Discuss to What Extent Psychology Can Be Considered a Science.
Discuss to What Extent Psychology Can Be Considered a Science. According to Merriam Webster (2008), science is a, “knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method”, with scientific method in five steps being, “observation/research, hypothesis, prediction, experimentation and conclusion.” (sciencemadesimple.com, 2006). With this to consider, is psychology a science and if so, to what extent. It would be fair to say that psychology has not always been looked on as a science and its early roots were in fact based in philosophy. This fact is highlighted in the word itself, Greek in origin, psyche meaning soul and logos meaning the study of a subject (Sdorow & Rickabaugh, 2002). However, the modern concept of psychology as a science was founded in 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt created the first experimental laboratory relating to the subject. He believed it was possible to base the study of psychology on the same principles and methodology of the sciences (Passer & Smith, 2007). His approach became known as Structuralism and using a method of introspection, he was able to test a variety of sensory stimuli on participants who were then expected to explain their inner experiences. Based on this quantifiable results could be produced and hypotheses could be confirmed or discarded based on this information, therefore following the scientific method. This laid the foundations for psychology to be treated as a science and began to lead to the development of the six main perspectives within the discipline. Each of the perspectives is based on a different explanation as to why people behave in certain ways. They also use different ways in which to reach their conclusions and it is this that will determine to what extent psychology can be a science. The Behavioural perspective moved on from Wundt’s’ work in that it was felt that observable behaviour rather than inner consciousness acting on external influences
References: Passer, M.W., & Smith R.E., (Eds) (2007) Psychology The science of mind and behaviour (3rd Ed.) New York, USA: McGraw-Hill Hogg, M.A., & Vaughan G. M., (Eds) (2002) Social Psychology (3rd Ed.) Essex, UK: Pearson Education Ltd Science. (2008). In Merriam Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved October 14, 2008, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/science Understanding and using the Scientific Method (2006). Retrieved October 14, 2008, from http://sciencemadesimple.com/scientific_method.html