What Basis Is There for the Claim That Psychology Is a Science? Ln What Ways Does It Fail to Be one?

Psychology can be considered a new science with most of their advancements arriving in the last 150 years or so. However, the origins of psychology can also be traced back to ancient Greece (400-500 BC). There was a more of a philosophical touch to psychology with famous Greek thinkers like Socrates influencing Plato and he in turn influencing Aristotle. Plato believed that there existed a clear distinction between the body and soul and also that there is a very strong influence of individual difference on behaviour and concluded that it played an important role in developing the notion of ‘mental health'. He felt that the mind needed stimulating by the arts to keep it alive. Aristotle was of the belief that the body strongly affected the mind [1]. It was not until the 16th century, during Descartes' time, that psychology had started to be considered a science. Descartes had this strong belief that the idea of consciousness is what separated us from animals. He also believed that our consciousness was influenced by our bodies and that the source of these interactions was in the pineal gland. Some other important philosophies related to psychology by Spinoza and Leibnitz during the 17th century originated from Descartes' work [1].

We can explain the claim that psychology is a science by first understanding the definitions of the terms ‘psychology' and ‘science'. In Greek literature, the word ‘psychology' originated from the Greek words ‘psyche' (or soul) and ‘logos' (or study), and hence psychology was then termed as the ‘study of the soul'. A modern day definition of psychology can be described as the science that deals with the mind and with mental and emotional processes. Scientific study is a useful method of understanding life and can also be applied to every area of life. In science, theories are developed based on what is observed. It examines each theory with rigorous tests to see if it can describe reality. The scientific method can be best summed up as the observation and recording of physical data and then reaching conclusions which can either nullify or confirm a theory [2].

The main purpose of science is to separate certain phenomena and to describe them in such a way so that a control over them is established or to ensure that their significance is understood. Science is a method of performing critical evaluation of conditions and facts that are brought to its attention due to different human issues. Each specific science evaluates some type of phenomena. The importance of using an appropriate method of interpreting phenomena is hence obvious, for otherwise the descriptions can mislead the scientist and fail to satisfy the needs of his problems. With regard to all sciences, there is one aspect of correct evaluation and that is to stay as close as possible to observed data and never to disregard complexity of facts, in an effort to get as simple a description