4 ms·
It's interesting that your first three items are memory related. Is research into individual memory capability actually 'social' science at all? Technically it
by bigDinosaur 4y ago
It's interesting that your first three items are memory related. Is research into individual memory capability actually 'social' science at all? Technically it falls under the umbrella of Psychology, but the examples you cited seem like they're researching things closer to Psychophysics than anything socially influenced. For that matter I think that general response applies to all items on your list. Unless you can make a compelling case that sleep deprivation leading to poor performance is the result of anything socially related, or that the forgetting curve is cultural or something which is unlikely.
- pkkm 4y agoThis is a matter of definitions but my impression is that in common usage, the whole field of psychology is considered a part of the social sciences.
- bigDinosaur 4y agoRight, it's definitely technically under the umbrella of 'social science' but the examples you listed are certainly far more towards the side of neuroscience and psychophysics than they are to social or personality psychology, let alone fields like sociology. I can't think of a single social effect on how sleep deprivation negatively effects us for example - that seems to be straight up individual biology that's essentially invariant across all individuals and societies. I'm happy to grant Psychology those wins, since they are good examples, but realistically Psychology has to be broken down further before you can critique it or praise it. (To be clear, I'm not saying that everything else in Psychology is worthless, there's good research in personality psychology, for example, but it's definitely on shakier ground).
- jdkoeck 4y agoWell, that’s just plain wrong. There is such a thing as social psychology, but psychology generally focuses on the person.