Is Psychology A Science?

Those of us who dedicate ourselves to the discipline of Psychology have on many occasions heard phrases that question that psychology is a science due to its subjectivity or even such expressions as “I have a lot of psychology, I see a person and I know how it is. ”. Statements like these show us the great confusion that exists in relation to this discipline. This results in the bulk of the population not knowing what it means to study psychology.

To understand that psychology is a science, first of all it is necessary to know what a science is, since there is a lot of confusion on this subject. Science is believed to be the undisputed carrier of truth, as it observes and describes reality. But reducing it to this definition can lead to multiple errors. Let’s go deeper.

What is a science?

A science is a branch of knowledge that seeks to describe, explain, anticipate and modify some domain of reality. In the case of psychology, it is about human behavior and cognitive processes. Science has a pragmatic objective, it seeks to understand certain events in order to use them to its advantage. To do all this, it uses its own methodology called the scientific method.

The scientific method is a hypothetical-deductive strategy to draw conclusions and certainties about the objective of the study. This consists of a series of steps that I explain below:

• Problem Statement.  It is the first part of the method. It consists of the search for a problem for which the reason for its occurrence is unknown. An example of this might be asking yourself, why do things fall to the ground? or how does learning occur in humans? These two questions are very generic, in science we work at a much more specific level, but they are good to understand what it means to look for a problem.

• Elaboration of hypotheses.  Through observation, deduction and bibliographic review, we can develop a series of hypotheses. This consists of theorizing about how the problem posed occurs. The hypotheses are neither true nor false, they are possibilities ready to be falsified.
• Carrying out the experiment.  Once we have the hypotheses, the next step is to attack them to disprove them. An experiment must be designed in which the above hypotheses can be falsified. This experiment can be done in many ways, such as surveys, direct observation, experimental manipulation, etc.
• Data analysis.  After carrying out the experiment, we proceed to the statistical analysis of the data. If this shows us that the hypotheses are wrong, they are discarded. But if instead we have not been able to deny them, they are taken for granted. It is important to understand that a hypothesis can never be confirmed, since we cannot access all the data and we always speak in terms of probability. The term “contrasted” only tells us that at the moment we have not been able to deny it.

• Communication of the results.  It is the most important part of the scientific method, it would not make sense to discover something if we do not share it. By communicating the results we are expanding the knowledge of science and this allows new problems to appear to be solved in order to move forward. In addition, sharing an experiment allows other researchers to replicate it and discover more evidence about those hypotheses.

The key aspect of this process is understanding that  science works by attacking its own hypotheses. It is a way to reduce error and avoid asserting immovable dogmas. By always leaving the contrasted hypotheses in doubt, science is constantly being tested. Thanks to this we have a dynamic method that adapts to the new data that appears.

Another important issue is the distinction that some people make between “hard sciences” and “soft sciences. ” Biology, physics or chemistry are called “hard sciences”, which are those sciences that seem more objective and easily observable, but it is a mistake to think like that. For example, just as in physics it is inferred that gravity exists through observable events, in psychology we do the same with anxiety, emotion or learning processes. Even today the classical law of gravity is known to be wrong. Science is not about saying what happens, but why it happens. And to do this the “soft” and the “hard” sciences use the same method.

Intuitive psychology and scientific psychology

All of us generate intuitive theories of what the world around us is like. This helps us stay in control and anticipate what is going to happen. Therefore, we have an intuitive psychology that tells us how we think others behave and why they do so. However, it would be a serious mistake to think that these beliefs are correct.

This intuitive psychology is based on mental shortcuts formed by previous experiences. Depending on our education, experiences and personal history, we will have one way or another of seeing what is happening around us. These judgments are totally subjective and do not follow any scientific rigor, therefore they are part of our life but they have nothing to do with the scientific discipline of psychology.

Scientific psychology is totally opposite to this intuitive psychology. In it, beliefs or value judgments are not used when explaining human behavior, but the scientific method is used together with experimentation to collect objective data and be able to interpret them. As a result of the various investigations carried out, psychological constructs are born supported by multiple empirical data.

A key aspect to understand, and that facilitates the understanding that psychology is a science, is knowing the difference between opinion and interpretation. When we speak of opinion we refer to the beliefs that we have due to our experience about an aspect of reality. For example, we can think that the human being is good and it is society that corrupts him because our experiences go according to it.

However, the interpretation is something very different: it consists of analyzing, deciphering and explaining an event through scientifically obtained data. If we continue with the previous example, if the data shows us that human beings are neither good nor bad, we will have to interpret them from a different perspective that integrates all the information.

Scientific psychology is not a matter of opinions, it cannot be discussed in the same terms as intuitive psychology. This first is based on the interpretation of the evidence obtained, and therefore its debate must take place between the different ways of giving meaning to the information obtained. In other words, the only way to refute the results of a scientific investigation in psychology is with objective data that refutes them. Hence, scientific psychology fits the claim that psychology is a science.

Why is psychology believed to be not a science?

We have seen that psychology uses the same methods and has both the same validity and reliability as the rest of the sciences. But then why are there so many doubts about whether psychology is a science or not? Next we are going to examine three reasons that I believe are the main reasons for this to happen.

The first of these is the great confusion that exists about the concept of science. Most of the population has a very loose definition in mind. This, together with the lack of knowledge of the instruments used to measure behavior and mental processes, leads to a categorization of psychology as subjective and unscientific.

The second reason is the pseudoscientific practices derived from psychology. Unfortunately, around this discipline are many people who use the term “psychology” to refer to practices that do not use the scientific method. This makes the bulk of the population wrongly relate pseudoscience to psychology, although in reality they have nothing to do with it. An example are practices such as coaching, NLP or some parts of psychoanalysis.

And finally, one reason to explain the resistance that exists when it comes to assuming the evidence of psychology is that it may be because it directly involves the human being. In physics, chemistry or other sciences, the results hardly “bother” people and they are accepted without problems. But when we talk about what the human being is like, the situation is different, since if the results go against intuitive beliefs, we quickly try to solve this cognitive conflict because it is easier to ignore the exposed evidence, than to restructure beliefs about it. .

Therefore, when asked whether psychology is a science, the answer is a resounding YES. We cannot make the mistake of slowing down scientific progress by putting obstacles to this discipline so important to understand ourselves both individually and in groups.