Why is psychology common sense and not real science?

Answer 1

Much of psychology is not based on common sense, but on meticulous research, testing, and appropriate applications of theory. Experimental psychology uses valid scientific methodology and empirical data in an effort to reach factual conclusions. In many aspects, you can say psychology is more of a 'soft science', rather than an exact science, but that does not exclude the fact that psychology can also be based on scientific methods of research.

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I'm a senior psychology major, and let me tell you, it is a REAL science. We are extensively trained in research methods and statistics, and the field is closely intertwined with neuroscience. The person above me has it right. Psychology is very much about scientific research and testing. It gets a very bad rep, but it is, and always will be, a real science.

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I am a Biology major. Psychology is not science; it is pre-science. It uses ad-hoc conclusions- just because you have graphs doesn't make you science. You can do things scientifically, but if they don't draw rigid, testable, falsifiable conclusions, it ISN'T science. It annoys the heck out of me that someone who claims to be a scientist would use emotional language like: "it is and always will be science", "extensively trained in research methods". Any self respecting scientist would see those phrases as self-inflating to make the theory look better because the actual facts aren't there.

A psychologist observes phenomena and then draws conclusion based on their opinion. Like "this guy gets angry a lot- he probably has feelings of inadequacy" based on what evidence?

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As many things throughout the Social Sciences this comes down to a debate such as the nature vs nurture debate. It could be argued that psychology is a science as it uses scientific methods such as the experimental method to support a hypothesis, and that psychology is not just Freud (who is an ancient psychoanalytic psychologist who was a doctor of psychology when psychology was still a newborn baby). However, sciences such as biology measure phenomenon which psychology does not do. Sciences use valid, repeatable, objective, subjective and reliable studies whereas psychology uses research methods such as case studies which cannot be repeated or can provide empirical data as case studies can only be used on one person.

The answer to this debate in no matter what psychology book you make reference to will always say "psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior" but will then contradict itself by saying that it is a debate and psychology is not yet a science but is slowly growing into one.

Answer 2

Some of psychology may seem like common sense, but it's also interested in the reasons behind it, it's trying to understand how humans work as individuals and in groups. The common sense part is mostly from psychology in it's infancy, you've got to start from somewhere. Psychology uses exactly the same methods and tests that sciences do, but unlike in science, psychology will rarely be totally 100% accurate.