” MAPPING PSYCHOLOGY Option B – Cricks view that psychological phenomena are no more than the behaviour of a vast assembly of nerve cells (Book 1, p. 230) has been criticised. Explain why, using examples from Chapter 4 of Book 1.”

Psychological phenomena encompass our desires, feelings and emotions as well as our awareness, understandings and memories.  Cricks view of psychological phenomena was expressed in his book The Astonishing Hypothesis, which was a clear scientific explanation and not a philosophical one.  His view about psychological emotions is that all psychological actions and experiences can only be interpreted in terms of the brain activity.  Crick was criticised about his view due to the fact that he utter a belief in reductionism (Phoenix, 2007, p. 230).

Reductionism is the practice of giving a full detail analysis of a complex phenomenon in terms of its simple or fundamental components, especially when this is said to provide a sufficient explanation (Phoenix, 2007, p. 230).  Was Cricks hypothesis innovative or just a line of attack?  Why was his view criticised?  The majority…(short extract)