Psychology as a science

Question 1

what is the case for psychology as a science?

Answer 1

• lifts our understanding of human behaviour above common sense
• adopts a scientific model of enquiry and so gives itself greater credibility by being placed alongside traditonal sciences

Question 2

what is the case against psychology as a science?

Answer 2

• some methods are subjective, non-standardised and unscientific
• it is difficult to produce universal laws as rps are rarely representative
• much of the subject matter cannot be directly observed and must be based on inference

Question 3

what is assumption 1 of the debate?

Answer 3

psychologists study the mind and behavior from and objective point of view

Question 4

what is the supporting evidence for assumption 1?

Answer 4

most psychologists follow the scientific method and aim to be objective

Question 5

what are other issues with assumption 1?

Answer 5

it has been argued that it is impossible for one human to study another human in an objective way

Question 6

what is assumption 2 of the debate?

Answer 6

for something to be considered scientific it must be falsifiable (the theory should be able to be proved wrong)

Question 7

what is the supporting evidence for assumption 2

?

Answer 7

as most theories in psychology can be proved wrong it is argued psychology is a science

Question 8

what are other issues with assumption 2?

Answer 8

there are some theories within psychology which cant be falsified e.g freuds psychodynamic theory

Question 9

what is meant by peer review?

Answer 9

the process of subjecting another researchers work to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the field