Is Psychology a science?

Personally, I think some parts are a science and some parts are as scientific as media GCSE.

Can it be proved?

Does it use equipment such as brain scans?

If answer yes, it is.

I do psychology A-level and it's very 'this is this because x said so-but this psychologist fount errors in his findings..'

No, not a science.

Do not compare how they teach psychology at A-level with psychology as a research field. A-level psychology is very misrepresentative.

If you want a better idea read published articles-
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13646613
http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/
http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/neu/index.aspx

I think it such an ignorant thing for someone to say who has only done it for an A-level subject. It must be quite insulting to those who dedicate their lives to the research.

If you're still interested, go on the websites of decent universities and look into their research interests and publications.

And anyway, criticising other research and providing new hypotheses and theory is exactly how science progresses.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 21

Feligatre 3

Original post by pandabird

Do not compare how they teach psychology at A-level with psychology as a research field. A-level psychology is very misrepresentative.

If you want a better idea read published journals-
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13646613
http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/
http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/neu/index.aspx

I think it such an ignorant thing for someone to say who has only done it for an A-level subject. It must be quite insulting to those who dedicate their lives to the research.

If you're still interested, go on the websites of decent universities and look into their research interests and publications.

YES,

It's a science because it uses experiments that are then peer reviewed before being accepted as fact.

I didn't do psychology myself. I just did traditional science subjects in sixth form :biggrin:

Btw, mathematics is also a science.

edit: I forgot to mention that science is the experimental rigour of natural and man-made phenomena. That definition is useful in identifying what a science subject is :biggrin:

.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 22

Emre944

9

Original post by cl_steele

Or maybe you just need to face up that its a second rate pseudo subject? :rolleyes:

Or maybe you need to educate yourself a bit on the subject. Here's a good place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology :rolleyes:

Reply 23

Hal.E.Lujah

19

Original post by cl_steele

Or maybe you just need to face up that its a second rate pseudo subject? :rolleyes:

Pffff get a life, I have no reason to care :h:

What do you study? I study English, which is genuinely pointless, so let me tell you I know futility when I see it. I can guarantee you that I'll level the same criticisms against your subject that you care to whine about in regard to psychology.

Reply 24

Albino

11

a hub science, it takes bits from all the other sciences basically, and its applied to hell

Reply 25

ExWunderkind

12

Original post by cl_steele

You say that then follow it up with a wiki link of all things? Really...

You say that but the little one seems very touchy about the subject :rolleyes:

History and Russian, please do rip into id very much like to hear how its as pointless as learning how to shrink people :smile:

Are you okay? You seem very upset that i dont think psycology is a real science, which it isnt... are you going to cry?

The fact that you believe psychology is learning how to 'shrink' people demonstrates you know very little about actual psychology.

Especially as the term 'shrink' usually refers to a psychiatrist, which is a branch of medicine.

Reply 26

username207685

1

Original post by cl_steele

id very much like to hear how its as pointless as learning how to shrink people :smile:

Ah, I've found the problem - you don't know what psychology is. What you're describing is psychiatry. How does that make you feel?

e;fb.

Reply 27

Hal.E.Lujah

19

Original post by cl_steele

You say that then follow it up with a wiki link of all things? Really...

You say that but the little one seems very touchy about the subject :rolleyes:

History and Russian, please do rip into id very much like to hear how its as pointless as learning how to shrink people :smile:

Are you okay? You seem very upset that i dont think psycology is a real science, which it isnt... are you going to cry?

So let me get it straight, you think that psychology is a pointless subject because its not a science, namely qualitative, and yet your subject (which is 100% qualitative) isn't pointless?

Oh dear, you think psychology is about sitting on a sofa and taking notes on feelings. You should be ashamed of yourself as a history student, diving in without any research or knowledge. Please, read the Wikipedia page somebody linked, it seems to be at your level.

Reply 28

fuze-mo25

4

IMO no.

I studied A-Level biology, chemistry and psychology.
The reason I don't think psychology is a science is the way a case study on 1 person is sometimes the basis of a whole argument. Another reason would be that most of psychology you cannot prove mainly talking about the subconscious.
the definition of science is "the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment" and there aren't enough experiments in psychology

Reply 29

pandabird

Original post by Feligatre 3

YES,

It's a science because it uses experiments that are then peer reviewed before being accepted as fact.

