Social Psychology as a legitimate Science

[Awolf26]

Hello all,

I was curious about how you feel about social psychology being considered a legitimate science. On other blogs that I have commented, many people ignore my posts in which I cite social/personality psychological research. Or they give the "oh that's cute" replies. As a person heavily immersed in this field, I find it frustrating to be considered a third rate "soft scientist". Being that we have to deal with pretty abstract concepts, I feel like most of the field is quite rigorous and requires very innovative experimentation and operationalization. Unfortunately, there is quite a swath of the field that takes away a lot of that reputation. However, I feel like that is true of almost all sciences.

What does everyone else think? Hopefully, I have come to a place where I don't need to worry about the condescension that I got elsewhere. 

[Tank]

Don't know enough about the subject to make a comment. However my wife is a psychologist and got her PhD in childhood R&T play and she gets annoyed when people don't treat psychology as a 'real' science.

[DeterminedJuliet]

My minor was in Sociology, so I think there is a great deal of merit to "social sciences". I think they are going to be the key to solving some of the biggest issues our world faces.

[xSilverPhinx]

I think it's certainly more difficult to get some answers in the so called soft sciences than in exact sciences, precisely because they're not exact and there are usually more than one answer.

Complicated things deserve their due respect.

[fester30]

My BS is in social psychology.  There isn't much practical application for social psychology at the undergraduate level.  At the graduate level, you generally have to choose to concentrate on either social work or psychology.  The greatest benefit I have experienced with my degree is a moderate understanding of psychology and the theories of sociology so that I can hold somewhat intelligent conversations about politics, education, social systems, etc.  Also, I am a much better supervisor at work since I have a basic understanding of why humans do what they do, and what makes them care about things.  I'm a more effective manager because I have a basic understanding of organizational psychology and work methods.  Other than that, without graduate concentrations, social psychology isn't really much of a legitimate science, in my opinion.  It's sort of a dime store degree that you can't really parlay into a decent profession on its own other than perhaps human resources.  It's a terrific path of study for someone who already has degrees in other fields as a supplement, though.

[Will]

Hello all,

I was curious about how you feel about social psychology being considered a legitimate science. On other blogs that I have commented, many people ignore my posts in which I cite social/personality psychological research. Or they give the "oh that's cute" replies. As a person heavily immersed in this field, I find it frustrating to be considered a third rate "soft scientist". Being that we have to deal with pretty abstract concepts, I feel like most of the field is quite rigorous and requires very innovative experimentation and operationalization. Unfortunately, there is quite a swath of the field that takes away a lot of that reputation. However, I feel like that is true of almost all sciences.

What does everyone else think? Hopefully, I have come to a place where I don't need to worry about the condescension that I got elsewhere. 

Social psychology utilizes the scientific method, therefore it is a science. It might be considered a soft science, but a soft metal is still a metal.

[Awolf26]

My BS is in social psychology.  There isn't much practical application for social psychology at the undergraduate level.  At the graduate level, you generally have to choose to concentrate on either social work or psychology.  The greatest benefit I have experienced with my degree is a moderate understanding of psychology and the theories of sociology so that I can hold somewhat intelligent conversations about politics, education, social systems, etc.  Also, I am a much better supervisor at work since I have a basic understanding of why humans do what they do, and what makes them care about things.  I'm a more effective manager because I have a basic understanding of organizational psychology and work methods.  Other than that, without graduate concentrations, social psychology isn't really much of a legitimate science, in my opinion.  It's sort of a dime store degree that you can't really parlay into a decent profession on its own other than perhaps human resources.  It's a terrific path of study for someone who already has degrees in other fields as a supplement, though.

That is a pretty specific BS to have and I say that because of what you said about its applicability to finding a job. However, I don't think its inability to parlay into a decent profession has any reflection on its scienceyness (that's right, scienceyness). I would say a majority of science-based BS degrees require some sort of graduate study in order to get a job directly applicable to it's specific area. I think a science is something that informs the nature of things through a rigorous process of empirical observation and investigation. I've seen some pretty unscientific degrees lead to lucrative careers, but I wouldn't call them a "science".

Social psychology utilizes the scientific method, therefore it is a science. It might be considered a soft science, but a soft metal is still a metal.

Not going to lie, when I read this I assumed you were talking about music and I was like "YEAH! METAL!". Then I realized you said "a metal" and I was like "yes, this is true". Either way, good point.

[fester30]

The point I was trying to make is that social psychology isn't really a science, but I ran off on tangents about it being a dime store degree or how it doesn't really lend itself to a profession with just a BS.  I have a problem with staying on point in a conversation.  Sociology is a science... psychology is a science.  Social psychology is an abbreviated field of study that combines elements of sociology and psychology.  You don't really get a decent undergraduate concentration in either. 

Just so you all know, I wrote another couple paragraphs that were only semi-related or unrelated to the point I was trying to make.  I deleted them lol.  Damn my wandering mind.

[Awolf26]

Sociology is a science... psychology is a science.  Social psychology is an abbreviated field of study that combines elements of sociology and psychology. 

Now I am really confused. Social psychology does not combine elements of sociology and psychology. Social psychology is to psychology as evolutionary biology is to biology. It is a specific concentration of psychology. Again, I find it strange that you got a BS in "Social Psychology". Where did you go to school? And what did you learn about? I assure you, I am not trying to pick a fight with you, I'm just trying to figure out where our miscommunication is happening.

Social Psychology (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2010): The scientific study of the way in which people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people.

Some classic social psychology:
Stanford Prison Experiment
The Milgram Experiment
Asch's Line Study
Fundamental Attribution Error

[fester30]

Park University.  The major requirements consisted of a patchwork of classes from psychology (ex. abnormal psych... organizational psych) and sociology (about education, conflict vs. functionalist, etc.).  It certainly wasn't a concentration of psychology.  There were general elements of both disciplines, but not a large amount of specifics of either.

[Awolf26]

Park University.  The major requirements consisted of a patchwork of classes from psychology (ex. abnormal psych... organizational psych) and sociology (about education, conflict vs. functionalist, etc.).  It certainly wasn't a concentration of psychology.  There were general elements of both disciplines, but not a large amount of specifics of either.

I checked it out. That is an interesting degree program.