Psychology: Science in Action – Who are psychologists?

[Lill_shaikha]

I am psychology student and I want to be like them...

[brainstormingsharing]

Absolutely well done and definitely keep it up!!! 👍👍👍👍👍

[stanleyklein]

Psychology is not a science. Two key criteria to qualify as a scientific approach to acquisition of knowledge are objectivity and quantification.

As regards objectivity, the very thing that makes psychological inquiry distinct from biological investigation is its (supposed, not typical) focus on the subjective causes of behavior. Subjectivity is, by definition, not objectivity. There are no objective means of assessing subjectivity absent reducing the experiential aspects of reality to objective (currently conceived as material/physical) aspects. If that is undertaken, then the subjective essence of a phenomena is reduced out of existence.

Second, quantification in psychology is a game, at best. We assign numbers to concepts lacking any measurable physical properties (think Likert scale). What, for instance, are the units of a thought? Absent units, there is no justifiable quantification for measure. More, our so-called scientific theories permit the parametric precision of "effect present/effect absent" (e.g., try predicting the numeric outcome on ANY memory study. You can't. All you can say is that if the IV is in play as hoped, the experimental condition will differ by some non-specifiable amount from a comparison condition). In short, our "numbers" are simply proxies for the words "more" and "less".

[stanleyklein]

Who are psychologists? Simple. They are folk who have been credentialed well beyond their capabilities.