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Author Topic:   Is Psychology Science?
JustinC
Member (Idle past 4844 days)
Posts: 624
From: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Joined: 07-21-2003


Message 1 of 2 (404259)
06-07-2007 4:49 PM


First off, I'll broadly construe science as the activity of creating ideas and then exposing them to observation. That is, they make certain empiricial predictions that support the idea if verified or oppose the idea if not verified.
Psychology is the study of human behavior, or sometimes said to study the human psyche as manifested in human behavior. If is of my opinion that the discipline is riddled with pseudoscientific concepts and methodologies, especially clinical psychology.
First off, let's talk about psychological theories. Popper famously derided Freud's ideas as being unfalsifiable. At best, they were explanatory frameworks that helped one understand there own behavior and guide their lives. At worst, the obfuscated one's self-awareness and hindered their ability to accurately assess their internal problems. The question comes down to the fact that you can't really get objective evidence when it comes to psychological analysis. There is always the "leading the witness" problem. A patient may think at the end of a session that they gained some deep insights to their behavior, and this may be true. But how does one know they aren't merely interpreting their behavior interms of some arbitrary framework? How do you assess the theories contact with reality? How do I observe the Id, Ego, or Superego? Or how do I assess whether my actions are guided by unconscious motivations that aren't immediately apparent to my conscious self?
I think most of psychology, as practiced today, can be described similarly. Their is an increasing trend to label certain behavioral characteristics as disorders without accurately describing how a "normal" person should act. People constantly complain that they suffer from "depression" or "anxiety" or "ADHD". Shouldn't the inability to define "mental disorder" in a meaningful way give pause to the practitioners and open up a debate as to the efficacy of the incessant manufacturing of diseases?
Edited by JustinC, : No reason given.

AdminSchraf
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Message 2 of 2 (404289)
06-07-2007 9:14 PM


Thread copied to the Is Psychology Science? thread in the Is It Science? forum, this copy of the thread has been closed.

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