What kind of science is psychology? by

Psychology is a science because it follows the empirical method. Empiricism emphasizes objective and precise measurement.

2020-11-18 17:14:10 UTC

2020-11-19 15:20:51 UTC

an empirical science

2020-11-19 16:54:26 UTC

science tries to explain why and how things happen - and so does psychology

Nowadays, the methods used are reliable (meta-analysis, international cooperation, high-tech tools, regulation and verification, etc.). Thus, psychology is based on facts that are/have been proven, like any type of science.

2020-11-20 08:03:08 UTC

2020-11-27 12:28:18 UTC

Psychology is a social science which employs scientific methods, observation, and other empirical means when conducting research

Psychology is a science because like other science it starts with a hypothesis. Scientist do experiments to verified the theory but others can still try to replicate this in order to show the correctness. Psychology also develops through new approaches by young scientist that have another view of a theory.

2020-11-28 10:44:41 UTC

2020-11-28 14:07:40 UTC

First and foremost, psychology is a science because it adheres to the tenets of empiricism. It continues to grow and develop both through the falsification of existing hypotheses/theories and the formulation of new research questions. Additionally, researchers are (largely) willing to reconsider their own standpoint and reflect critically on preexisting work. The unfortunate fact that the social sciences tend to be left out of the connotations of “science” does not imply that they do not belong. The method of investigation is what defines a science, not the content thereof.

Science is amenable to new methods and theories in order to verify or refute older theories. This dynamic process is important for the constant improvement of methods and the view on acquired knowledge.

2020-12-05 07:33:35 UTC

We have seen that psychology uses the same methods and has the same validity and reliability as other sciences.

2020-12-07 13:17:52 UTC

Having a scientific background (chemistry), to me Psychology appears very heterogeneous; with areas like cognitive science resembling the traditional sciences, neurology and clinical psychology resembling medicine, while social psychology or development psychology are rather sociological fields. To me it appears like a major effort, to unite it all under one roof, glued together by the determination to conduct clean scientific research. Versatility is not a weakness, but makes the question "what kind of science is psychology" not a trivial one. As we humans define ourselves by our strives, I believe that psychology as it is today absolutely mirrors that.

2020-12-08 12:20:02 UTC

2020-12-12 17:07:11 UTC

Science (and psychology, by extension) can be characterized by its use of a theory of methods (i.e. methodology) that provides a framework on how to acquire new knowledge. Similarly, science is often characterized by a process of meta-thinking. Furthermore, scientific models and theories often have positive predictive value, that is they are able to successfully predict certain outcomes. Science is also a communicative process that builds on dialogue, questioning and cooperation, as opposed to dogma.

The scientific methods in research make psychology a science and their development and adaption to new methods and insights. Moreover, a clear (but not necessarily timeless) determination of the main research topics or “core Questions” that distinguishes psychology from other (similar) fields of science.Accordingly, many examples of different theories including different methods and especially their improvement and expansion were discussed during this course, e.g., Freuds psychoanalysis, Pavlov’s dogs, the prospect theory, etc.

2021-11-14 13:37:22 UTC

Psychology is a science because it follows the empirical method. It takes the scientific approach to understand human behavior.

2021-11-28 15:55:21 UTC

2022-11-21 13:50:31 UTC

Psychology is an encompassing umbrella term for many subfields, that make use of empirical methods and experiments with the goal of learning about the human psyche.
It is a science, because the basic processes of experiment, reliability and falsification are used.

2022-12-01 15:48:14 UTC

psychology is a science because as we saw psychologist try to make their observations more general. they try to formalize theories with mathematic laws, they try to collect empirical data, they experiment etc. A science is wanting to understand how things work, why they work and generalize them into laws and theories.

2022-12-04 13:33:16 UTC

Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Because every human is different and the brain is one of the most complicated things on earth it can be hard to create hypotheses and studies that stand the test of time and bear the same result over and over again. This, among other reasons is why psychology suffers from a replication crisis and is more prone to pseudoscience or fraud than other sciences.

However, with the help of controlled experiments, meta analysis of studies and major cross-cultural replications we can determine with a high Likelihood what is true and what is not.

A good example of this is psychotherapy, which in the beginning was dismissed by many as pseudoscience. This motivated psychologists to disprove such claims and they aimed to quantify and measure their results thoroughly. With the help of many studies and meta-analyses, it was found that psychotherapy is indeed beneficial.

Psychology is a steadily developing science that aims to understand the human mind and behavior better through evidence provided by studies.

2022-12-10 13:34:41 UTC

Psychology is a science since hypotheses can be tested and thus both supported or falsified in experimental settings. Its strong link to the biology of the human brain and the possibility to measure and interpret neurological phenomena has helped psychology to claim a secure spot among the most renowned sciences.

