processes should be explained within the framework of basic sciences (e.g. physiology, chemistry.... ). However any explanation of behaviour at its simplest level can be deemed reductionist. The experimental and laboratory approach in various areas of psychology (e.g. behaviourism, biological, cognitive) reflects a reductionist position. This approach inevitably must reduce a complex behaviour to a simple set of variables that offer the possibility of identifying a cause and an effect (i.e. Reductionism is a form of determinism).
Behaviourists such as Skinner explain all behaviour as being a result of past learning. The relationships between stimuli and our responses to them are the basis for all we know and how we behave. This is a reductionist view because complex behaviour is being reduced to a simple stimulus and response relationship. We might also consider the biological approach to abnormality as reductionist. The biological approach says that psychological problems can be treated like a disease and so are often treatable with drugs. Identifying the source of someone‟s mental illness as an imbalance of chemicals in the brain is being reductionist.
Y12-Psychology – Extra notes
Reductionism works at different levels. The lowest level of reductionism offers physiological explanation: these attempts to explain behaviour in terms of