Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Social Science's Are Not A Science!

Scroll to see replies

Reply 60

milkytea

Yeah.. gotta hate dem Social Science's.

Reply 61

Jimbo1234

Original post by Oh my Ms. Coffey

Seriously, Psychology and sociology are not a science, standing around outside Mcdonalds with a clip board asking about dreams is so unscientific.

Yup, if it doesn't have ball breaking maths in it then it is not a science.

Reply 62

kultist

Original post by Jimbo1234

Yup, if it doesn't have ball breaking maths in it then it is not a science.

Economics is a science, biology is not then?

Reply 63

Jimbo1234

Original post by kultist

Economics is a science, biology is not then?

Biology has rock hard maths in it in some modules.......... :rolleyes:

Reply 64

Law123mus

Science: knowledge, as of facts or principles; knowledge gained by systematic study.

Reply 65

kultist

Original post by Jimbo1234

Biology has rock hard maths in it in some modules.......... :rolleyes:

Are you talking statistics or actual maths?

Reply 66

lifeshard

Your right, social sciences are not sciences they are SOCIAL sciences.

Reply 67

lilnikkita

Original post by pina.Love

science technically means knowledge...so any subject is technically a science.

OP just because you did psychology during alevel does not make you an expert on the subject, you are clearly ignorant so stfu.

The definition of science is a bit more complex than that actually, especially since there are many subjects which aren't related to science at all, such as foreign language. Science is based on empirical evidence, creating hypotheses, and doing experiments to attempt to answer questions. Although you technically can't prove anything in science, all the research that is done is in effort to explain what we see on Earth and in space. This is all a very vague explanation of what science is, but I just want to make the point that it doesn't simply mean "knowledge".

Reply 68

Remarqable M

Do you even know what psychology is?

Psychology is the science of the mind. The human mind is the most complex machine on Earth. It is the source of all thought and behaviour. source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/articles/psychology/what_is_psychology.shtml

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 69

Jimbo1234

Original post by kultist

Are you talking statistics or actual maths?

Advanced calculus which you could base a PhD on.

Reply 70

DPLSK

A scientific subject is one which adheres to the scientific method:

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_scientific_method.shtml

Social sciences adhere to this method (as far as I'm aware). Perhaps their usage of experiments is different than formal sciences, but it does not mean they are not sciences.

A similar argument would be to say that someone who works at McDonalds does not work as a restaurant as flipping burgers does not qualify as cooking. I feel it is more obvious here that this is untrue.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 71

Blueflare

They use scientific methods to gain data to be analysed. This can prove or disprove hypotheses and theories.

I fail to see how they are not sciences.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 72

Remarqable M

Science is essentially 'gaining knowledge through reasoning, logic and experimental evidence in a systematic order to reach a conclusion and make further predictions based on the conclusion'

Reply 73

Oh my Ms. Coffey

Original post by Remarqable M

The most important part of the human body, the part psychology emphasises but also the part we know the least about.

Science is...truth.

Altough i don't mind that the subjects in question are called a science. However, i can understand why people believe that this is not the case.

Science, is a methodology, a way at looking at problems systematically and analysing without bias. But, this is not the case for Psychology and sociology, therefore it could be argues they are not a science.

To be honest though, i don't care because more and more they are being accepted as a science.

Reply 76

SAK.A

Well they have the word science in so obviously they are DUH!!!
I presume you think economics is not a social science either.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 77

GottaLovePhysics! :)

Who cares, Chemistry eats psychology for breakfast anyway.
(Who in turn is the abused wife of Physics)

Reply 78

username227498

Original post by Colour Me Pretty

The only reason psychology isn't classed as a science is because it doesn't have one dominant paradigm, technically it is classed as a pre science. However, because it has many different paradigms it could be classed as post science. :p:

I agree with you here. Despite Kuhn arguing that a science should have a dominant paradigm, there are numerous approaches in psychology, each favouring differing paradigms.

The biological approach, which assumes that there are biological bases to human behaviour (e.g. genetic inheritance, biochemistry and brain structure) favours more scientific research methodologies such as brain scans and twin studies.

On the flipside you have the psychodynamic approach which assumes that most human behaviour is driven by unconscious forces, and that childhood has a significant impact on adult behaviour. This approach favours case studies as its research methodology and Freud often used this approach, i.e. dream analysis which you mentioned.

There are concerns about psychology not being objective as voiced by Popper. However, the more scientific psychologists do use the double blind procedure and strive to increase inter-rater reliability, and they do follow the deductive model by generating a theory, from which hypotheses that are drawn can be tested using a tightly controlled experiment from which empirical data is gathered and analysed statistically.

Anyway, should psychology aim to be a science? It is difficult to explain human behaviour and experience in terms of scientific phenomena alone. Human experiences are at times difficult to subjective to scientific laws and principles and at times might be too reductionist to study human behaviour in laboratory conditions via the manipulation of the IV and the measurement of the DV to generate laws that apply to all as this ignores the rich complexity of human experiences, which might at times be better studied via the alternative, less scientific methodology, such as the case study. :smile: