Most colleges and universities have a
psychology department. It is often located in the school or division of
social sciences. Similarly, most colleges and universities have a
biology department. It is often located in the school or division of
science. In high schools, psychology is considered one of the social
studies, occasionally a social science; biology is considered one of the
sciences.
Nothing in the statements above seems the slightest bit
controversial. In fact, those statements are pretty obvious. However,
the implication of those statements is significant and relates to the
status of psychology among the varied disciplines.
Psychology
teachers are well aware of the power of language to shape thought. We
all know that the way you frame a question influences the response. So
when we distinguish between the sciences and the social sciences, we are
sending the message that we are qualifying our status: We are not quite
a science; rather, we are a something-other-than-science science.
This
everyday use of language about psychology (i.e., it is a “social”
science–you can often hear the quotation marks) belies the actual impact
that psychology has on other medical, social, and natural sciences.
Psychology’s impact is considerable.
Boyack, Klavans, and Borner
(2005) examined a million scientific research articles to identify the
interrelation among the various sciences. They identified seven areas of
science designated as hubs of influence: mathematics, physics,
chemistry, earth sciences, medicine, social sciences, and psychology.
Psychology’s actual position among the varied scientific disciplines is
clear. Our discipline influences a wide array of other scientific
disciplines. Cacioppo (2007) has outlined some of the implications for
psychology.
Other good news is that we have evidence that
psychology courses foster scientific literacy, a prominent goal of the
National Academies of Science. My colleague Jeff Holmes and I assessed
scientific literacy among our psychology majors as they progressed
through the psychology curriculum. There was a clear upward trend. In
contrast, the degree of scientific literacy was unrelated to the number
of natural science courses that the students had completed (Holmes &
Beins, 2008).
In addition, among graduate students a few decades
ago, psychology students showed greater skill in formal, logical
reasoning and in statistical and methodological reasoning than chemistry
graduate students (Lehman, Lempert, & Nisbett, 1988). This is not
to say that chemistry students were less adept in their discipline than
psychology students were in theirs. Rather, these results indicate one
of the notable strengths of education in psychology—fostering complex,
critical thought.
The data are incontrovertible. Psychology is an
excellent discipline for learning to think critically and
scientifically. Unfortunately, people are usually not persuaded to
change their minds on the basis of data (unless they are trained in
psychology, of course).
So what can we do?
We can take the
route that a number of former psychology departments have. We can use
language to frame the discussion. Dartmouth University changed its
departmental designation to the Department of Psychological and Brain
Sciences in the 1990s. Since then, quite a number of departments have
taken similar steps. There are numerous departments of psychological
science around the country (Jaffe, 2011).
We should also use this
idea in our everyday conversations. When our friends and colleagues
discuss the sciences, we should make sure that they talk about the kind
of science. There are biological sciences, physical sciences, and
certainly not least, psychological sciences. It is no longer acceptable
to be that other-than-science science.
Barney
Beins is Professor of Psychology at Ithaca College. He was recipient of
the Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching Award and is a Fellow of
APA Divisions 2 (Teaching of Psychology), 3 (Experimental Psychology)
and 52 (International Psychology), APS, and EPA. He was president of the
Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP) in 2004 and Director of
Precollege and Undergraduate Education at APA from 2000 to 2002. He
authored
Research Methods: A Tool for Life and Research Methods and Statistics with Maureen McCarthy,
Effective Writing in Psychology with his daughter Agatha Beins and
APA Style Simplified.
References
Boyack, K. W., Klavans, R., & Borner, K. (2005). Mapping the backbone of science.
Scientometrics, 64, 351-374.
Cacioppo, J. T. (2007, September).
Psychology is a hub science. Observer, 20(7).
Holmes, J. D., & Beins, B. C. (2009). Psychology is a science: At least some students think so.
Teaching of Psychology, 36, 5-11. doi:10.1080/00986280802529350
Jaffe, E. (2011, September).
Identity shift.
Observer, 24(7).
Lehman,
D. R., Lempert, R. O., & Nisbett, R. E. (1988). The effects of
graduate training on reasoning: Formal discipline and thinking about
everyday-life events.
American Psychologist, 43, 431-442. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.43.6.431
