is PSYCHOLOGY really a science?

seribulan

from my reading...

Scientists in other fields, such as physics n chemistry, often criticize psychology as 'soft'. Many jokes reflect doubts about its validity as a science. British psychologist Hans Eysenck cites the cartoon in which one laboratory rat says to another, 'I sure got my human well conditioned- whenever I press this lever, he drops a food pellet into the chute.'

Some doubts r reasonable. Is it really valid to apply the results of animal experiments to human behavior, just because the animals' nervous systems r somewhat like our own? Can rats in a maze reveal anything significant about how humans think or for that matter about rats?

sisqeen

Psychology is a science which concerns itself with the study of behavior, both human and animal, and therefore interrelates with other disciplines such as philosophy, biology and sociology. In the minds of most though, psychology is connected with the treatment of mental disorders (clinical psychology) or assisting the resolution of relationship problems (counselling psychology).

Few realized that as the study of human and animal interaction involves how these organisms perceive the world around them and how they react to these perceptions, this interaction may be observed in all areas of human activity.

The areas of investigation for psychologist are therefore vast and varied as illustrated by the many specialized fields of psychology open for study, such as: Organizational Psychology, Environmental Psychology, Educational Psychology, Forensic Psychology and Sports Psychology.

Although psychology is a comparatively young science it is not static, it is growing all the time and influencing other disciplines, particularly those discipline which tended to place less importance on human interaction elements, such as: Engineering, Management and the Law.

mbhcsf

because of its subjectivity that's why some of us regards this as "un" scientifiic but with time, the approach, the methodology adopted by the discipline will be refined to maintain / reach some degree of objectivity.

the differences lie in the methodology : the settings, the way the data is collected, the form of data. But now there are loads of statistical analysis could be readily available in the maket that would help resrachers in thsi field to at least saying that their results are valid or significant becoz so ans so....so at least it will give some  meanings lah.


the use of animal models ?
well it can't be helped as human experimentation is considered as non - ethical. But in clinical trials ( READ : RANDOMISED CONTROL TRIAL, epdemiological studies) human is the main subjects but with strict clearancelah from the ethic research committee.

batman_2007

psychology is still in its infancy. There is no unified grand theory of psychology. But psychology does have its grand theories. The three would be psychoanalytic, cognitive, and behaviorism.

my-alja

heheheh...nie kalo dapat kat org tu..mesti dia tanya balik...apa itu sains?...bila dapat huraikan istilah sains, baru kita tahu psikologi nie sains atau seni...

moon, i pun pernah dgr...kawan2 hubby ramai british suka buat lawak pasal org yg belajar psikologi...but dun worry after a while they are so bzzz with their life, they will make an appoitment to see their fren...that pychologist

seribulan

Science (from the Latin scientia, 'knowledge'), in the broadest sense, refers to any systematic knowledge or practice. In a more restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on the scientific method, as well as to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research.

Fields of science are commonly classified along two major lines:

Natural sciences, which study natural phenomena (including biological life), and
Social sciences, which study human behavior and societies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science

Atomic_Omnikid

Originally posted by my-alja at 2-3-2008 10:45
heheheh...nie kalo dapat kat org tu..mesti dia tanya balik...apa itu sains?...bila dapat huraikan istilah sains, baru kita tahu psikologi nie sains atau seni...

kalo sains,benda tuh boleh dieksperimenkan dan teori/hukum akan menunjukkan result yg sama tak kira berapa kali eksperimen tu diulang..

nazadiyah

oooo interesting ....ermmm

mbhcsf

Originally posted by batman_2007 at 1-3-2008 07:46 PM
psychology is still in its infancy. There is no unified grand theory of psychology. But psychology does have its grand theories. The three would be psychoanalytic, cognitive, and behaviorism.

thus far there have been 40 school of thoughts concerning pyscology, each of the approaches mentioned , will likely to view this field ratherdiferentlly.

well ..methodology wise for one would set the empirical and behavioural sciences apart...
like in emprical science the more samples the better but say in cognitive neuropsychology for instance,  a single subject approach is consider ok..depends lah kot..

Nora_29

Hi kaka admin...huhu lamaaaaa tak check in board sini  as a person yang belajar subjek dlm bidang ni yes psikologi ni memang sains mengkaji tingkah laku manusia. There are many sub bidang psikologi such as klinikal, human development, testing & measurement, abnormal, pembelajaran, research ethics, cognitive and so on. Kena banyak membaca artikel jurnal, menganalisis dan mengkaji, pendek kata being as psychologist ni penat weh tapi iolls bukan psychologist ya. Mostly kerjaya ni tak banyak kat Malaysia tapi memang perlu sangat psychologist ni utk mudahkan kerja research dlm bidang human behavior.