GCSE Psychology 9-1

Psychology 9-1 GCSE -  3.3.1 - Understand the nature and nurture debate, including: a) The term 'nature' -  Nature simply means the properties or characteristics of us that are determined since birth, rather than created through experience.  b) The term 'nurture' -  Nurture means the properties or characteristics we develop or learn through experience and how we are nurtured. c) the use of content, theories, and research drawn from psychological problems to explain the nature and nurture debate -  Our nature may provide natural limits as to how much we can process and learn, but we can, through nurture fulfil this capacity. So nature is the overall determining factor. Francis Galton investigated this through various studies and assessments. When he did a study using twins, even if the twins had very different nurture they both turned out extremely similar. 

Psychology 9-1 GCSE -  2.3.1 Understand the reductionism and holism debate, including:  a) The terms 'reductionism' and 'reductionist' -  Reductionism is the practice of analyzing and describing a complex phenomenon in terms of its simple or fundamental constituents, especially when it is said to provide a sufficient explanation. You can reduce it down to a biological level (the lowest level), psychological and social (highest level). A reductionist is someone who believes in and practices reductionism.  b) The terms 'holism' and 'holistic' -  This is the theory that parts of a whole are in intimate interconnection, such that they can not exist indipendantly of the whole. Or cannot be understood without reference to the whole, which is thus regarded as greater than the sum of its parts.  c) the use of content, theories and research drawn from human memory to explain the reductionism and holism debate - Gestalt psychology l...