Why Should Psychology Adopt a Scientific Approach?

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In order for an approach to be scientific there must be a definable and agreed upon subject matter, otherwise referred to as a paradigm. There must be a theory construction from which hypotheses are derived and tested. Empirical methods of investigation must be used to gather information; this means it is observable and measureable. Science is made nomothetic through the generation of general laws and/or principles. A paradigm is a collective set of assumptions about a subject and the method of enquiry taken to investigate it. Kuhn believes that a subject can only be a science if the majority of its workers agree with and work within a common global theory or paradigm. He describes 3 stages in the development of science; pre-science; normal science and revolution. Pre-science is when there is no paradigm, normal science is where a paradigm is established and all researchers dedicate themselves to exploring this paradigm whereas revolution is when a point is reached where so much evidence conflicts the paradigm that it is rejected and replaced by one which can accommodate the conflicting findings. Kuhn would argue that psychology falls into pre-science as there is no paradigm due to there being six different approaches that don’t agree with each other and provide various pieces of conflicting evidence. However, not all psychologists take the view that psychology is at the pre-science stage – this can be seen for example, through the fact that most psychologists accept the definition of psychology as the study of mind and behaviour whereas other psychologists such as Palmero would argue that psychology has already gone through several paradigm shifts from structuralism (emphasis on identifying the elements of conscious thought and experience) to behaviourism (emphasis on behaviour) and now have returned to cognitive psychology (emphasis on the mind). Approaches in

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