when explaining Behavior many psychologists like to have a clear precise explanation you have the disorder because you've inherited a certain genetic pattern you are aggressive because the consequences of previous acts of aggression in your life were positive and reinforce your aggressive behavior having a simple reductionist explanation for behavior is helpful we can test simple explanations so a genetic test for the presence of certain genes in the population of people with a disorder studies that correlate adult aggression with childhood experiences it even helps with treatments if the genes code for neurotransmitter levels then we can use drug treatments to fix an imbalance but isn't all this a little too simplistic the experience and causes of for example a mental health condition often seem complex and to interact perhaps genes do play a role but so does coping techniques learn in childhood along with adult life events and even the way wider culture deals with mental health in general it might seem more valid so closer to the truth to say that there are multiple causes of all behaviors and these causes all interact with each other the problem is how could we ever scientifically test all of these courses and interactions when scientific testing requires isolating one variable this is the debate reductionism or holism the psych Boost flash card app has a new feature test yourself over 1,500 multiple choice questions including every topic on a level of gcsc psychology try paper one for free right now and Patron supporters can watch psych boost videos at free learn from over 17 hours of exclusive exam tutorial videos and access hundreds of digital and printable resources including my Maps quiz sheets worksheets teaching slides and more reductionism reductionism is based on a scientific principle parsimony the argument that the best explanation is the simplest one that fits the evidence to be be reductionist means studying complex things or phenomena by breaking them down to their simplest components and testing the individual elements empirically taking a reductionist approach has been very successful in other Sciences using the principles of physics the complexity of the physical world can be reduced to some relatively simple equations now there are no simple equations that explain all of human behavior but we can use basic explanations for behavior that focus on testing simple mechanisms with very few assumptions biological psychologists use biological reductionism so as an example their explanation of depression would be someone has inherited a set of genes influencing their neurochemistry this neurological imbalance resulted in depression so biological reductionism is simplifying or reducing human behavior to the level of simple biological variables you have the gene that codes the neurotransmitter or you don't behaviorists like Pavo and Skinner argue for environmental reductionism they explain behavior as being due to simple stimulus response mechanisms a behaviorist argument for aggression would be some became a criminal adult because they learned their criminal acts in childhood were rewarded not punished so their criminal Behavior was reinforced and became more common biological and environmental reductionism are the best examples of reductionism in Psychology and we should focus on these in any essay we need to write cognitive psychology explanations are not quite as simplistic but we can talk about machine reductionism this includes the computer analogy how con psychologists explain the brain as working like the CPU of a computer and thought processes as like the software that runs on the brain the computer analogy along with explaining processes as complex as human memory with mechanistic theoretical models like the working model of memory is reductionist there is of course an alternative to reductionism holism the counter to reductionism holism argues a truly valid explanation of human behavior Behavior needs to include the whole person so this includes biological processes the role of reinforcement internal mental processes including emotions and even the broader social context behind the behavior to be fully holistic an explanation of any Behavior would include all of these factors and how these components interact with each other the humanists are the best example of the holistic approach in Psychology they argue it's only by studying the whole person that we can really understand the Human Experience it's for this reason that human IC psychologists like maslo and Rogers prefer investigating Behavior with case studies and interviews these methods tend to produce information that's richer and more detailed this type of idiographic investigation along with nomothetic investigation will be the focus of the next video levels of explanation to help you understand the distinction between holism and reductionism it's going to be helpful to think about the concept of levels of explanation we can be asked to Define this term and honestly it's a little complex if we just wanted to Define levels explanation we could say explanations vary from those that are lower or fundamental level focusing on basic components or units to those at a higher more holistic multivariable level I do want you to fully understand what I've just said and that's going to take a bit of a conversation let's start with an example from outside psychology if we want to explain the growth of a plant we could ask different scientists and we would get different explanations an ecologist would explain the wider ecosystem is a part of Horticultural scientists would explain the plants immediate environment and the nutrients it has access to a plant cellular biologist would describe the individual biological structures and the functions of the cells it's constructed of a geneticist would explain how certain genes code for leaf size water retention and photosynthesis if we want to be even more reductionist a chemist could explain the plant as a sum of its chemical processes a physicist would go to an even lower level and explain the plant as simply the interactions between it atoms now I think you can agree that all of these explanations are very different but in their own way they're all true they're not disagreeing they're telling the same story but from a different perspective when we say the lowest level is more fundamental this is because a physicist could argue if we had a complete knowledge of all interactions between all atoms in the universe we could work everything else out from that but I don't want you to get too hung up on that let's go back to Psy ology because if you're writing about levels of explanation don't mention the plants I use that to help you visualize levels of explanation in Psychology we study behavior this could be anything from aggression addiction or depression if we think carefully we can see that psychologists from very different approaches are actually explain the same behaviors from different levels of explanation they're not necessarily disagreeing let's say for example a violent criminal shows aggression a social psychologist might explain that aggression is due to cultural factors a result of growing up with peers and family and a Wier society that respects the most aggressive members of their Community a com of psychologist would argue that the criminal has acquired a set of schemas about how to interpret different situations and these schemas are biased towards a negative aggressive interpretation and response a