Issues and Debates: Holism and reductionism

Which approach states people and behaviour should be studied as a whole system?

• Empiricism
• Holism
• Interactionism
• Utilitarianism

The term for the belief that 'the simpliest explanation is the best' is __________.

• Alimony
• Hegemony
• Parsimony
• Very moany

Which of the following is an example of a higher level explanation of behaviour?

• Behavioural
• Physiological
• Neurochemical
• Socio-cultural

Environmental reductionism reduces the causes of behaviour to ________ links?

• Stimulus-reactive

• Stimulus-response

• Stimulus-retention

• Stimulus-review

Explaining behaviour at the physiological level is _________ reductionsim.

• Behavioural
• Biological
• Brain anatomy
• Psychic

An alternative to reductionism, which is subtly different to holism is the diathesis-stress model. This is an example of...?

• A reactionist approach

• An interactionist approach

• A proactive approach

• A retroactive approach

By ignoring the social context of behaviour, it could be suggested reductionst approaches lack _______?

• Generalisability
• Reliability
• Rigour
• Validity

Which of the following is unlikely to be adequately explained by a reductionist approach?

• Conformity in groups
• Genetic factors in crime
• Neurochemistry of OCD
• Psychodynamic explanation of gender

The nomothetic approach has enabled psychologists to establish norms of typical behaviours, which means that it has given psychology as a subject...?

• more scientific credibility

• more realistic credibility

• more generic credibility

• more social credibility

Idiographic approaches, however, are restrictive because they are not very scientific as they rely on ________ ________, which means they are open to bias.

• subjective interpretations

• objective interpretations

• abjective interpretations

• reflective interpretations