PY4 - Controversies - Psychology As A Science Flashcards
Explain the advantage ‘science should provide a clear understanding of human behaviour’.
E: psychology theories can help us to understand human behaviour
E: localisation of brain function ➡️ Phineas Gage ➡️ frontal lobe damaged
C: Freud’s theory ➡️ although it can predict behaviour, it doesn’t do so in a scientific way
Explain the advantage ‘science should provide ideas and theories that are simple and to the point’.
E: many theories try to simplify ideas and follow a simple ‘agreed set of rules’ like science ➡️ reductionist
E: attractiveness effecting eye witness testimony
C: some research in science uses non scientific methods such as case studies ➡️ non reductionionist
Explain the advantage of using scientific methodology.
E:high control and standardised procedures used in lab experiments mean that cause and effect can be easily established and that use some methodology similar to science methodology.
E: Milgrams research is high in control over variables such as the increments between shocks, prompts given by the researcher and that the shocks were fake.
C: not all psychology uses scientific methods e.g. questionnaires and observational studies
Why is ‘science makes predictions about future behaviours’ a factor against psychology being a science?
E: there are a lot of contrasting theories meaning that we’re not always able to make predictions
E: theories of hypnosis are state and non state and neither can be proved, they’re just alternate theories.
C: genetic theory can be proved by lookin into family histories
Why is ‘science is objective’ a factor against psychology being a science?
E: only experimental methods in psychology are objective
E: case studies and observations are subjective to interpretation by the researcher therefore not scientific
C: other sciences can be objective e.g. Physics has a number of contradicting theories
Why is ‘science is falsifiable’ a factor against psychology being a science?
E: many psychological theories can’t be falsified
E: rahe - life events effecting illness can’t be proved or disproved
C: just because something can’t be falsified doesn’t mean that it isn’t possible for it to be true e.g. The unconscious mind
Define what is meant by the term science (3 marks)
Science aims to objectively and systematically gather knowledge about the world in order to predict or control it. A psychological example of this is that antidepressants control seretonin to prevent depression. The method used to gain scientific knowledge is known as the scientific method. Science can be split into hard (eg chemistry) and soft (eg psychology).