2022-12-13 10:51:03 UTC

Psychology is a science because it does not fullfil many criteria for being a pseudoscience mentioned in the text (e.g. reproducibility through standardisation). One can apply the falsification of Karl Popper (testing theories by trying to refute them) or one can use the criterion of puzzle-soving from Thomas Kuhn (refuting current theory leads to more questions and more puzzle-solving with a new theory trying to explain more than the old one). One also sees that psychology includes fact-finding processes (finding out how things really are) which is another argument for psychology being a science. Nevertheless some areas in psychology (e.g. Freudian psychoanalysis) are discussed controversially whether some areas are pseudosciencey or not as these fields fullfil more criteria for being a pseudoscience (e.g. reproducibility or having hand-picked cases). But psychology as a whole is in my opinion a science.

Psychology is considered a science because it relies on scientific methods to test hypotheses, collect and analyze data, and form theories. It is also based on empirical evidence, meaning it relies on observations, measurements, and experiments to draw conclusions. Additionally, psychological research is held to the same standards of quality and accuracy as other scientific fields.

2022-12-20 12:15:50 UTC

However, some people argue that psychology is not a science because it does not always adhere to the scientific method. For example, psychologists often rely on subjective interpretations of their observations, and their theories are not always based on rigorous experimentation. In addition to that, psychological research is sometimes based on anecdotal evidence and personal opinion rather than empirical evidence.

Ultimately, psychology is a field of scientific study, but it does not always adhere to the same standards as other sciences.

2023-11-08 14:40:59 UTC

Psychology is an empirical science, then it relays on facts and experiments.

It is also a science that relays on the natural science, such as maths or biology as at the same time relay on the social sickness such as sociology.

2023-11-19 14:46:36 UTC

Psychology is a.o. interested in human perception, thinking, and behavior. Knowledge surrounding these topics has been present way longer than scientific research regarding psychology resp. official institutions like Wund’s laboratory in Leipzig.

Therefore, it seems fair to say that a distinction has to be made between unscientific psychology and the science ( -> science has the aim of broadening knowledge and understanding). A corollary we can draw from this is that it is not solely the contents that makes a field into a science but the methodological approach.

Speaking of scientific methods, psychology nowadays does follow all aspects of the scientific method involving the formulation of hypotheses, systematic data collection, analysis, and drawing conclusions. This systematic and logical approach is a hallmark of scientific disciplines. Especially ever since the replication crisis, research is very cautious to meet high validity standards, including rigorous review and replications (In the beginning of the establishment of psy. however, various examples can be found of unscientific research based on anecdotal experience, imprecise experimentation or personal interpretations).

Psychology is often considered an empirical science, relying on observation and experimentation to systematically gather knowledge about human behavior and mental processes.

That being said, the field of psychology is broad and not all areas of psychology may fit neatly into a strict scientific framework.

Certainly, psychology can’t be fully allocated to neither the natural sciences nor social sciences. Whereas bio-psychology is a branch that is fully of natural scientific nature, social psychology tends to be a social science.

2023-11-26 13:00:22 UTC

psychology is progressive, it expands our understanding of the world by evidence, not by personal/subjective opinion, this evidence is created by systematic investigation therefore it is a "real" science

Psychology is an empirical science because it uses observation and measurement to collect new results. When starting a new study, psychologist have to first create a hypothesis, then operationalize it and check this hypothesis with scientific methods such as an experiment. They have to find clear evidence for their assumptions.

2023-11-26 16:41:46 UTC

Psychology is considered a science due to its systematic approach to understanding behavior and mental processes. It applies scientific methods, such as empirical research, experimentation, observation, and analysis, to study and explain human thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and interactions. It aims to generate knowledge based on evidence, test hypotheses, and build theories that can be validated through research and observation.

2023-11-26 19:27:16 UTC

2023-11-28 15:28:23 UTC

The Oxford Dictionary defines science as: "the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.."

Thus psychology most definitely can be viewed as a science. It is an attempt to understand a part of nature just like biology, physics, and chemistry.

2023-12-12 15:45:25 UTC

Despite its roots in philosophy and longtime classification as an art, there is no doubt that modern psychology is a science. Most of modern psychological data is collected and evaluated empirically, using the scientific method of hypothesis, experiment, evaluation in order to draw conclusions. The field of psychology is very broad, and as such covers a great many topics, many of which overlap with other sciences (especially biology, further cementing psychology’s position as not only a science, but an interdisciplinary science. Psychological ‘facts’ can be proven to the same degree as those of all other sciences, meaning they cannot be truly proven at all, but instead refuted (as per Karl Popper’s definition) or reworked to find a new paradigm with fewer discrepancies.