I didn't do psychology myself. I just did traditional science subjects in sixth form :biggrin:

Btw, mathematics is also a science.

edit: I forgot to mention that science is the experimental rigour of natural and man-made phenomena. That definition is useful in identifying what a science subject is :biggrin:

.

Exactly

Reply 30

username207685

1

Original post by fuze-mo25

the definition of science is "the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment" and there aren't enough experiments in psychology

What you mean to say is there aren't enough experiments in the A-level psychology curriculum. There are hundreds of psychology experiments published in scientific journals every day.

edit: and I say this as a biologist who makes fun of psychologists.

Reply 31

wilson_smith

17

Whether something is constitutive of a science is merely determined by methodology, of which is typically used in accord with some philosophical claim on how to arrive at meaningful knowledge (i.e. an epistemological position). Psychology has been - and should be - subject to scientistic and non-scientistic methodologies, for it contains both elements which are manifestly biological and invariant (i.e. structural features of persons), and elements which are heavily variant owing to sensory and social inputs and the nature of conscioussness/agency (which, when scientism is applied to, often collapses into a rather crude and unhelpful reduction of what it is to be human, i.e. a relation between variables rather than a multifaceted and highly complex phenomenon within ones consciousness).

Unfortunately contemporary psychology is largely scientistic and with great meta-theoretical pitfalls, and fails to instill any recognition on behalf of students of the fragile bifurcation/interconnect of the social-philosophical and scientific elements of psychology.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 32

pandabird

Original post by cl_steele

You say that then follow it up with a wiki link of all things? Really...

You say that but the little one seems very touchy about the subject :rolleyes:

History and Russian, please do rip into id very much like to hear how its as pointless as learning how to shrink people :smile:

Are you okay? You seem very upset that i dont think psycology is a real science, which it isnt... are you going to cry?

You're so clueless. Read the journals I posted above.

Original post by fuze-mo25

IMO no.

I studied A-Level biology, chemistry and psychology.
The reason I don't think psychology is a science is the way a case study on 1 person is sometimes the basis of a whole argument. Another reason would be that most of psychology you cannot prove mainly talking about the subconscious.
the definition of science is "the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment" and there aren't enough experiments in psychology

One case study would never be used to validate a theory alone. It may support one, or be used as preliminary research but it won't be used alone... There are lots of experiments in psychology!?

Original post by Feligatre 3

YES,

It's a science because it uses experiments that are then peer reviewed before being accepted as fact.

I didn't do psychology myself. I just did traditional science subjects in sixth form

Btw, mathematics is also a science.

edit: I forgot to mention that science is the experimental rigour of natural and man-made phenomena. That definition is useful in identifying what a science subject is .

Exactly

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 33

ExWunderkind

12

Original post by betaglucowhat

What you mean to say is there aren't enough experiments in the A-level psychology curriculum. There are hundreds of psychology experiments published in scientific journals every day.

edit: and I say this as a biologist who makes fun of psychologists.

This x1000.

A Level psychology is nothing more than a historical reflective of the subject.

Reply 34

cl_steele

2

Original post by pandabird

You're so clueless. Read the journals I posted above.

no?

Reply 35

wilson_smith

17

Original post by cl_steele

Or maybe you just need to face up that its a second rate pseudo subject? :rolleyes:

This is incredibly sophomoric/banal/lame.

Reply 36

ExWunderkind

12

Original post by cl_steele

It was more a scathing over generalisation that a concide description of what it entails darlin'

It was uninformed and ignorant, if we have to label it. You were meant to be putting together an argument that a reasonable intelligent being could actually take on merit, but you were fallacious.

Original post by cl_steele

Ah should have seen this coming, i forgot the majority of people on here have some austistic like condition that makes them take every word as 100% fact and miss any sarcasm involved, how does it feel having to resort to tactics that would make a mentally subnormal person ashamed?

As someone that actually has Asperger's and thus does suffer from the symptom you describe, I find this comment abhorrent and offensive. Have to resort to name calling and ridiculing others to make your point?

Reply 37

pandabird

Original post by cl_steele

no?

Then you are ignorant and extremely arrogant. Or did you try and didn't understand them? :wink:

People like you just walk through life, never learning anything, never changing opinion because you are too afrad to be wrong. You won't succeed with that attitude.

Unless you're trolling that is.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 38

upthegunners

10

Mathematics

Physics

Chemistry

Biology

If it's not on the list, It's not a science.

edit: why the negs? Okay then lets call Psychology a science and while we are at it.. we might as well call 'Home Economics' a science too!