THEORY
Strengths - Psychology as a Science:
- The use of the scientific method allows us to seperate fact from opinion, making inferences about the cause and effect of behaviour and successful application to the real world. EG: Loftus's research into eye witness testimony, for example, infroms us of how inaccurate eyewitnesses can be. Her research clearly demostrates that the verbs used (smash, contcted etc) affected the estimates of speed of the car reported by the participants. This information can be used in courts to alert the jury to the fact that despite feeling certain, eyewitnesses can be mistaken. In addition, police interviews are now caefully conducted so as not to ask leading questions, so as not to influence individuals in a particular way.
- Psychologists use empirical and replicable methods to provide support for theories, giving psychology credibility as with other 'natural sciences'.
Limitations - Psychology as a Science:
- By concentrating on contrived experiments in artificial conditions, we know less about how people behave in natural environments. Conclusions made about behaviour may only reflect the behaviour of individuals in that specific environment, questioning the external validity of finding in laboratory settings. EG: This is a particular criticism made of Milgram's Research into obedience and authority. It has been suggested that the participants were merely going along with the experiment and they did not actually believe that the shocks were real. Are the conditions in a laboratory at Yale University really the same as the conditions of those instructed to obey in Nazi Germany for example? Many would emphatically disagree.
- Many mental processes remain unobservable and cannot be measured with any degree of accuracy and therefore the scientific method may not be appropriate for studying people. For instance, the reasons why some individuals behave aggressively towards their partners or the content of people's dreams. We have to rely on what they, the individuals being studied, tell us, and this is not considered reliable, due to the subjective or sensitive nature of the information requested.
- Not all psychologists agree that human behaviour can/should be explored by scientific methods. Humanists, such as Maslow opposed the traditional science approach to psychology, due to individuals being unique and not being treated as such, using scientific methods. The scientific method attempts to apply general laws of behaviour to large numbers of people and this is impossible and inappropriate with individuals with rare conditions and disorders.