Science

Question 1

structure

Answer 1

INTRO: explain why there is contention around psychologies scientific status and whether psychology should be a science or not
MAIN; three of following
-methodologies
-changing nature of science
-costs of being a science
CONC: why does psych benefit from being a science? drawbacks? what is the future direction for psychology?

Question 2

Introduction

Answer 2

Almost since the beginning of psychology at the end of the 19th century, it has been hotly debated whether the subject is a science or not. ​
Psychology is often referred to as the “science of behaviour”. However, the word science has a specific meaning, and there is a lot of debate as to whether psychology meets the criteria to be classed as a true science. ​
As well as this debate over whether or not psychology is a science, there is also a debate over whether psychology should even strive to be a science. ​
Being a science may bring benefits, but it could be argued that human behaviour is too complex and unpredictable for the rules of scientific inquiry to apply. ​

Question 3

what is ‘science’?

Answer 3

the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment

Question 4

Features of a science

Answer 4

-Falsifiability
-Objectivity
-Control
-Empirical

Question 5

features of science; falsifiability

Answer 5

theories are able to be tested to be proved and disproved

Question 6

features of science; objectivity

Answer 6

freedom from bias (fact and opposite of subjectivity)

Question 7

features of science; replicability

Answer 7

ability to reproduce a study exactly (consistency)

Question 8

features of science; control

Answer 8

to observe the effect of a specific manipulation to be able to establish a cause and effect

Question 9

features of science; empirical

Answer 9

theories are based on evidence, collected by direct observation and experiment (primary data)

Question 10

changing nature of science: Wundt

Answer 10

created first psychology lab with intention to make psychology credible and scientific. aimed to measure cognitive processes (introspection) pioneered empirical methods and studied objectively.

Question 11

changing nature of science: Freud

Answer 11

Qualitative case study methodology- unfalsifiable concepts lacking empirical testing eg case study, clinical observation

theories based on conversations as a psychotherapist

Question 12

changing nature of science: Behaviourism

Answer 12

moved back to more scientific methods- observation(objective systematic study of behaviour) experimental methods, empirical data

Watson and ray nor controlled observation of little Albert

Question 13

changing nature of science: Humanism

Answer 13

moved away from objective and systematic- more idiographic, focus on subjective experiences, individual growth, abstract concepts

Question 14

changing nature of science: Cognitive + biological

Answer 14

scientific methodology- experiment objective measurable: cognitive (measurable mental processes), biological (brain scans, drugs are objective)

Raine

Question 15

changing nature of science: positive

Answer 15

aims to try to study psychology in a positive way but not always successful

mindfulness

Question 16

changing nature of science: cognitive neuroscience

Answer 16

peak of scientific study in psychology, brain scans, biological bases for psychological concepts- forces on how brain interprets mental events, cog and bio approaches, objective

Neuralink

Question 17

outline costs of being a science and example

Answer 17

scientific principles are not always suitable in psychology.
Popper (1972) argues that it is impossible to observe something and remain completely objective- no one ever observes without some idea of what they are looking for. eg Raine used brain scans but chose what brain areas to look at and interpret

Question 18

counter of costs of being a science

Answer 18

Some people believe psych should not take a scientific approach. Humanists such as Marlow(1968) believes human are too unique to fit into science and that we should use more ideographic than nomothetic methods, being less reductionist in theories. however if this was fully incorporated into psychology there would be limited evidence for how behaviour arises as it would require ignoring the biological approach eg freud dream analysis

Question 19

conclusion

Answer 19

psychology has not got enough scientific approaches to become a hard science but it should be classified as a social science. Becoming a hard science would eliminate important methods such as self report which are beneficial in psychology for understanding reasons behind behaviour. we should aim to encorporate science into theories when possible to make them more credible and avoid bias. we should continue to review benefits and drawbacks of science within psychology.

Question 20

methodologies used by approaches outline and example

Answer 20

one issue with describing psych as a science is that the differing approaches under the discipline of psychology use a range of methodologies that don not fit in features of science. eg
Myers and Diener- positive approach used a literatture review- which isn’t scientific as it isn’t empirical, falsifiable or objective as it uses secondary data.

Question 21

counter o methodologies

Answer 21

however other approaches in psych can be considered scientific due to the methods they employ… biological approach: Raine brain scans falsifiable as theory is being tested and objectively displayed by gkluecose metabolism seen in brain scan the evidence is direct and measurable and the experiment is replicable.

Question 22

mini conc methodologies

Answer 22

the fact that each approach tends to use different methods and has different approaches towards the investigation of human behaviour that means trying to draw any causal conclusions about scientific status of psych as a whole is problematic. each approach investigates behaviour differently, some methods scientific and some are not.