Scientific Method

In pscyhgology Scientific method is used to make it seem to be a science however even with these tools it is hard to say if psychology is a science or not. Advantages and Disadvantages of Scientific method

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Scientific Method

Advantages

  • R.D Laing treatment could only succeed if each patient was treated as an individual case (idiographic)instead of a psychical chemical system gone wrong.
  • Heisenberg (1927) argued that it is not possible to measure a subatomic particle without altering its "Behaviour" in doing the measurement. uncertainity principle.
  • Scientific research is desirable as it makes psychology distinct from common sense or "Armchair Psychology"

Disadvantages

  • Miller (1983) suggests that psychologists who attempt to be scientists are doing no more than "Dressing up"
  • In psychology the object of study reacts to the researcher and this leads to problems, such as experimenter bias and demand charecteristics
  • Scientific methods have not worked, psychological methods for treating mental ilness have had modest success at best

Evaluation

Scientific method, even though differentiaties hearsay into fact , in psychology is not too helpful as it has not had great sucess and human behaviours are too complex to be transformed into a scientific study. The scientific approach is both reductionistic and deterministic which allows scientist to see patterns, relationships for cause and effect. However in psychology this often leads to many different theories and aproaches with neither being more efective than the other and more questions than answers.

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