6.3.1 Having a Go 2
Now consider the topic in a different way: Psychology as a science. Psychologists invariably define psychology as a science, though many would say it is a social (or ‘soft’) science. Let us assume you want to examine how psychologists go about defining Psychology as scientific.
One of the places you might investigate this is the introductory Psychology textbook, which defines the discipline for new students. This would be one kind of published text that would provide appropriate data on how psychologists define Psychology as scientific.
Having read a few textbooks, and examined how psychology is described in relation to science, you might identify a common theme. Psychology textbooks normally provide a brief history of the discipline near the start of the book. These brief histories often include a narrative about how psychology became scientific. Here is one example:
Text 6: Atkinson and Hilgard’s Introduction to Psychology, p. 8
The beginnings of scientific psychology
Although philosophers and scholars continued to be interested in the functioning of both the mind and the body through the centuries, scientific psychology is usually considered to have begun in the late nineteenth century, when Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychological laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany in 1879. The impetus for the establishment of Wundt’s lab was the belief that mind and behaviour, like planets or chemicals or human organs, could be the subject of scientific analysis.
The beginnings of scientific psychology
Although philosophers and scholars continued to be interested in the functioning of both the mind and the body through the centuries, scientific psychology is usually considered to have begun in the late nineteenth century, when Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychological laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany in 1879. The impetus for the establishment of Wundt’s lab was the belief that mind and behaviour, like planets or chemicals or human organs, could be the subject of scientific analysis.
This is a description of an event that is introduced as the beginning of scientific psychology. It is not a mere description, however, but a particular version of the past, which presents Psychology in a particular way.
Question 5
How does the description of the event define Psychology as a science?
a. First, consider the form: how is the event in question described?
(HINT: How is it portrayed as a ‘beginning’ e.g. what went before, what made this a new thing?)
b. Next, consider the function: how does this description portray Psychology?
(HINT: What is it not?; What is it like?; How explicit are these comparisons? Why might the comparisons be made in this way?)
a. First, consider the form: how is the event in question described?
(HINT: How is it portrayed as a ‘beginning’ e.g. what went before, what made this a new thing?)
b. Next, consider the function: how does this description portray Psychology?
(HINT: What is it not?; What is it like?; How explicit are these comparisons? Why might the comparisons be made in this way?)
Analysis of published texts, then, is similar to any discourse analysis that focuses on the rhetorical features of discourse. The form and function of discourse, of course, is always related to the context in which it is produced. However, naturally-occurring talk and published texts are produced in different kinds of contexts. The next section shall therefore consider the context within which published texts appear.