behaviorist would explain aggression as a series of Lear responses the criminal is being rewarded with previous acts of aggression reinforcing aggressive behaviors and making them more likely a biological psychologist would suggest that behaviors due to the interactions of physical brain structures and neurochemicals and more fundamentally due to our genetic inheritance both making us capable of violence and making it a viable option if it's likely to make us more likely to survive and pass on our genes to the Next Generation while appearing very separate these explanations are in some ways the same argument start from the bottom up our genes are fixed but these genes code for human brains and and it's been an evolutionary Advantage for these biological neuron networks to be flexible they develop in response to the world around us we need to have the capacity to be violent in case we're born into an aggressive Society but also work cooperatively if we find ourselves in a more prosocial Society the brain has reward systems such as serotonin and dopamine which are released when we perform an action that leads to a satisfying our basic need making us feel good a similar set of neurological so biological processes produce the sensation of pain and anxiety both unpleasant experiences the brain as a biological machine will attempt to maximize the pleasant Sensations and minimize the unpleasant experiences so the connections in the brain that produce aggressive behavior becomes stronger if they ultimately result in Pleasant Sensations and weaker of negative when a behaviorist argues that creatures aggressive behavior is due to stimulus response mechanisms they're saying there are some stimuli that produce a pleasant experience and some negative these experiences are biological processes the creature learns to repeat the behaviors that produce a pleasant stimul reinforcement and to avoid behaviors that lead to unpleasant stimuli the creature learns to repeat behaviors that produce Pleasant stimuli reinforcement and to avoid behaviors that lead to unpleasant stimuli we do learn that there are second reinforcers like money and group status but those things are reinforcing only because they give access to primary reinforces like food and sex that provide biological rewards like dopamine release going up a level to con to psychologists the sets of schema are the mental software that runs in the biological heartware of the brain the reason a set of aggressive schemas are formed is because a set of neurons have formed stronger connections than a set of passive schemas schemas are built from previous experiences so experiencing or observing acts of aggression that have been rewarding produce schema that lead to aggression going up again to social explanations family peers and wide Society sets the environment for the individual to develop in wher aggression is rewarding or punishing is largely dependent on the values and responses of the people around the individual if every time the individual has seen aggression or was aggressive themselves in the past they were surrounded by people who disapproved of and punished them they would have been socialized to be less aggressive if on the other hand they had seen that aggressive people had high status and when are aggressive they receive rewards for that aggression they would build synaptic connections that represented schema for aggressive behavior okay I know that was pretty intense and I know that some people are just trying to get through the a level and I don't want the complex idea of levels of explanation to give you anxiety and if that's the case please just try to remember the first sentence I gave you but hopefully what I've said has helped some of you understand the concept A little better evaluations I imagine you've often used reductionism as a a criticism but in fact there are very good reasons to be reductionist taking a reductionist approach allows psychologist to identify individual variables that can be tested objectively under experimental conditions ultimately allowing the researcher to establish a cause and effect relationship using the previous examples neurotransmitter levels can be measured precisely stimulus response mechanisms can be investigated with Skinner boxes and the components of models of memory can be tested under controlled laboratory conditions as this empirical method is a principle of science taking a reductionist approach to explain human behavior has helped psychology become more respected as the science there' have also been practical applications taking a reductionist approach allows for the development and empirical testing of treatments like drug therapies drug therapies are based on reductionist theories and altering neural mechanisms has led to effective treatments that have helped Millions control the symptoms of a range of mental health issues as you can imagine many Psych olist argue that taking a completely reductionist approach to any behavior is too simplistic by focusing on only one variable at a time a reductionist approach ignores other potentially valid explanations and the way that multiple causes of behavior might interact a focus on biology might Overlook the importance of conu processes and a focus on stimulus response learning May ignore the role of inherited instincts social factors and the unconscious viewing the brain like a computer is limited as the Mind experience his emotions and has reconstructive and inaccurate memory we could also argue reductionism leads to a loss of meaning for example describing the formation of romantic or infant mother relationships as simply a set of inherited drives or learn responses to stimul doesn't have faithful it simply can't fully explain the experience of forming and experiencing an attachment most people would agree that each meaningful relationship in their lives is unique and complex and the same is true of other behaviors such as the individual's experience of mental health sexuality and personality a final criticism is reductionism ignores emerging properties taking another non- psychological example each Bird In A Flock follows the same straightforward rules in flight to avoid hitting another bird what we can see here are murmurations these patterns can't be seen from the simple rules of one bird this complexity emerges from thousands of birds acting together there are features of Human Experience like consciousness the simple processes of individual neurons can't explain Consciousness but like murmurations Consciousness might be an emergent property so an explanation that includes interaction is needed the advantages and disadvantages of Taken holistic approach are reflections of reductionism so I'll rewrite them here from the perspective of holism when a researcher is considering how to carry out their research they need to consider the tradeoffs between redu ISM and holism and how hopefully to try to balance the reductive objective and empirical methods but also attempt to gather meaningful information I want to thank everyone over on patreon for supporting the channel because of you I've been able to teach parttime mean I can make psych boost on YouTube for everyone I do have extra resources that are exclusive for my patrons so if you've decideed to sign up you can grab those over on my website and these include over a 100 exam question tutorial videos of course including questions on the issues and debates unit I hope this was helpful and I will see you in the next psych Boost video