Is psychology a real science?

Psychology as a discipline has been around for thousands of years, with some form of it being found in numerous ancient civilizations. However, as it has become more common for people to seek psychological help in recent years, the validity of science as a discipline has been questioned. Professionals in the field of science have debated it for years; is psychology a legitimate science, or is it a farce?

Psychology is a real science

Psychology is a science because there are established methodologies for deriving psychological knowledge.

Psychology follows the scientific method

Psychology follows the same steps to obtaining conclusions as in any scientific field. Therefore it is, by definition, a science.

Psychology can predict human behaviors

Just as hard sciences can predict outcomes based on their findings, so can psychology predict human behaviors based on experience.

Psychology gains knowledge through experience

Knowledge is the end product which science strives to find. It can be gained not only by logic, but by experience as well.

Psychology is not a real science

There are limits to psychology's accuracy and data acquisition, which makes it impossible to consider it a real science.

Psychology's findings are inconclusive

Even though psychology follows the scientific method, the conclusions that it reaches are only theoretical at best.

Researchers can fudge their results

The conclusions reached by researchers in psychology can be altered to suit the needs of the researcher and can be unreliable.

Psychology doesn't have an agreed upon central body of knowledge

Unlike each of the hard sciences, psychology fails to deliver a concrete body of knowledge that is universally agreed upon by professionals in the field.

Psychology is a science, but not a hard one

Psychology is a "soft science," which means that it is difficult to reach a concrete conclusion as in hard sciences.

Psychology studies only abstract phenomenons.

Psychology studies human behavior, which is an intangible product of the mind.
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This page was last edited on Tuesday, 7 Apr 2020 at 13:23 UTC