psychology as a science

Question 1

what is the scientific method

Answer 1

• a scientific method consists of having a theory, developing a hypothesis from the theory, testing it against reality and then from the findings either accepting/rejecting the hypothesis and modifying the theory
• the modified/accepted theory is then tested against reality… cycle continues

Question 2

describe and explain the issues in psychology as a science

Answer 2

1. empiricism - the idea that knowledge can only come through our senses (sight, smell, sound, taste, touch)
2. reductionism - the idea of breaking down a complex phenomenon into simpler, more measurable components
3. falsification - the idea that we cannot prove anything true, we can only show when something is not true
4. objectivity - neutrality in conducting research and interpreting results
5. replicability - refers to how much a study can be repeated
6. hypothesis testing - developing statements of what a theory predicts might happen and then developing a way of testing them against reality

Question 3

define a science

Answer 3

A science can be described as the pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence

Question 4

why is falsifiability important ?

Answer 4

• Karl Popper mentions that a true Science can be 100% falsifiable
• if a theory cannot be completely disproved, not because of a lack of scientific evidence but due to how vague the theory is, it cannot be considered a Science.

Question 5

evaluate reconstructive memory in cognitive psychology as a science

Answer 5

• Bartlett suggested reconstructive memory, where schemas reconstruct our memories based on previous experiences rather than recording memory like a tape recorder
• Bartlett supported this with the Ghosts of War study, where participants read a native story and would shorten it to confabulate details and rationalise the culturally different details of the story to their own understanding
• the procedure of this study was poor, participants could recall the study to him at any time and were given an unspecified amount of time to read the story, lack of standardised procedure so we cannot conclude the study supports the idea of schemas

Question 6

evaluate Baddeleys 1966b study in cognitive psychology as a science

Answer 6

• Aimed to find if long-term memory encoded acoustically/semantically
• carrying out a lab experiment which gave him control over extraneous variables like the hearing of participants (participants given a hearing test, when found that some participants had hearing difficulties words were presented on a slide 1 word per 3 seconds
• this standardised his procedure which meant it can be easily replicable to check for validity
• gave quantitative results of human memory encoding which could be measured, tested and falsified

Question 7

evaluate Milgrams + burger obedience study in social psychology as a science

Answer 7

• milgram conducted multiple studies after his baseline experiment, where he would follow strict standardised procedures (the 4 pre-scripted prods) ensuring a high level of reliability whilst changing variables in order to compare results (e.g. the setting of the experiment)
• proved that his study can be replicated, highly scientific
• study further replicated by Burger, who found that the obedience rate was only slightly lower than Milgram found, 70% pressed the 150 V button compared 82.5% in Milgrams experiment 5
• shows that the results are replicable

Question 8

Evaluate brain scans in biological psychology as a science

Answer 8

• Biopsychology uses physiological measurements and collects quantitative data
• Adrian Raine’s study used brain scans and a glucose tracer, making it highly scientific as it collects empirical data
• Additionally, the use of animals in biological psychology allows for scientific rigour to be applied as the experimenter has more control, enabling objective data to be collected wherever possible and establishing a clear cause-and-effect relationship.

Question 9

Evaluate the psychodynamic theory in biological psychology as a science

Answer 9

the psychodynamic approach is arguably the least scientific; ideas such as the id, ego and superego may have face value but cannot be proven to exist (Freud had no access to brain scanning techniques and there are similarities with the ID linked to the Amygdala and the prefrontal cortex Ego and Area of the of the brain linked

Question 10

Evaluate Pavlovs study in learning theories as a science

Answer 10

• It has high reliability
• It used standardised procedures and it was carefully documented
• Pavlov repeated the study many times over 25 years, with different dogs and different neutral stimuli
• He got different researchers to observe the dog and measure the volume saliva produced, collecting empirical objective data
• This gives the research inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability

Question 11

Evaluate Banduras study in learning theories as a science

Answer 11

• The study was carefully set up and controlled lab experiment
• For example, care was taken to get the children into a similar emotional state before the observation and to set up measurable acts that could be recorded
• This means that cause and effect conclusions can be drawn because the variables were isolated and operationalized with controls
• There was reliability of the measurement of the dependent variable
• One judge didn’t know to which condition the child has been allocated to - a blind procedure was used to avoid bias when recording the play behavior
• Therefore results were reliable
• Two judges were used and their observations were checked for reliability