The word “empiricism†has a dual etymology. The first one comes from the Greek word that translates to “experientia,†meaning experience. The second one comes from Greek and Roman usage of the word “empiric,†which is used in reference to a physician using the skills one derives from their practical experience rather than from theory.
Science uses the empirical approach, which started gaining popularity in the 17th and 18th centuries. The idea that knowledge should be obtained empirically, that is, through experience paved the way for methods of inquiry that used experiments and careful observation to collect facts and evidence.
The scientific inquiry is done at two levels:
Theory and the foundation of a hypothesis
Use real empirical methods for inquiry – experiments, objective observations, replication, and practicing control in experiments
Psychology was a little late in its employment of scientific methods; however, efforts have been made which will be discussed in detail below.
While empiricism gained immense popularity in other scientific fields such as physics, chemistry and others, the field of psychology as a science had taken a backseat until Rene Descartes wrote about the topic of consciousness, which he said, set humans apart from other animals. Following his writings were the other influential works of Spinzoa and Leibnitz; however, there is no evidence of the existence of unified, scientific psychology during these times. Psychology, as a scientific field, took long to take shape since understanding thoughts, feelings, and behavior was not easy, and this led to the ignorance of the field in the 16th century. Thus, how did the modern experimental psychology come into being? Well, it has its roots in Aristotle’s request for scientific investigation, and it started to take place toward the late 19th century.
It all began when Wilhelm Wundt developed the first psychology lab in the year 1879. Introspection was used methodologically, and this started the movement about employing scientific methods to investigate the mind and behavior.
Science and Psychology:
In the field of psychology, behaviorism and cognitive psychology were the schools of thoughts that employed empirical methods extensively.
Behaviorists employed the empirical methods extensively, with laboratory experiments and rejection of any forces that were not measurable to be the cause of behavior. They came up with simple explanations like shaping, reinforcements, generalization, to explain many of the behaviors that ranged from language acquisition to the development of morals. They were steadfast in their beliefs in the principles of determinism, which they used to come up with consistent predictions. They used these predictions to control the behavior of both animals and human beings (in therapy).
Later on, cognitive psychologists also adopted careful scientific- and a laboratory-based approach as well. They adopted empirical approaches to study mental processes that are unobservable, unlike the behaviorists. They used experiments and precise models to help confirm or refute their theories about behavior.
Regardless of the above, a complete control and prediction and full understanding in the field of psychology is impossible because of the various forces that are in play on even the simplest of behaviors. These forces include mental, biological, and environmental forces.
Some other psychologists argue that psychology should not be a science. The major proponents of this view are Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow who adopted the humanistic approach, which places importance on private, subjective, and conscious experiences, thereby rejecting the science. This is the reason they did not place much value on scientific psychology, especially in their uses of laboratories to investigate both animal and human behavior. Humanistic approach views behavior through the eyes of person who is involved in the behavior. It deliberately stays away from a scientific viewpoint, and instead, emphasizes freewill in order to understand behavior. Humanistic psychologists also tend to view scientific approaches as being “dehumanizing.â€
Another major school of psychology that receives flak from the scientific community is the Freudian theory of psychoanalysis. Scholars argue that psychoanalysis has an explanatory power; however, it fails in terms of prediction. It is also accused of being unfalsifiable. However, some other scholars like Kline argue otherwise. He says that Freudian theories can be broken down into hypotheses that can be tested scientifically.
Limitations to Scientific Psychology:
Despite a major movement involved in psychology being a science, there is some doubt that exists about psychology ever really being a science.
Science, in general, works on the basis of general laws that are applicable to everyone. In doing so, it takes a deterministic and a reductionist approach. However, this does not exactly apply to psychology, in that, the laws are not generalizable because psychology does not exist in a social vacuum. That is, behavior tends to change over a period of time, and it is different under different circumstances, and not everyone exhibits the same behavior in the same situation. There are various forces, mental, biological, social, cultural, and environmental, which act on even the simplest of behaviors.
The next major problem is whether traditional scientific methods really apply to psychology? That is, let one consider the empirical method of experiments. Experiments are eager to establish that the cause of X is Y. This viewpoint tends to ignore the number of extraneous variables that are interacting in a given situation. Also, in another time and place, one might not be influenced by X at all. There are many forces that are acting upon a person, and all of them cannot be controlled directly.
Objectivity is another major problem in psychology, as it is very difficult to achieve when it comes to studying human behavior. Freud is a major case in point when it comes to this as his theories are often criticized due to lack of objectivity.
Other problems include verification and testability. This is because most of the subject matter in psychology is unobservable (like memory), and therefore, they cannot be measured accurately.
Thus, is one close to understanding what really is science or whether psychology is exactly a science? Perhaps not. But as Slife and Williams concluded, one has to strive for the use of scientific methods and not abandon the search for these unified methods, because, in doing so, one would lose a sense of psychology that has been established. At the same time, one must also strive to develop scientific methods that are most suited to study mind and behavior because those adopted by the natural sciences may not be entirely appropriate for psychology (1995).
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