What is reduction in psychology?
What is reduction in psychology?
Reductionism is a theory in psychology centered on reducing complex phenomena into their most basic parts. The purpose of reductionism is to simplify psychological events and processes by looking at their smallest elements, thus “reducing” something rather complex into its most simple.
What does reduction mean in philosophy?
The term ‘reduction’ as used in philosophy expresses the idea that if an entity x reduces to an entity y then y is in a sense prior to x, is more basic than x, is such that x fully depends upon it or is constituted by it.
Who invented reductionism?
The idea of Reductionism was first introduced by Descartes in Part V of his “Discourses” of 1637, where he argued the world was like a machine, its pieces like clockwork mechanisms, and that the machine could be understood by taking its pieces apart, studying them, and then putting them back together to see the larger …
What does Nagel mean by the term reduction?
Here is an upshot of how Nagel defines the notion of reduction: “A reduction is effected when the experimental laws of the secondary science (and if it has an adequate theory, its theory as well) are shown to be the logical consequences of the theoretical assumptions (inclusive of the coordinating definitions) of the …
What is reductive approach?
Reductionism is the belief that human behavior can be explained by breaking it down into smaller component parts. This approach inevitably must reduce a complex behavior 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).
What is reduction in biology?
Reduction generally means a reaction in which electrons are added to a compound; the compound that gains electrons is said to be reduced. …
What is biological reduction?
Is Nagel a reductionist?
Nagel was a pluralist about both the logical form of the connections between the reduced and reducing theories (which could be conditionals or biconditionals) and their epistemological status (as analytic connections, conventions, or synthetic claims).
What is an ontological reduction?
Ontological reductionism is the metaphysical doctrine that entities of a certain kind are in reality collections or combinations of entities of a simpler or more basic kind.
What is reductionist approach in psychology?
The experimental and laboratory approach in various areas of psychology (e.g. behaviorism, biological, cognitive) reflects a reductionist position. This approach inevitably must reduce a complex behavior 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).
What is machine reductionism in cognitive psychology?
Cognitive psychology uses the principle of machine reductionism as a means to describe and explain behavior. More recent computer innovations, such as the Internet and connectionist networks can be described as holist because the network behaves differently from the individual parts that go to make it up.
What is the drive reduction theory of motivation?
The drive reduction theory of motivation became popular during the 1940s and 1950s as a way to explain behavior, learning, and motivation. The theory was created by behaviorist Clark Hull and further developed by his collaborator Kenneth Spence. According to the theory, the reduction of drives is the primary force behind motivation .
What is the etymology of the word psychology?
psychology (n.) 1650s, “the study of the soul,” from Modern Latin psychologia, probably coined mid-16c. in Germany by Melanchthon from Latinized form of Greek psykhē “breath, spirit, soul” (see psyche) + logia “study of” (see -logy ). The meaning “science or study of the phenomena of the mind” is attested by 1748,
