What to say when others accuse psychology of not being a science or being a joke?

Question

I've met some people who think that psychology is a blow-off field to study and doesn't deserve to be called a science. I tell them that there is the branch of neuropsychology to study, which is scientific and biologically-oriented. What else can I say to help them understand that this a valid field...my mind is blank right now this late at night....

Nad,I'm already past the "psych major" part. I'm in a doctoral program where I'm already set on my way to becoming a clinical psychologist. I just got done with my first year. I can't imagine myself doing anything else.

You might have had some bad experiences with therapists, which isn't accurate to place judgment on all of us. I got into this field due to my own personal experiences, and I LOVE studying mental disorders, diagnosing, testing, assessing, and applying scientific theories to it.

Yes, it's true that doctoral level clinical psychology programs are harder to get into...but I don't think most people understand that.

Answer 1

Just like any other field, you have to remember that people who have not studied psychology do not know very much about psychology... and therefore, need to be educated as to what is going on in the field today. Secondly, in the past, there were genuinely awful and misleading theories that were put out to the public, and people suffered (e.g. "refrigerator" mothers being responsible for autism). In addition, there are psychologists today that give the field a bad name (Dr. Phil, anyone?) - and you can't do anything about that. Finally, you need to understand why YOU chose to be a psychologist... and be able to give a reasonable response to those who are willing to listen... which many aren't, and then you need to simply walk away. You can't argue your way out of this one... some people are much more invested in believing what they want.

Psychology at its best attempts to understand behavioral processes through the scientific method... as well as to develop theories and apply them ethically... but there are many psychologists who do not understand this. Look at the field of couples therapy - Dr. John Gottman has done and continues to do a huge amount of research to back up his theories. Someone like Dr. Les Parrott (a Christian psychologist, on the other hand, writes books based on theories he created in his own mind... but has not tested them through research, to my knowledge). Finally, someone like John Gray and his Mars and Venus "theory" (I hesitate to even call it that) - complete crap and I don't think that John Gray is even a psychologist... I read someone where he got a counseling degree through a mail order service.

Psychology, as with all scientific fields, is evolving... it is not perfect and there are flaws and arguments against the scientific method itself as a way to "know" the world... And you also have people who feel that psychologists are know-it-alls (see the above poster) and who resent being told who they are and what is wrong with them... that is a legitimate viewpoint. We psychologists should not be here force our viewpoints on others... but above all to LISTEN first and work with our clients with the best tools that psychology has to offer... and if they walk way, then that's ok. Psychology is not for everyone.

Answer 2

If you want to have a smart a** remark just ask them who is more famous Sigmund Freud or Niels Bohr.

With that said psychology is a social/humanistic science. In humanity there is inherant contradictions. What might work for some doesn't for others, it is the way of life. Psychologists can have experiments and make generalizations but they realize the limitations of their truths. An atom might always have two neutrons, two protons, and six electrons but when you deal with people there are no absolutes.

If you want to be agressive about it...
What about Medicine do they consider that a science even though there are often cases that mystify the countries highest medical authorities, or what about when there are diseases that are uncured, or what about when a virus becomes medication resistant?

In closing you might want to mention the following stastics:

It is harder to get into an APA approved clinical psychology Ph.D./Psy.D. program than it is to get into medical school.

Doctors may only spend 2 years in a classroom then work as an intern and then their residency for pay, where as the average clinical psychology student spends five years in a classroom then two years of APA approved internship plus having to write a doctoral thesis of all of which they are not compensated for.

Lastly you could always just say when is the last time a physicist or a macrobiologist kept you from killing youself?

Answer 3

Only some parts of psychology is scientific. Neuropsychology is a little more scientific.

Kinda like medicine. Many parts of Medicine really isn't that scientific either. Doctors act as though we are sick because we are missing their drugs. Idiots. The research is also bogus and constantly changing. One day this drug is good and safe, the next day it isn't. Alternative medicine is actually more scientific but drug companies are not gonna pay for those kinds of research.

You can't change people's minds when they already have it made up. Don't waste your time.

