The Confrontation And The Integration Of Reductionism And Holism In Psychology

The controversy between Reductionism and Holism has long been existed in the development of Western Psychology. Based on former achievements, this paper mainly concerns about the definition and types of Reductionism and Holism, and the historical development, limitations and advantages of the both. Besides, this paper proposed the expectation of psychology methodology which is based on the integrated viewpoint.Both the Reductionism and Holism have great influence in the scientific progress of psychology. As great dispute existed between them, this paper investigated systematically to try to set up the most beneficial research method which can be compatible with the human nature and promote the scientific development of psychology.Reductionism is an approach to understanding the nature of complex and unknown things by using the simple and fundamental theory. This can be said of the core value, basic characteristic of Reductionism, though the definitions are various.The forms of Reductionism are various. That’s because we can examine the types and the main forms of Reductioniam from multiple dimensions, such as the reductional objects, the fields involved, the features and contents emphasized, the intensity, the highlights and the general philosophy research categories of ontology, epistemology and methodology.As the opposite of Reductionism, Holism is the idea that natural systems and their properties should be viewed as wholes which composed by the parts, but the whole is more than the sum of the parts. So it requires a systematic, functional and overall viewpoint to examine things and their essences. Holism has various forms and it can be investigated by the object, field, main concern, and the philosophy research category. Holism concerns about the relationship between the parts and the whole. In the mind-body relationship, Reductionism can not effectively reveal the human’s psychological problem with a whole concept.This paper combed the development of Reductionism and Holism, and investigated the theory evolution process and the further direction of the both. Reductionism occupies the mainstream position in psychology which can be reflected by the three forms of scientific methodology, includes the psychological form, behaviorism form and the information processing form. But because the Reductionism can not explain the integrity, complexity and comprehensiveness of human, Holism has gradually established in the critically process to Reductionism. Humanistic psychology which is represented by Maslow consciously promotes the human nature and observes the human essence with the integrity view, which makes the Holism and Reductionism appears some tendency of integration.This paper also believes that psychological methodology should be based on the integrated viewpoint of Psychology. Practice, the creational survival activity of human, enables the person has human nature and possesses the dual character. In the perspective of integration of psychology, Holism and Reductionism would have their own reasonable space and value so that they can complement each other and reinforce each other and then promote the development of psychology jointly.