The field of psychology is commonly referred to as the people’s science. This is because all of the ‘findings’ in this field directly concerns everyone—everywhere. This should mean that my field of science is entirely humanistic and factual right? Wrong. The hard truth is that Psychology is a ‘messy’ science. This is because everyone is different; A therapy used on one patient with schizophrenia may not work on a different patient with schizophrenia. This may make Psychology the least factual scientific field around. It’s about trial and error, which produces the best possible results, which are in everyone’s best interest.
That being said, I think it is a ridiculous to claims that scientist’s findings are not factual or relevant. This is what Jonathan M Marks says in his book What it Means to Be 98% Chimpanzee. He gives us an extreme version of some of the resentments that the general public has towards scientists.
Marks says, “The problem is that science is very good at answering questions people don’t care about”.
I believe psychology and neuroscience is a field that many people care about. It is true that psychology makes claims about how and why people act certain ways. I am using the word claim here because they’re not necessarily truths. Nonetheless, these claims aim to be relevant to everyone’s daily lives and aim to help those in need of psychological direction.
This is what concerns me and leads to believe that Marks’ argument needs a sensible counterargument from someone who sees science as use and humanistic in order to be taken seriously.
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