I was able to get back in school, but I need help with this Psychology question please!!?

Question

Explain why psychology is not "mere speculation about human nature".

Thanks for all of your help!

Answer 1

Because, although people tend to assume psychology is guessing, it's not.  The conclusions are based on observation of people in similar situations and the compilation of their responses.  To be "scientific" you must be able to recreate the same result from the same criteria on a repeated basis.  People tend to react certain ways to certain stimuli and these are recorded.  Good luck in school!!

Answer 2

Hmm... this seems to be a question that is addressing the whole, "psychology is a pseudo-science" issue.  Is this a short answer question or a 10 page paper sort of thing?  You'll want to talk about the difference between philosophy and psychology.  You should hit upon psychological experiments using the scientific method of formulating a hypothesis and then proving or disproving.  You can bring up the cognitive neuroscience aspects of psychology and discuss how even some "quirks of human nature" have been found to have a distinct cause of that behavior in the brain and that that brain activity can be monitored and charted.  

I think those would be the areas I would touch on to answer that question.  

Answer 3

Psychology is a science whose study and execution are as unique as the individual(s) being studied. Throughout more than a century of observable conditions, we have discovered that what makes the psyche what it is stems from many factors including environmental conditions, parental effects/upbringing, and personal tendencies - all things unique to the individual. To make a broad generalization that psychology is "mere speculation about human nature" undermines the science, study, and carefully developed, time-tested methodology of discovering how the mind and human emotion work.

For example, one would not point to a random group of people known to be "religious" or "spritual" and say "they are all christians because they attend church" ; as we all know, not everyone subscribes to the same religious beliefs, the same religion, or, for that matter ANY religion.