How can psychology be considered a scientific discipline

Many philosophers of science use examples from physics, chemistry and biology to construct their argument. This includes the famous correspondence principle which is firmly articulated around theories from physics. How is Psychological Science influenced by social aspects of the science, both through collaboration and opposition? Is the evolution of psychological theory comparable to theoretical evolutions in domains such as physics and chemistry?

Is there truly a single discipline that can be called Psychological Science? Finally, researchers may be aware of some interesting trivia about why a certain country is strong in a particular area or what the reason is that topic Z is only researched in this particular way. These trivia do not lend themselves for a full article. However, we are happy to collate these acknowledging the contributor and add them to the Research Topic.

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Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author. Submission closed. Beside this, why is psychology considered scientific? Psychology is a science because it follows the empirical method. It is this emphasis on the empirically observable that made it necessary for psychology to change its definition from the study of the mind because the mind itself could not be directly observed to the science of behavior. Also Know, what makes psychology a scientific discipline quizlet?

Psychology is a scientific discipline because it is a systematic and controlled study of human behaviour, with the hope of establishing cause-and-effect relationships or describing behaviour. Focuses on how environment and culture affect behaviour or thinking. Psychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior.

Psychology also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity, including relating to individuals' daily lives and the treatment of mental illness. Asked by: Carine Ulierte medical health mental health Why is psychology considered a scientific discipline?

Last Updated: 22nd October, Psychology is considered as a science because it studies how humans and animals behave under certain conditions. For example; let's consider how a dog salivate. This theory was proposed by Ivan Pavlov — , a Russian physiologist. He discovered that dogs were salivating before they taste their food. Is psychologist a doctor? Psychiatrists are medical doctors with at least 11 years of training — usually more.

If they have a Doctorate PhD a psychologist can call themselves 'Dr', but they are not medical doctors. Clinical psychologists have special training in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. Grigory Presencia Professional. What is subjectivity in psychology? Subjectivity refers to a person's perspective or opinion, particular feelings, beliefs, and desires. It is often used casually to refer to unsubstantiated personal opinions, in contrast to knowledge and fact-based beliefs.

Buster Cirujeda Professional. What are the four goals of psychology? There are four basic goals of psychology: to describe , explain, predict , and control behavior Coon, Mitterer, More so the 6 key features of a science being, empirical evidence, objectivity, control, predictability, hypothesis testing and replication will be used to prove that psychology can be referred to as a science.

Pastorino and Portillo defined psychology as the study of human mental processes. Science therefore refers to the empirical methods of investigation and seeks to justify a belief in the truth or falsity of an empirical method. Basing on these definitions above therefore psychology becomes a science due to the fact that it involves use of empirical or research methods to understand human and animal behavior hence it came to be considered a science in after Wilhelm Wundt brought about the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig German.

Case study is one empirical method used in psychology which proves that psychology is a science. In a case study nearly every aspect of the subject life and history is analysed to seek patterns and causes of behaviour Kasschau , The hope is that learning gained from studying one case can be generalized to many after others which is a fact that makes psychology a science through the use of this method.

In natural sciences a molecule for example potassium reacts violently when put in water this means that this can be said to be true to all potassium molecules. Psychologists and other social scientist devised the survey method to gather data from a sample that represents a larger population and this is according to Crossen Surveys are often used because they can be efficient ways to collect large amounts of information.

During this research a sample is collected to reflect the characteristics of a large group population. Questions must be carefully recorded to elicit meaningful and useful responses. Surveys can also be conducted in face to face interviews, by telephone and even the computer. Face to face interviews allow asking for collection of answers. The fact that we can describe and explain the results we get and be able to predict future behavior and most probably change it for the better makes psychology a science.

Another method that proves that psychology is a science is the correlation research method. It is an empirical method that studies naturally occurring associations among 2 or more factors. It asks whether 2 or more factors are naturally associated. In natural sciences like biology scientists also study the relationship between temperature and transpiration rates.

An experiment conducted by Fowler et al said that drinking soft drinks was correlated with overweight. Therefore, with the above mentioned methods one can safely say that psychology is a science. To prove that psychology is a science we will also look at the experimental research method. The method is used to provide a description of human behaviour and seems to provide an explanation of that behaviour.

The researcher investigates the relationship between two or more variables by deliberately changing one variable in a controlled situation and observing the effects of that change on other aspects of the situation Lilienfeld, et al The method allows us to address the problem of explanation that the correlation method has.

In addition, it goes beyond the descriptive problem towards providing answers as to how and why that behaviour comes out.