To What Extent Can Psychology Be Considered a Science?

Examine to what extent Psychology can be considered a Science

• Rebecca Harris

Introduction

The question can: ‘Psychology be considered a Science?’ It is important to understand what a Science is in relation to Psychology. Psychology is deemed as the scientific study of behaviour. Science is ‘a branch of knowledge conducted on objective principles involving the systematised observation of an experiment with phenomena.’ So can Psychology be a Science? Throughout this essay, deeper understanding of Psychological Methods and the aims of Science and how these link, will be looked at and investigated further.

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There are four basic principles of Science; truth, objectivity, realism and rationality. For psychology to be perceived as a science certain scientific methodology would be needed, these are: objective observation, evidence to back up an argument, an investigation to test the hypothesis, an induction which draws conclusions from facts or examples, repetition, critical analysis and verification and testing of the study.

Empiricism, a scientific approach founded by philosopher John Locke (1632-1704), turned into a scientific method of enquiry that used both observation and experiments to gather facts and evidence that may have been needed. Scientific enquiry can be based upon two phrases: 1. Too do with theory and the foundation of hypotheses. 2. Empirical method, thus being experiments and observations. The main method of scientific enquiry would be the use of experiments. Using examinations make research more scientific. Important key features for an experiment are control over variables, in this case they would either be: Independent, dependent and extraneous. This particular approach would be a strength towards Psychology as a Science as cause and effect can be established due to the control over the experiments.

A form of Empiricism is Logical Positivism. This theory suggests that sensory experience is our main and only source of information about the world we live in. There are two main claims for this theory: Knowledge Empiricism- The theory that the knowledge of the world is gained through evidence from our sensory experiences. The theory states that the meaning of a statement is determined by verifiability. Verification must be through observation. This is an advantage of Psychology as a Science as behaviour is looked at through observation and so therefore this means that verification can happen.

Rationalism compared to Empiricism is that senses cannot be completely relied upon to provide knowledge needed. Knowledge can be gained by inductive reasoning, as long as it’s applied correctly. Rationalists look at the world we live in and see deeper meaning behind everything they see, implying that the world is not real. Empiricists see the world we’re living in as the true world and that everything we see does not have a deeper meaning.

Idealism and realism are two philosophical terms that deal with our minds relationship with the world in which we live. Idealism: knowledge that the mind interprets what we see. The knowledge that constructs the mind and does not necessarily correspond to the on goings of the outside world. What we see is not really real.

Realism: the idea that knowledge reveals the reality of the outside world. Thus meaning that, it is what it is, you see what you see. This is a disadvantage for Psychology as a Science as it can’t be proven or disproven that whether the world we live in is real or not.

Locke took on the nature-nurture debate, the first part to the theory of behaviourism and came up with the idea that the human mind is a ‘tabula rasa’ meaning ‘blank slate’. In 1913 Watson gained the support that Wundt had lost and formed behaviourism. Wundt concentrated on introspection, however, Watson believed that this couldn’t be proved or disproved so decided to concentrate on the study of behavior. Behaviourism as a theory of Psychology was finally created. The overall meaning of behaviourism is to study the idea of the relationship between people’s environment and their behaviour, without application to hypothetical events happening within one’s head. The use of behaviour today can be seen as Scientific, helping mentally ill patients with behaviour modification and therapy to treat mental disorders. Modern behaviour now looks at mental processes like; imagery and attention, considered to be proper subject matter for scientific investigation.

Positivism a form of behaviourism that uses experimental methods, as well as quantitative data. Conclusions are not derived from a subjective approach. The conscious can’t be objectively observed. It rejects emotions, feelings and mental processes and qualitative data is not used, so evidence that is collected is limited. Therefore not Scientific and disagrees with psychology as a Science.

Social Constructionist: a social situation which we face, our behavior dependent upon the social situation so it’s not scientific. If people behave in a certain way then this leads to personality bias. Rather than looking at the behaviour in a social setting, research should be on the relative social construction. This looks at social cognition: what we think other people are thinking. This is a disadvantage to why psychology is a science as it’s difficult to apply research as the focus would be on subjective constructions.

Critical Realism looks at experience, culture and history when conducting observations and theories. It applies scientific practice to multiple methods of data collection. We are aware of a situation and act critical about what we’re doing. It gives us ideas on how to research and it uses multiple approaches, so the comparison of results can take place. This is an advantage to why Psychology is a Science due to the multiple research methods used rigorously: including experimental method.

A hypothetico-deductive method is a technique which involves observation of a participant. In order for the hypotheses to be classified scientific the researcher must generate a testable and realistic hypothesis, it must be falsifiable by recognized scientific methods. It can never be confirmed fully. Some predictions must be made, these are to be proved or disproved. The predictions must be directly testable for the hypothetico-deductive method to be valid. Trying to test the hypothesis that God exists would be difficult because there is no way to scientifically evaluate it. This is an advantage of why psychology is a science as observation, the gathering and collecting of data is used.

Kuhn 1922-1996 was a historian and had a great impact on revolutionary psychology in the field of paradigms. The idea was to unite all thoughts and opinions on the subject. With the success of this came Psychologies biggest and most feared alienation: the inability for a universal paradigm. This is the greatest criticism to Psychologies claim to be Scientific. Kuhn himself gave psychology a name: Pseudo-Science. The fact that a universal paradigm can’t be formed means that this is a disadvantage towards Psychology as a Science, as all scientific methods should have paradigms.

Popper 1902-1994 a philosopher with strong opinions towards whether Psychology is a Science. He believed that for a theory to be scientific it doesn’t have to be true. Facts can show theories to be wrong. He had two major concerns, the first was defending and maintaining the idea that Science does progress. This concern was built in the positivist account that facts can and do verify theories. Popper believed that this part of the society was being put at risk due to ‘pseudo-scientific’ theories that were not open to rejection, thus in particular: Freud and his idea of Psychoanalysis. Poppers view of falsification was a disadvantage of why Psychology is a Science as Freud and psychoanalysis led to the argument that psychological theories are not falsifiable.

According to Kuhn; the lack of ecological validity is a disadvantage to why Psychology has a lack of acknowledgement within scientific communities. If a study was based on Behaviourism, a key theory of Psychology, then there are some key ideologies that the investigation should have: generalization, reinforcement and behaviour shaping. This in turn explains vast behaviours from language acquisition through too moral development. In Science, conclusions always remain true, however, in Psychology, this is not the case. When a piece of research is conducted in an artificial environment, the participants are aware of the study and may act and behave differently. This being demand characteristics, it affects the overall result, as there are no form of applications to everyday life. It can also be argued that; it’s low on the idea of application to real life due to the participants behaviour i.e. demand characteristics. This was showed in Piaget study of Conservation.

In 1974 McGarrigle and Donaldson challenged Piaget. The children within the Piaget study were not in a natural setting and behaved socially correct and responded to demand characteristics. If a study is low in ecological validity then it isn’t really measuring how people behave in everyday life. The main problem for this is how to study characteristics of people who are aware of what they are doing. This is a disadvantage to Psychology being a science as participants are aware of the study and the unnatural setting.

In conclusion to the question: Is Psychology a Science? There is no easy answer. Some of the approaches and studies do meet the guidelines that are required for Psychology to be a Science, however, others don’t. Psychology has merely progressed as a discipline as it models itself on the natural sciences. Although there are enough disadvantages and advantages to say whether Psychology is a Science, it will be an ongoing debate to which no-one will know the answer, you simply have an opinion that’s neither right nor wrong.

REFERENCES

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