Is Psychology A Science?

There is much debate as to whether Psychology can be regarded as a ‘science’. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Psychology (Coleman, 2009) Psychology can be defined as the ‘scientific study of human behaviour and cognitive processes.’ Science is generally defined as the ‘systematic way or method of obtaining knowledge’ (Merriam-Webster, 2008). When we think of science, we think of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Psychology is often thought of as just ‘common sense’, however many of the perspectives in Psychology such as Biological, Behaviourist and Cognitive assert that they are scientific. There are other perspectives in Psychology such as Psychodynamic theory and Humanist which are considered to be non-scientific.

As a result to concluding the chapter “How to Think Straight about Psychology” by Keith E. Stanovich, the infinite doors into Psychology have opened. I was immediately engaged into the history and conflicts between the continuity of previous and modern day psychology. It was astounding to find the amount of distaste, backed by modern psychologists, on the workings of Sigmund Freud, who I had recently thought to be the foundation to all psychology. However, after reading on about the diversity of psychology, it became apparent that the extensive amounts of subjects within the realm of this study, make it difficult for scientist and the overall population to agree on one unified idea. Psychology has criteria that is ever changing, but limited to the time period of discovery.

Psychology can be presented by the media in forms such as magazine or newspaper articles, and the most popular today is through commercials watched on TV. Psychology is presented in a form of science today compared to what it was viewed as in the late 1800s and onto the 1900s. It is more of a science nature because viewers have to think about the meaning of the article or commercial to understand the message that is being presented. Then, psychology was viewed as a form or common sense. Psychology was never really looked at as a science but rather as philosophy in the 1980s. The public was often confused with the subject of psychology because it was always

There has been an ongoing debate on whether psychology is indeed scientific, although recent, psychology is now considered a science. This is because it uses scientific methodology in researching, devising treatments and measuring the outcomes. These methods include collecting and analysing data and concluding their findings in order to identify whether the research or treatment adequality solves the problem. Scientific studies must be replicable, this means the if repeated exactly the same, the results should produce an identical outcome. Replicability can be increased by ruling out any alternatives that may not have originally been thought of. Objectivity in science is the idea that scientist, in an attempt to get the best results, must first

Psychology is defined by Merriam-Webster, as the science of mind and behavior. It is a study of how an individual's psyche can be created, developed, altered or destroyed. Carol Gilligan, a Harvard Graduate School professor, for many years has analyzed the psychological theory and development, specifically in a book entitled In A Different Voice.

Psychology is a science that is normally subjected to an argument. There is also criticism of psychology has not been around long enough to develop a standard, or had established a system of ideas that has been accepted by most specialists in the public, and also lacks the important characteristics of a science. Psychology has roots in other fields including the non-scientific disciplines such as philosophy, which makes it even harder to classify it with the traditional science such as biology and chemistry.

After these study researches and conclusions made, we really can see the differences and understand about psychology is indeed a common sense or based on well researched studies. The scientific methodology is fundamental in all scientific disciplines which is based on the following process and used regularly as a systematic scientific study:

Many centuries have passed and a majority of the public still rejects the belief that psychology is not a science, however, there are many points made in How to Think Straight about Psychology that supports the idea that psychology is, in fact, a science. It first begins with the problem that Freud created; ultimately making theories with no science-based evidence which I think made the science and subject of psychology begin with a bad start. Stanovich explains in this chapter that, because there are multiple fields of psychology, it doesn’t make much sense to put them all in the same category. The public was not clearly seeing one important characteristic of psychology that made it a science: “the main search for psychologists was to completely understand human behavior by using the methods of science.” (p. 2) I am convinced that, because psychologists were

In order to be considered a science, Psychology must consequently adhere to using a scientific method. If this were, as usual,

Psychology is a scientific study of the mind and behavior of a person or animals action according to, Psychology (fourth edition 2015). I've always believed that Psychology was not a science. There is no explanation on how emotions can be measured (love, hate, sadness). For example, my children both love their dad and when deployment comes one of them cries, and the other might just show a facial expression of sadness. Both children are sad, but one is showing it more than the other. That doesn't mean that one loves their father more than the other one. I believe emotions can not be seen as science since science is about facts according to Psychology, (fourth edition, pg. 20).