Answer 4

So.......you're a psych major, eh?
When one ponders it when one's brain isn't blown-out from studying all stinking night long, night after night until one needs to retain a psychiatrist,
one may wish to keep one's 'mind' wide-open to the very good possibility that psychology can be compared quite easily to "parapsychology", or UFOlogy.
We know for a fact that tricyclics are existing chemicals, and that the brain utilizes them as it sees fit, and in the event of an overflow of fabulous dopamine.....well fun stuff can occur.
However, psychology is a field of speculation, guesswork, statistical data, and profiling. It really doesn't allow for the possibility of characteristic individuality in human beings, and therefore categorizes, and places we 'abnormal' lot into classes of mental stability, or the awful and unsocial mental instability.
Psychology texts do not allow much of a grey area for those of us who may be artistic, musically inclined, or whatever. Everyone knows I'm crazy. I have nothing to hide, yet I risk my freedom in the event that I go to see a shrink about my obsession with thumbs, and tree frogs.
Reading outdated textbooks, answering questions on a test, and procuring your PHD does not, and never will qualify you to delve into the minds of other humans. You don't even get a pass from me personally to analyze my cat, because you are indeed not qualified to do so. You never will be, and never can be.
Psychologists know no more about the human mind than a mushroom in a pasture, just like the rest of us, yet they are some of the most highly-paid and regarded "professionals" in the world today. It is a scam that makes people big money.
Astrology is the same. Everyone has been so washed into believing that their problems are such that they are not able to fix them themselves, and Prozac (or worse) must be the solution. Mercury is in retro, so I ran over the neighbor's kid in the driveway. Unaccountability for onesself is a plague, and the more you nourish and pamper it, the worse things are going to get.
Would you trust the signs of this planetary system, the stars, or the entire universe before you would trust your earth-based ideaologies of the man-made synopsis of the mind, via a lot of books written by people who very-well may be "insane"?
I don't adhere to any of those fields at all, because I have the ability to think for myself. I was given that by a thing I personally refer to as G*d. That's my little quirk. It works for me, so I stick with it.
Psychology is only speculation, and little other than astrology, voodoo, or writings in the sand. It can be nothing other, but if one day it is proven beyond doubt to be a feasable, and helpful field of endeavor, and when psychologists discover a way to "help" others without administering a world of pharmeceuticals to people who don't need to be drugged out of their minds.....well, I'll have a look at your research.
Until then, people need to think for themselves, and others should help them along during times of strain. We have each other, or we should have anyway.
You can repair a car with parts. It is proven science. You don't repair a complex human being's mind by shoving your book-learnins', Xanax, and Thorazine into their heads. Another proven fact.
Look at what you are seeing every minute of the day. Are people becoming better?

Try Eastern Philosophy and Cowboy movies as majors.
The Yin, The Yang....and the Bang Bang.

Nad

Answer 5

Tell them how many people are depressed in the world these days, and how many suicides and deaths are prevented with the help of this so called "joke" "blow-off field" of psychology. Tell them how many people with phobias, OCD's, PTSD's, and anxiety disorders were able to finally get along with their lives with the help of cognitive behavioral therapy.

My dad (professor of Uchicago) had the same sentiments until major depression struck a member in my family and only with the help of psychology was the problem lifted. Needless to say he has a much greater respect for this field now.

Answer 6

Welsome to the wonderful world of psychology. If you get a Ph. D. there are going to be high school kids who tell you that psych is not a science.

I think you should laugh it off.
You need to be able to discuss this in case your boss says it, but mostly, it is a waste of time to argue the point.

Answer 7

Science is when it's stated contentions[ theories,experiments ,deductions etc]can be tested,replicated or verified any where under a give set of conditions or parameters.Now,you can decide for yourself whether psychology is a science or not.

Answer 8

Say nothing.

Why stoop to their level?

Just because they see things one way, it is not your job to make them see things the way it really is.

Remember, most people in the world are average (and not very bright) ... if they were not, then the smarter people would not have a job.

An example: I am a computer consultant, and we often see stupid things at work. But if things were not wrong, and people not stupid, I would not have a job!

Answer 9

Hit them with a history of psychology, all the way from Freudian psychoanalysis to now.

Show them how it has evolved since then to be a rigorous discipline.