Psychology

[TrueStory]

This one's too easy.

Psychology means "study of the mind."  Scientists (try to) study the mind.  They use numbers 'n' experiments 'n' sich.

So did Freud, by the way.  He might have been kooky, but he was also diligent in his way-- he broke down a lot of assumptions and barriers to further inquiry, which in my mind makes him a scientist, albeit of a different breed.

A scientists is an expert in science, esp. one of the "physical" or natural sciences. The mind is not physical. To say Freud was a scientist is like saying Christian Scientist are scientists, or creationism is science. Scientist (neurologist) test the brain, not the mind. Mathematicians use numbers too, are they scientists? What kind of experiments did Freud make? Interpreting dreams?  :roll:  Solitary

You have a bizarre focus on this.

How is clasical conditioning not science based?

The increase in psychological conditions overtime mirrors physical disease as well doesn't it?  The more we study and know about humans the more we find.  Some ridiculous conditions such as hysteria have also been eliminated.

Don't get me wrong there are plenty of bad modern aspects of the field as well, specifially ADHD and ADD being over diagnosed.

There are so many boring psychology experiments out there, feel free to dabble in any of the journals, or go to your local university and browse the stacks, it's real science.  It's not math.

[rickcopeland648]

"The science of psychology. Psychoanalysis is not a science: It is at best a medical process, and perhaps even more like witch-doctoring.

This raises a question The Rick Copeland has wondered and maybe somebody he might be in the know enough to give a credible answer: How seriously is Freud still taken? Is psychoanalysis still consider legit or is Freud largely considered the founder of an industry that has some valid applications but was wrong one numerous points?

[Shiranu]

A scientists is an expert in science, esp. one of the "physical" or natural sciences. The mind is not physical.

Uh... wut?

We don't have souls that exist independent of our body; everything in our mind works based on physical reasons. That's why brain damage, lobotomies, etc. change the person's mind, and why diseases like depression, bi-polar, schizophrenia can be physically observed.

How seriously is Freud still taken? Is psychoanalysis still consider legit or is Freud largely considered the founder of an industry that has some valid applications but was wrong one numerous points?

Not very serious at all. While he was a pioneer, modern psychologists realize most of his work was simply not right.

It is not much different than Greeks or the elements. We don't discredit chemistry because the Greeks only believed in the four elements nor do we discredit the things they did get right. To judge a field based on someone who contributed to it before it could be accurately studied (Freud and psychology) would be like saying the modern elements are wrong because the Greeks got it wrong.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I've dealt with several psychologists in my time and have yet to meet one I trust. There might be some I can trust, but I haven't meet them yet.
I was suicidally depressed for nearly my entire life till I quit dealing with them.
I tried depression medications and every time they tout new ones as being great a few years later they always turn out to have fucked up hundreds of thousands of people while the big pharma companies get rich. The problem as I see it is psychiatry is to tied to big pharma and they're in a marriage of wealth over actually serving the people they're tasked with helping.

[Shiranu]

Psychiatrists are the one's who prescribe meds, not psychologists.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Psychiatrists are the one's who prescribe meds, not psychologists.

I know, but psychologist is easier to spell in my mind.  :-$