3 ms·

I wouldn't call psychology a 'pseudo-science', more that it's at a level of development comparable to 19th century medicine, when the concept of infectious dise

I wouldn't call psychology a 'pseudo-science', more that it's at a level of development comparable to 19th century medicine, when the concept of infectious disease being due to transmittable microbes or viruses was not understood. Most 'psychological disorders' today are not diagnosed based on specific physical-chemical tests, i.e. one can say with high certainty that a patient has drug-resistant tuberculosis using a PCR test. In contrast, there are no definitive tests for everything from ADHD to schizophrenia to bipolar disorder to depression, although more diagnoses lead to more pharma drug sales...

jrm4 4y ago
Interesting. This implies that psychology is strongly likely to "get better," like out of it's 19th century phase? I see no reason to believe that?
- mcBesse 4y ago
  I doubt psychology will ever change like alchemy into chemistry, but perhaps advancements in our understanding of the mind will take a different form?
- P_I_Staker 4y ago
  They're not trying to get better. It's a religion (cult?).
JamesianP 4y ago
Perhaps the pseudoscience label is used too sparingly. When people treat something that is not science as science, that is pseudoscience. Modern society is awash with it, as was 19th century medicine. I'm not sure how much real science they have in psychology in particular. I'm sure there's some, like I've heard they can use fMRI to analyze the language region of the brain to identify what kind of speech disorder you have. But certainly a lot of publications cross the line. We can still be fair and say they do help a lot of people with therapy, even if they don't really understand why. Historically craftsmen were ahead of scientists in making working technologies. They weren't necessarily peddling in scams and nonsense, they were just not backed by real science.

3 ms·

I wouldn't call psychology a 'pseudo-science', more that it's at a level of development comparable to 19th century medicine, when the concept of infectious dise

by photochemsyn 4y ago

jrm4 4y ago
Interesting. This implies that psychology is strongly likely to "get better," like out of it's 19th century phase? I see no reason to believe that?
- mcBesse 4y ago
  I doubt psychology will ever change like alchemy into chemistry, but perhaps advancements in our understanding of the mind will take a different form?
- P_I_Staker 4y ago
  They're not trying to get better. It's a religion (cult?).
JamesianP 4y ago
Perhaps the pseudoscience label is used too sparingly. When people treat something that is not science as science, that is pseudoscience. Modern society is awash with it, as was 19th century medicine. I'm not sure how much real science they have in psychology in particular. I'm sure there's some, like I've heard they can use fMRI to analyze the language region of the brain to identify what kind of speech disorder you have. But certainly a lot of publications cross the line. We can still be fair and say they do help a lot of people with therapy, even if they don't really understand why. Historically craftsmen were ahead of scientists in making working technologies. They weren't necessarily peddling in scams and nonsense, they were just not backed by real science.