To explain what is meant by the ‘scientific approach’

To discuss whether or not psychology is a science

To apply the scientific approach to the different approaches and topic areas in psychology

To evaluate the use of the scientific approach in psychology

There is a popular belief that psychology is NOT a science; that it is common sense, lacks the precision of the traditional sciences and does not have a definable subject matter.

To assess whether or not psychology is a science, we must first examine the features of the scientific approach and to consider how psychology measures up to these.

Features of the scientific approach

A paradigm is a collective set of assumptions about a subject and its method of enquiry

Kuhn (1970) believes that a subject can only be a science if the majority of its workers agree and work within a paradigm

He suggested 3 stages in the development of a science.

Which stage would Kuhn suggest that psychology falls into? Explain your answer

Kuhn would suggest that psychology is in the pre-science stage as the majority of its researchers do not work within a paradigm.

There are many conflicting perspectives regarding the subject matter, their assumptions about human behaviour and experience, and their methods of enquiry.

E.G. Cognitive psychologists focus upon the study of human mental processes using mainly experimental methods whereas Humanists focus upon individual human motivation and experience often using the case study method

Most psychologist are in broad agreement about the overall subject matter of psychology; the study of mind and behaviour.

Palmero (1971) would argue that psychology has already gone through revolution and

several paradigm shifts: structuralism (identifying conscious thought and experience) to behaviourism and now back to cognitive psychology.

Features of the scientific approach

Explains observable behaviours and events using an integrated set of general principles and predicts observations.

They provide understanding by organising facts and find patterns

It is then possible to make predictions or hypotheses from the theory which can then be tested

A theory should be falsifiable and subjected to attempts and refutation

Is a testable predictive statement which specifies the relationship between events or variables.

TASK 2: Consider the importance of hypothesis testing in scientific research

It allows for testing of theories to support or refute them

The degree of support determines the amount of confidence in the theory

Theories need to be tested by empirical studies

They help to guide theory They allow for falsification of a theory

EXAM QUESTION: Outline what is meant by hypothesis testing and explain its role in scientific research (4 marks)

Which of the approaches make clear testable hypotheses and produce objective evidence to support or refute the them?

BEHAVIOURISM SLT BIOLOGICAL COGNITIVE

Which of the other approaches (could it be argued) do not produce clear testable hypotheses?

FREUDIAN theory – one of the problems with the theory is that whatever the finding, Freudian theory can always offer an explanation and cannot be refuted.

Features of the scientific approach

The scientific method is empirical – based on the collection of data through direct sensory experience (experiments and observations)

Empirical methods must also be OBJECTIVE :the ability to carry out an investigation without allowing personal interpretation or bias to influence the process.

TASK 3: What methods used in psychology can be regarded as objective? Give at least two examples from topics you have studied (explain why they are objective)

THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD CAN BE REGARDED AS OBJECTIVE

EXAMPLE 1 Behaviourism Pavlov investigated the laws of learning by

measuring the amount of saliva produced by dogs in response to the sound of a bell. This experiment was conducted under controlled conditions

Skinner investigated how behaviour could be shaped by the use of rewards and punishments. He developed research methods for the experimental analysis of behaviour: ‘Skinner boxes’

EXAMPLE 2 Cognitive Psychology

Mental processes such as memory, attention and problem solving are studied using laboratory experiments.

e.g. Psychologists, such as Miller, have studied the capacity of memory by recording the number of words recalled from a word list under controlled conditions.

What methods may NOT be regarded as OBJECTIVE? Give an example.

THE CASE STUDY METHODe.g. Maslow’s theory of motivation used the case

study method to gain a detailed understanding and insights – this method is open to the subjective interpretation of the researcher

PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION and UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

e.g. Margaret Mead (1935) an investigation of gender role behaviour in three tribal communities. Her methods were open to subjective interpretation and researcher bias

Objectivity is harder to achieve in psychology than in the other science because;Psychology deals with living conscious

human beingsMethods that are considered to be objective

can be contaminated with experimenter bias

Participants taking part in an experiment may respond to demand characteristics

Methods and findings should be able to be repeated with the same/different participants and on different occasions.

Experimental are carried out rigorously and in detail so that other researchers can replicate and verify the work.

