Question

Question Preface: Julie, a Physics major, has difficulty believing that psychology is a science, because people cannot observe other people's thoughts and sensations.

Primary Post:In your own words, explain how Edward Titchener and John Watson would have responded to Julie's skepticism regarding psychology's scientific status.

Secondary Post: In your own words, explain the difference between correlational and experimental research.

Reply Post: Make a substantive reply to at least one peer that demonstrates your ability to discuss and analyze the content within this section.

Answer 1

Primary post: Edward Tirchener was an American Psychologist who worked under the guidance of a German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt. He belived in the process of experimentation of mind to analyze a person. He would have contradicted the saying of Julie a physics student as he believed in analyzing the thinking of mind in a conscious way with introspection and keeness.He worked on structural psychology with the complete analysis of the thinking and perception in mind.He wrote a book on Experimental psychology. He experimented people with thinking and vocabulary of words. He analyzed sensation and emotions attached to learning vocabulary with perceptions for thinking.

John Watson believed in the observable facts and trends in behavior. He analyzed the behavior of a group of persons in different situations and explained these observations. He did not believe in thinking and perceptions.There is a stimulus for a specific behavior in a person according to the situation and environment present in the surroundings.He would have disregarded the saying of Julie a physics student that it is hard to believe that psychology is science. He conducted studies on a small child by setting few objects in front of the eyes of the child like monkey, rat, dog, fire and santa claus. He then observed the behavior and reflex of the child. The child turned fearful of all the things included under conditioning and generalization.

Secondary post: The correlational approach included the setting of an experiment which did not depend upon the values and their relation with each other. The values obtained after the experiment are correlated with each other to see if the values depend upon each other or not. There is no control over the independent variable. In the experimental study the observer has a control over the independent and dependent variables and their relation with each other is analyzed after obtaining the values of the experiment.

Reply post: References

1)Psicologia em Estudo, Maringá, v. 19, n. 2, p. 191-199, abr./jun. 2014
THE USE OF THE QUALITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS IN PSYCHOLOGY: A CRITICAL REVIEW
Sonia Maria Guedes Gondim1 Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador-BA, Brasil Pedro Fernando Bendassolli Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal-RN, Brasil.