Is psychology a science or social study?

Question

At every school I have been to, they always classify psychology as a social study and not a science. But I study psychology and every professor I have talked to perfers to call it a science. What is it really? Does anyone know?

Answer 1

The confusion is that in "normal" science you can predict results, isolate your variables, and create falsifiable theories. In the world of concrete vs. abstract thought, that sort of science is the "concrete" kind.

Psychology is more of an abstract science or "soft" science. Because it deals with process of development as well as with a current behavior that could have sprung from a multitude (and combination thereof) of sources, it's impossible to isolate particular causes of later behaviors with 100% accuracy and predictability.

You can't put something in at one end and get out something entirely predictable at the other. It's not "flowchart magic" like most science, there's a healthy dose of intuition and imprecision involved.

Psychology does have some "concrete" grounding because you can acquire some "facts" such as biology, environment, social context, and the like. However, behavior is also a response to inner and outer forces, and the fact a person makes a choice throws a wrench into the works.

What psychology deals with instead is "principles" governing behavior: People who have certain factors in their past tend to end up a certain way. Or if you treat someone like THIS, they'll tend to respond like THAT.

Principles are partly intuition and theory (i.e., you take a few key observations and then sketch out what else must be true, if you're being logically consistent), while partly being based on scrutinous observation (i.e., case studies).

As someone else pointed out, people are all different and so interpretation of data has an amount of subjectivity not involved as much in the "hard sciences." Who we are, ourselves, impacts what theories we believe as well as how we perceive other people's behavior.

(Thus, Freud's ideas, in a sense, while contributing some important concepts to the field of psychology, said as much about the person HE was as it said about human beings.)

Answer 2

I'm not familiar with the academics your school has in mind. However don't sink the boat yet! The subject of sciences are mainly to give you an idea of being the explorer when searching for answers and there would be plenty when psychology "comes around the corner!" Sociology has a similar format since without sociology there would be no psychology, so we just put these in the same bucket and mix-em up!

Answer 3

it's a social science. not a hard science like chemistry, physics, mathematics, nor is it a true social study. Psychology by itself is the study of the individual whereas sociology is the study of the many/group. It's more abstract then the hard sciences and it's more scientific(can be tested) than history or literature.

Answer 4

Well I think its both. Because well its obviously a science. But its social studies to because its got to do with people. A common mistake that people make when they hear soical studies is that they think its just history when its not. So its both science and social studies...actually more like social science.

Answer 5

I also study Psychology at university level.
If you study in detail, you will see that it is a science.
The study of the human psyche.
Just about all elements aside from, or actually including physiological presence in the environment, of the organism.
This on my part is only a limited opinion. I am out of university for five years, going back in the spring, so my definition needs fine tuning, but most professors would grade me fair on it with correction.

Answer 6

its a Social Science. Meaning it is a social study which uses scientific methods (in research)

Answer 7

As a psychiatry and therapy client for 20 yrs, psychology is far too subjective and open to interpretation and bias to be a science. Psychiatry, now that's a more objective (although still involving subjectivity by the practitioner) field practiced by scientists , that is, medical doctors.

Answer 8

Its a little of both. However, psychology is officially under the social sciences, whilst psychiatry is the one truly with the sciences/ under medicine.

Answer 9

My school counted it as a social study

Answer 10

It is not a science, no matter how much the psychs like to think of themselves that way. It is not based upon any scientific principles. It is a totally subjective social study. It's enitirely based upon speculation by Freud that all social problems stem from the relationship with one's mother. If anyone reaps any benefit from psychology, it's purely by accident.