TASK 5: Why do you think replicability of findings is an important feature of the scientific approach?

If we get the same findings over and over we can be more confident in their accuracy.

Replicability of findings confirms their validity.

It gives us confidence that the results are reliable and builds a body of evidence to support a theory.

Do you think that replicability is harder to achieve in psychology than in the other sciences?

There are many different variables that must be controlled when dealing with human beings

Much experimental research has taken place in western cultures; often when research is replicated in eastern cultures very different results are obtained

The case study method conducted on a single person, possible over a number of years is simply not replicable because each person is unique and changes with time.

HOWEVER....

Field and laboratory experiments can be replicated to a certain extent

BUT...

The findings observed under controlled conditions cannot easily be translated to real life settings

The features and principles of the scientific approach

Refers to the ability of a researcher to make a justified extension of their conclusions and apply them to other populations and situations.

One problem in making the conclusions generalisable is obtaining a representative sample.

TASK 7: What problems do psychologists face in obtaining a representative sample?

Psychologists will struggle to generalise findings obtained from a small sample

They often have to rely on opportunity or volunteer sampling; bias may creep into the selection process and the research may not have a representative sample.

Ecological validity is the extent to which the results of the investigation can be generalised beyond the immediate research setting; psychological explanations are often restricted to specific times and places.

The EXPERIMENTAL method has often been criticised fro lacking EV and struggle to generalise the finding to life in the ‘real world’

Can you think of any studies in psychology that have been criticised for lacking ecological validity?

Explain why they lack ecological validity.

The features and principles of the scientific approach

OVERT BEHAVIOUR: open to scientific enquiry, objective and measurable by others

SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE: internal, unique to an individual and is not open to scientific enquiry

TASK 9: Contrast the BEHAVIOURIST and HUMANISTIC approaches with respect to overt and private experience

Investigates an individuals unique perception of the world and their understanding of events from their own perspective

They investigate PRIVATE experiences which are NOT open to scientific enquiry.

Individuals report on their own feelings (not observable), these methods cannot be replicated or generalised to other people/situations.

They believe that it is only by seeing the world through the viewpoint of an individual can we really understand why people behave the way they do. It gives us a detailed and valid understanding of human behaviour

They investigate observable behaviour to gain knowledge about learning.

They are only interested in studying OVERT behaviour in a scientific way.

These processes are open to scientific enquiry – they measure observable behaviour under controlled conditions e.g. PAVLOVs Dogs

Behaviourists believe that studying overt behaviour is important to the scientific approach. It is only through studying observable behaviour in an objective way can psychologists discover general laws of learning which are replicable and generalisable

Answer the PPQs on your handout

Communication of psychological ideas occurs through journals, books and conference proceedings.

Peer review involves specialists in the field reading the article or book and assessing the quality of the work, validating the quality of ideas, and ensuring that appropriate methodology has been used.

Typically 2 or 3 psychologists will review the work.

By applying the scientific approach to the study of behaviour, psychology gains the credibility afforded to ‘scientific status’.

The scientific approach strives for objectivity. It provides accurate and generalisable results.

It aims to provide general laws of behaviours - understanding, prediction and control.

It has provided many applications to improve peoples lives and solve problems. For example, therapies to help people cope with psychological disorders or cope with stress may be based on objective findings.

Adopts a deterministic view of human behaviour, looking for cause and effect of every aspect of human life – it tends to view people more as machines!

It adopts a reductionist view, assuming that thought and behaviour can be reduced to simple component parts. Which psychologists would suggest that we need to view people as a whole?

Many of the empirical methods of enquiry, especially laboratory experiments in psychology, create artificial situations. Therefore this results in a lack of ecological validity and presents us with problems in trying to generalise the findings beyond the research situation.

Adopting a scientific approach when using human being as the subject matter may bring experimenter bias and demand characteristics that is not present in other sciences such as physics.

Ethical constraints mean that research which might be of scientific interest (e.g. Those that may cause fear, anxiety, reduce self esteem, or create guilt) cannot be undertaken using people as participants.

Much of the subject matter of psychology is unobservable, hence it cannot be accurately measured and is inferential. Can you give any examples?