Reference no: EM133885516
Question
In the History of Psychology, consider the following as it pertains to the perception of psychology as a science.
How is the study of an 'abstract entity' of the mind different than, say, studying the 'abstract entity' of a soul? Are they the same? How are they different?
According to John Watson, psychology was an objective science, solely because of observable behavior.
I think that if the standard of science is based on observation in real time then behavior modification falls right within that definition. I think that since psychology is so broad, ranging from direct behavior manipulation to psychotherapy, that it sometimes hard to directly associate it with "science," because many people often refer to therapy as an art due to it's more liberal nature.
Descartes' model of mind-body dualism described the belief that some things were reflexive from the body, while certain things were done by free will. He believed that humans chose their behavior, but animals were mostly reflexive.