Psychology as a science Flashcards
For psychology to be considered a study, studies and experiments must:
A science can produce hypotheses that are falsifiable - trying to disprove rather than prove a hypothesis. Psychology is not able to do this as the subject matter involves humans and there will be elements of chance and individual differences
Science studies concepts in a reductionist manner vs. holistic
According to Popper to be a science there should be an overarching paradigm
A science uses data collection and hypothesis testing to progress knowledge in a research area
Use of animals where all conditions can be carefully and closely controlled
Methodology such as laboratory experiments is seen as fulfilling scientific criteria
Objectivity is considered to make something more scientific whereas subjectivity makes it less scientific.
Clinical
Highly scientific as it builds theoretical explanations through use of empirical research methods for the causes of disorders and develops treatments based on these explanations.
For example, biological theories for depression have been developed through the manipulation of neurotransmitters and observation of the effect.
Clinical psychology has also progressed the development of brain-imaging techniques, now used in research to investigate the relationship between brain structure and function.
Social
The intention of social psychology was to become more scientific and to focus on experimentation to understand group dynamics and behaviour.
Social psychology uses experiments in a natural setting so can be affected by extraneous variables which is less scientific
Social psychology can see the influence of obedience and prejudice but finds it difficult to operationalise these concepts which could be considered unscientific. As group dynamics rarely exist in a social vacuum, but are affected by social, historical and cultural events which continually change. So any scientific approach taken to study human behaviour through experimentation should acknowledge this.
Uses unstructured interviews and analyse qualitative data to explore concepts such as prejudice. Unstructured interviews using qualitative data are less controlled and less empirical than experiments and can therefore be considered less scientific.
They will also be harder to replicate as all interviews regarding the same structure will be different as psychologist will explore themes freely, therefore may be less reliable as they cannot be repeated to the same degree.
Cognitive
Cognitive psychology has difficulties as it is attempting to measure brain functioning, something which is somewhat subjective and less scientific as brain scans such as fMRI as it requires interpretation of activation maps to determine where more oxygen has been consumed. (ALSO BIOLOGICAL)
Collect empirical data which can be tested using statistical tests and hypotheses refuted or not so which is scientific.
Cognitive psychology takes a nomothetic stance in the search for general laws of how memory works which a scientific approach is.
Experiments are used to confirm people as the same in their processes/strategies e.g. multistore model of memory is a scientific approach. Dominant research method used is the laboratory experiment, which means controls are used to establish causality between independent and dependent variables, and research has replicability.
Biological 1
Biological psychology uses physiological measurements to collect quantitative data, such as the analysis of blood tests.
Not all measures are completely objective, as correlational method is a common technique that lacks some of the rigour of science in that clear cause and effect conclusions cannot be drawn.
The use of a high degree of control in biological psychology where all conditions can be carefully and closely controlled leaving little opportunity for confounding variables to affect results is scientific. (ALSO COGNITIVE)
As biological experiments in psychology collect empirical data which can be tested using statistical tests and hypotheses refuted or not so which is scientific
Case studies of brain damaged patients, for example H.M can be useful in falsifying theories which is a feature of science.
Biological 2
Biological psychology uses animals where all conditions can be carefully and closely controlled. Can have low ecological validity as its conditions do not represent their normal environment.
Concepts such as the id/ego/superego, though they may seem intuitively reasonable cannot be proven to exist so are unfalsifiable which is unscientific. The psychodynamic approach is seen as less scientific as so much of it is difficult to test, as well as subjective.
Biological psychology can reduce human behaviour such as aggression to genetic factors such as the MAOA gene so could be considered reductionist and therefore more scientific.
Learning
Learning theories and cognitive psychology adopt experimental methods which can be objective and therefore scientific.
Behaviourists create testable hypotheses and collect empirical evidence using objective methods.
Concerned with only observable behaviour that can be scientifically studied and objectively recorded.
Clinical
Highly scientific as it builds theoretical explanations through use of empirical research methods for the causes of disorders and develops treatments based on these explanations.
For example, biological theories for depression have been developed through the manipulation of neurotransmitters and observation of the effect.
Clinical psychology has also progressed the development of brain-imaging techniques, now used in research to investigate the relationship between brain structure and function.
