Edexcel Psychology for A Level Year 2: Student Book

The debate Science aims to find general laws in order to predict and control aspects of the world. In the case of psychology, this is about understanding, predicting and controlling people’s emotions, behaviours and thinking. This may sound sinister, but remember that psychology aims to improve lives, so we might want to change the emotions, behaviours and/or thinking of people with depression. What makes a science a science? In the research methods part of the course (Year 1 book) you learned about the features that give psychology a scientific status. These are listed on the right. Psychology is a science The scientific method Psychology, like other sciences, uses the scientific method and well-controlled experiments. Consider the controls used in Adrian Raine et al .’s (1997, Y1 page 102) study of aggression to exclude confounding variables and make their study more valid , such as matching participants by sex, age, ethnicity and schizophrenia diagnosis. Or consider the focus on inter-observer reliability in Albert Bandura et al .’s social learning experiments (1961, Y1 page 140). Standardised procedures in these studies make replication possible to check validity. Therefore, human behaviour can be objectively measured, tested and ideas falsified . Some psychology is ‘hard’ science Biological, genetic and behavioural psychology (learning theories) are based on subject matter that is derived from ‘hard’ sciences. Such topics are clearly scientific. ‘Hard’ science is imperfect too Critics suggest that demand characteristics challenge the internal validity of all psychological research, even with animals. However, the same problems exist in hard sciences. Karl Heisenberg (1927) argued that it is not even possible to measure a subatomic particle without altering its ‘behaviour’ in doing the measurement. This uncertainty principle is a kind of experimenter effect: the presence of an experimenter changes the behaviour of what is being observed even in physics. ‘Soft’ science can be scientific Data from interviews, observations etc. can be triangulated – findings from different methods are compared to verify them. For example, the pseudopatients in David Rosenhan’s (1973, Y2 page 50) study collected data including from conversations, observations and measurements (counting contact time with staff). This means that the objectivity and validity of qualitative data can be established, adding to the credibility of the findings. Psychology as a science Psychology is not a science Falsifiability Some ideas in psychology are not falsifiable. For example, Freudian theories such as the parts of the unconscious cannot be demonstrated to be untrue (Y1 page 106). This lack of falsifiability means that the theory cannot be scientific. Objectivity Studies looking at feelings and conscious experience are necessarily subjective in their measurements. This prevents the collection of objective scientific evidence. Pseudoscience Simply using the scientific method doesn’t make psychology a science. Jonathan Miller (1983) suggests that psychologists may use scientific tools, such as quantitative measurements and statistical analysis, but they are just ‘dressing up’ because the essence of science is still missing. Such ‘apparent’ science could be dangerous because psychologists can then claim their discoveries are fact. Describing not explaining Sigmund Koch (1992) interviewed researchers and reviewed studies to examine whether psychology was scientific. He concluded that although the research produced verifiable descriptions of human behaviour, the explanations were opinion rather than fact. As science should explain and predict, psychology cannot be a science as it can only describe. Lack of a single paradigm Thomas Kuhn (1962) suggests psychology is not a science as it has no single paradigm (a shared set of assumptions and methods). Some aspects of ‘psychology’, such as genetics, belong to other sciences, reflecting the absence of a single paradigm in psychology. Furthermore, there have been paradigm shifts in psychology, for example from behaviourism to cognitive psychology, so it has yet to find its scientific basis. Currently ‘mini’ paradigms co-exist, such as evolutionary, pyschodynamic, behaviourist and cognitive, each with its own set of explanations and methods. It may be that psychology is a pre-science. Low validity Experiments may lack internal validity, as discussed above left. They also lack external validity when procedures are unlike everyday life. For example, Alan Baddeley (1966b, Y1 page 76) tested memory with word lists which does not generalise to most everyday memory tasks. In addition he controlled interaction between short- and long-term memory, lowering the external validity further. This suggests that results from experiments may not represent reality. Just dressing up as a policeman doesn’t make you one. Jonathan Miller (1983) argues that psychologists who attempt to be scientists are doing no more than ‘dressing up’. Perhaps at best it is a pseudoscience – but a dangerous one because psychologists then can claim their discoveries are fact. Features of science • Replicability – Repeating a study to see if the same result is obtained. • Reliability – Ensuring measures and procedures are consistent. • Validity Internal – Testing what was intended to be tested. Predictive – Forecasting an effect or change. Ecological – Generalising beyond the research setting. • Reductionism – Looking for causality in single units or variables. • Falsification – Offering the possibility of disproof. • Empiricism – Obtaining knowledge through direct evidence. • Hypothesis testing – Conducting research on an operationalised statement. • Use of controls – Minimising the effect of extraneous/confounding variables. • Credibility – Believability, based on validity and all of the above. Applying your knowledge An example of a synoptic exam question linked to psychology as a science: To what extent do social psychology and the study of learning theories show that psychology is a science? (20) The paragraphs below illustrate how you might answer this: Tests of learning theory use the scientific method. In a Skinner box it is possible for a rat to either learn (behaviour change) or not. If the rat’s behaviour didn’t change this would be evidence against the idea being tested. This illustrates falsification, an important criterion of science. (48 words) However, there are other areas, such as social psychology, which are less like science as they lack objectivity and validity. In exploring prejudice, it is difficult to measure prejudiced beliefs objectively as they are internal. If researchers rely on reports from participants about their beliefs such measurements may be invalid due to, for example, social desirability biases. This means that not all psychological research can be classed as scientific. (75 words) When constructing an essay, you need to aim for a balance of ideas in each ‘direction’. One way to do this is to write a paragraph ‘for’ and criticise the ideas with a point ‘against’ in the next. 21