The Science of Psychology

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses the difficulties in studying psychology scientifically. The paper shows that psychology is not studied as a science yet is valid and useful when studied using nonscientific methods. The paper examines how an experiment involving people can never hold all factors constant, and so the results can not be considered as being due to one single factor, making scientific methods difficult to apply in theory. The paper further examines behaviorism, an approach based on observing people's behavior. The writer concludes that psychology becomes an applied science where the results and outcomes are important regardless of whether any type of theory can be scientifically proven.

From the Paper:

"One of the qualities of science is that suggested hypotheses are presented and then experiments are completed to find the evidence that will either support or disprove the theory. This is part of the scientific method. The scientific method is described as a series of steps that scientists use (Brown, LeMay, & Bursten 1994, p. 7). The first step is the collect information or data. The second step is to find patterns in the data. The next step is to develop and test hypotheses. The final step is to develop a theory from the tests and their results."

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