1. Psychology as a science
Issues & debates
Psychology as a science

2. What you need to be able to do:
Describe the debate over what science is and how far psychology fits the definition
Evaluate whether psychology should be called a ‘science’
Compare the 5 approaches from units 1 & 2 according to how scientific their contents and methods are

3. Psychology a science? Who cares?!
Psychology is a relatively new subject discipline and it has often struggled to be taken as seriously as ‘traditional’ science subjects such as biology, chemistry and physics – why do you think this is?
If psychology was to be regarded as a science then:
there is the possibility that the subject could have a greater status
it also helps us to think about what psychology is and how psychology should be done

4. So, what IS the debate? First, let’s consider – what is ‘science?’
Think of some words that come to mind when you hear the word ‘science’
do any of these apply to any aspects of psychology?
Which aspects and how?

5. Scientific terms?? Hypothesis/hypotheses Variables Controls
Reductionism
Falsification

6. Traditional view of science:
Objective
Involves careful observation and experimentation
Produces general laws

7. An updated definition
Key features –
The hypothetico-deductive model (theory → hypothesis → testing → theory confirmed/amended/rejected)
Controlled observation
In general the scientific approach can be said to have the following features in common:
Objectivity: science subjects should be free from personal views and feeling; this is known as being subjective.
Falsifiability: theories should be able to be disproved. If a theory can be disproved it clearly does not work and, alternatively, if a theory can be proved it does work.
Replicability: only the findings from methods that can be replicated by others are accepted.

8. Think Obese Fat Rat

9. Remember our scientific terms…

10. Is Psychology a science?
All sciences share a common method of investigation.
Systematic empiricism (“data-driven”)
Production of public knowledge (“objectivity”)
a) replication
b) peer review
Examination of solvable problems (not looking for the meaning of life); “empirical questions”
Why this method? You can’t just assume that things will happen the way that you think they will (biases). You need to have evidence!

11. Does Psychology fit the criteria of science?
Psychology uses the scientific method to study the full range of human and non-human behaviour, and its applications are scientifically based.
Psychology is not just Freud! The full range of behaviour encompasses many topics. The research methods are very different, but systematic observation is common to all topics.
the above lead to further study and replication

12. Does Psychology fir the criteria of science?
Production of public knowledge for peer review
publications (journals, books)
presentations, talks, posters
Asks solvable questions
uses operational definitions (terms of measurement) to test hypotheses (predictions) derived from theories (concepts that explain data and predict future events)

13. Applied to psychology ...
How can any or all of these features/definitions/goals be applied to psychology?
Let’s focus on the 5 approaches:
Biological
Cognitive
Behaviourism / Learning
Psychodynamic
Social

14. Activity main theories research methods,
relation to features and goals of science,
write a short passage explaining how scientific this approach is – you must justify any points made

15. Each group member will have a different colour pen – I expect to see contributions from ALL members!
When you have finished, pass to the next group who must note any additions/challenges/questions to the table; this will continue until all tables have been passed around to all groups
All tables will be put on the Blog

16. For Psych as a Science
Scientific research is desirable- Those who sought to create a science from psychology were able to do so by producing verifiable evidence.
Certain areas of psychology are scientific. E.g. physiological, and genetic psychology.

17. Against Psych as a Science
Psychological experiments lack external validity. That is finding from experiments are not always supported by real life observations.
Psychological experiments lack internal validity, that is, the observed effects may result from variables other than experimental manipulation.
What other problems do psychologists face when conducting experiments??

18. Induction & Deduction (combine to produce scientific method)
Inductive process
3.Generate hypothesis
4.Test with experiments
5.Reject/Refine Theory.
1.Make observations
2.Produce laws/Theories
Deductive process

19. Deductive and Inductive reasoning
Inductive process- Reasoning from particular to general E.g. Scientists may observe instances of a natural phenomenon and derive a general law (inductive)
Deductive process- Reasoning from general to particular. E.g. Start with a theory & look for instances that confirm this (deduction).

20. Against Deductive Reasoning.
The concept of Falsibility.
Theories are not fine tuned by successive experiments.
Normal science Revolutionary shift
NEW THEORY PREVAILS AND A SHIFT IN OPINION OCCURS!!
ONE THEORY REMAINS DOMINANT UNTIL GROWING EVIDENCE PROVES OTHERWISE AND THE THEORY CAN NO LONGER BE MAINTAINED.

21. Against Inductive reasoning.
Theories should be refutable and should aim to falsify rather than support theories
Falsification is best achieved by advancing bold and precise hypotheses, and if the theory is falsified it should be rejected.
Thus Popper (key researcher) suggests that science is advanced through refutation rather than support.
This is why we always ensure that we include null hypotheses.

22. We need to consider ...
As psychologists are we looking for the same achievements as other scientist's?
X causes Y in physics but can we say the same for human behaviour?
Falsibility- Freud's theory is not falsifiable…if a theory cannot be falsified it is not scientific

23. In addition ...
There are success stories in psychology based upon lab experiments i.e. bystander behaviour
But – can we study humans in lab conditions the same as we can study substance/gases/plants, etc? – behaviour can be different under artificial conditions
However -
Similar problems occur with other sciences
Heisenberg (1927) argued that it is not possible to measure subatomic particle without altering it’s behaviour by doing the measurement

24. A new definition of science?
Do we need a new definition of science to incorporate all aspects of Psychology?

25. Tasks Ensure pg 53-54 are complete Complete pg 56 – MODEL ANSWER!!
Exam question – mark scheme will be on the blog – peer mark question
Tables from today will be on the blog.. Pg 55 is a summary table for todays lesson

26. That’s it!!!!