Authored by Keith E. Stanovich, How to Think Straight About Psychology is a known work of the psychology world which was published in 1986. Beginning courses in psychology use his text frequently. Stanovich primary purpose for writing the text is to bring attention to his observation that the public’s understanding of psychology is different from psychology as a modern science. Psychology as a modern science explains the underlying functions that shape human attitudes and behavior. To the people who misunderstand this, the field of psychology is not a real science, but a pseudo-science instead. How to Think Straight About Psychology describes people’s several false impressions of psychology and it gives its readers a factual understanding of the field as a modern and scientific psychology while explaining how this science works.

“A branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws.” This is the definition of science in the Google dictionary. Given that anything that studies knowledge or truths and arranged them into usable data or theories means that psychology must be a science. Psychology studies how humans behave, how a humans brain reacts to certain situations, and why these things occur in order to gain an understanding on what the true human nature is like. How could someone like Hitler rise to power? Why can people feel so much attachment to inanimate objects, or why do some of people get depression after terrible situations, while others rise up and become stronger? These questions

Berezow (2012) defined what separates science from non-science in five criteria. He stated that a science must have; clearly defined terminology, quantifiability, highly controlled experiments, reproducibility, and predictability and testability (What separates science from non-science, 2012) His claim that a discipline must meet each of these criteria to be defined as a science puts limits on psychology. There isn’t enough known about psychology, when compared with subjects such as physics and chemistry, to have clearly defined terminology for everything studied. Humans are a lot more difficult to study than particles and chemical compounds, meaning that test results will be a lot more varied, are a lot harder to control and are more difficult to reproduce but this variability can be overcome with the use of statistics. In terms of how quantifiable psychology is, it is incredibly difficult to quantify something with no physical measurements. Scales and definitions are invented every day in

In the science of psychology scientist discuss Psychosis. Psychosis is a psychological disorder in which a person loses contact with reality, experiencing irrational ideas and distorted perceptions. In psychology there is a number of psychological disorders like anxiety, OCD, PTSD, Mood (Major Depressive, Bipolar), Personality, Schizophrenia, Dissociative, and Eating disorders. Although all these disorders are psychological disorders Schizophrenia is the best example of Psychosis. Schizophrenia is a group of severe disorders characterized by disturbed perceptions and inappropriate emotions disorganized and delusional thinking and behaviors. When a person has Schizophrenia they tend to live in their own little world filled with unforgettable images and abnormal images. The word itself means split mind (schizo=split, phrenia= mind), in the sense that the mind has separated from the real world (not a multiple-personality split). Like all disorders Schizophrenia has symptoms, biological and environmental causes and as well treatment methods to treat the disorder. At the end of this paper one will have more knowledge of the psychological disorder Schizophrenia.

Psychology is defined as the study of the human mind and its functions the mind is studied through experimentation and observation and just like the other sciences, needs empirical evidence, therefore, it is a science. There has always been a large debate about it though because the mind is such a tricky topic, some people even go on to call it an art which they back up with valid points. Psychology is different from many other sciences because it’s less concrete. For example in chemistry, biology and physics most things we learn about are laws, well in Psychology there are no laws that have been discovered yet. Because the mind is such a sensitive thing laws are tricky because there could always be one outcast, the same doesn’t apply for the other sciences though because if we are told that the mass of one Oxygen atom is 15.999 g/mol, we could never find one Oxygen atom that wasn’t 15.999 g/mol. As there are differences there are also similarities between Psychology and other sciences. One similarity as stated before is that psychology as all other sciences need empirical evidence to support claims and make theories and, for other sciences, laws. Another similarity is that things like “common sense” and popular opinion aren’t always the best to use to find answers you’re looking for.