What makes psychology a scientific discipline

We learn through experience that if we give someone bad news, he or she may blame us even though the news was not our fault. We learn that people may become depressed after they fail at an important task. We see that aggressive behaviour occurs frequently in our society, and we develop theories to explain why this is so. These insights are part of everyday social life. In fact, much research in psychology involves the scientific study of everyday behaviour Heider, ; Kelley, The problem, however, with the way people collect and interpret data in their everyday lives is that they are not always particularly thorough.

Often, when one explanation for an event seems right, we adopt that explanation as the truth even when other explanations are possible and potentially more accurate. For example, eyewitnesses to violent crimes are often extremely confident in their identifications of the perpetrators of these crimes.

People may also become convinced of the existence of extrasensory perception ESP , or the predictive value of astrology, when there is no evidence for either Gilovich, In summary, accepting explanations for events without testing them thoroughly may lead us to think that we know the causes of things when we really do not.

The research demonstrated that, at least under certain conditions and although they do not know it , people frequently prefer brand names that contain the letters of their own name to brand names that do not contain the letters of their own name. The research participants were recruited in pairs and were told that the research was a taste test of different types of tea. For example, for Jonathan and Elisabeth, the names of the teas would have been Jonoki and Elioki. The participants were then shown 20 packets of tea that were supposedly being tested.

Eighteen packets were labelled with made-up Japanese names e. The experimenter explained that each participant would taste only two teas and would be allowed to choose one packet of these two to take home. One of the two participants was asked to draw slips of paper to select the two brands that would be tasted at this session.

Then, while the teas were being brewed, the participants completed a task designed to heighten their need for self-esteem, and that was expected to increase their desire to choose a brand that had the letters of their own name. Specifically, the participants all wrote about an aspect of themselves that they would like to change. After the teas were ready, the participants tasted them and then chose to take a packet of one of the teas home with them.

After they made their choice, the participants were asked why they chose the tea they had chosen, and then the true purpose of the study was explained to them. Furthermore, the decisions were made unconsciously; the participants did not know why they chose the tea they chose. Once we learn about the outcome of a given event e.

Of course, both of these contradictory outcomes cannot be true. The problem is that just reading a description of research findings leads us to think of the many cases we know that support the findings, and thus makes them seem believable. The tendency to think that we could have predicted something that has already occurred that we probably would not have been able to predict is called the hindsight bias. All scientists, whether they are physicists, chemists, biologists, sociologists, or psychologists, use empirical methods to study the topics that interest them.

Empirical methods include the processes of collecting and organizing data and drawing conclusions about those data. The empirical methods used by scientists have developed over many years and provide a basis for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data within a common framework in which information can be shared.

We can label the scientific method as the set of assumptions, rules, and procedures that scientists use to conduct empirical research. Although scientific research is an important method of studying human behaviour, not all questions can be answered using scientific approaches.

Statements that cannot be objectively measured or objectively determined to be true or false are not within the domain of scientific inquiry. Scientists therefore draw a distinction between values and facts. Because values cannot be considered to be either true or false, science cannot prove or disprove them.

Nevertheless, as shown in Table 1. For instance, science may be able to objectively measure the impact of unwanted children on a society or the psychological trauma suffered by women who have abortions. The effect of imprisonment on the crime rate in Canada may also be determinable.

This factual information can and should be made available to help people formulate their values about abortion and incarceration, as well as to enable governments to articulate appropriate policies.

Values also frequently come into play in determining what research is appropriate or important to conduct. Although scientists use research to help establish facts, the distinction between values and facts is not always clear-cut. Sometimes statements that scientists consider to be factual turn out later, on the basis of further research, to be partially or even entirely incorrect.

Although scientific procedures do not necessarily guarantee that the answers to questions will be objective and unbiased, science is still the best method for drawing objective conclusions about the world around us. When old facts are discarded, they are replaced with new facts based on newer and more correct data. Although science is not perfect, the requirements of empiricism and objectivity result in a much greater chance of producing an accurate understanding of human behaviour than is available through other approaches.

The study of psychology spans many different topics at many different levels of explanation , which are the perspectives that are used to understand behaviour.

The same topic can be studied within psychology at different levels of explanation, as shown in Table 1. Studying and helping alleviate depression can be accomplished at low levels of explanation by investigating how chemicals in the brain influence the experience of depression. At the middle levels of explanation, psychological therapy is directed at helping individuals cope with negative life experiences that may cause depression.

What is a main concern about psychology as a discipline quizlet? What makes psychology a scientific discipline quizlet? What makes psychology a scientific discipline? What are the 4 big ideas in social psychology?

What are some social psychology topics? Is psychology an empirical? Why is psychology not empirical? What is the empirical method in psychology? What is Falsifiability in psychology? Is psychology really a science? Is Psychology a Science ?

Can psychology be proven? Is Psychology a serious science? What exactly does psychology stand for? What kind of science is psychology? Is Psychology a humanity? What is humanity in psychology?

What are the highest paying jobs in psychology? Is Psychology a humanity or science? Does psychology fall under health science? In other sciences as well there also experiments where there are controls and experiments for example testing for starch a leaf with starch turns blue black and the experiment variegated leaf remains brown.

The random assignment method is another method used in psychology used to prove that psychology is a science. It refers to the use of chance procedures in psychology experiments to ensure that each participant has the same opportunity to be assigned to any given group study participants are randomly assigned to.

Study participants are randomly assigned to different groups such as the experimental or treatment group. Random assignment might involve such tactics as flipping a coin, drawing names out of a hat and assigning random numbers to participants. The fact that this method is just based in looking for facts not beliefs hence involves the pursuit of science which implies that facts will speak for itself proves that psychology is a science.

Psychology is a scientific discipline because it uses naturalistic observations. Naturalistic observation helps to establish the external validity of laboratory findings. When ethical and moral considerations prevent experimental control, naturalistic observation is an important research strategy.

This type of observation gives results straight from the field without any intervention. Thus in carrying out researches the psychologists also maintain objectivity which is also a core value for a subject to be considered as a scientific. It is the most widely used branch of mathematics in quantitative research outside of the physical sciences, and also finds applications within the physical sciences, such as in statistical mechanics. Statistical methods are used extensively within fields such as social sciences and biology.

Quantitative research using statistical methods typically begins with the collection of data based on a theory or hypothesis, followed by the application of descriptive or inferential statistical methods. Causal relationships are studied by manipulating factors thought to influence the phenomena of interest while controlling other variables relevant to the experimental outcomes.

In the field of health, for example, researchers might measure and study the relationship between dietary intake and measurable physiological effects such as weight loss, controlling for other key variables such as exercise. To add on, quantitatively based opinion surveys are widely used in the media, with statistics such as the proportion of respondents in favor of a position commonly reported. In opinion surveys, respondents are asked a set of structured questions and their responses are tabulated.

In the field of climate science, researchers compile and compare statistics such as temperature or atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide. Therefore, since psychology uses statistics as a research method is possible to say that psychology can be said to be a scientific discipline.

Eventually with the above mentioned methods prove that psychology is a scientific discipline. The methods such as correlation, experiments, naturalistic observations among others are what makes psychology a scientific discipline.

The methods are also aided by the fact that psychology maintains objectivity when carrying out researches. Breakwell, G. Crossen, C. Kasschau, A, R.