Psychology is referred to as the evaluation and studies of the behaviors of humans as well all the processes in the humans that are termed as cognitive. A great debate encompasses this definition in terms of how much psychology is scientific or not. Psychology seeks to give explanations to the observed scenarios in humans that constitute their behavior, outlining why they behave the way they do. Conditions under which a given phenomenon occurs are assessed based on the observations made (David, 2010).
Science in the context of psychology is supposed to make predictions that it consequently needs to ascertain based on the results. Positivity is the driving force behind science. Conditions that lead to the happening of a case are essential to scientific principles under which psychology could be considered. This further requires that the process be characterized by specific objectives and no biasness at all. Testing of a condition for some result constitutes the scientific aspect of psychology studies (David, 2010). This is however prone to being challenged because views are dynamic and diverse in regard to what direction psychology takes in a bid to determine the definite meaning of what psychology studies entails.
Times have changed and so have the definition of psychology by different scholars. What is evident among these scholars is that they do not seem at any one point to come into a consensus to clearly define psychology. As much as many of them regard psychology studies as scientific, so has the number that argues that psychology is an art. The contents of these studies are the basic points of contradiction because some believe that psychology is fully evolved while others do not. Some have even gone a step further to argue that psychology has undergone revolution to stand as a normal science in the context of psychology that is said to be cognitive (David, 2010).
The consideration that psychology is comprised of several paradigms brings into focus the art side of psychology. Different perspectives have been put forward to offer a concrete support for this argument. This subject is all around the world offered under the arts subjects. This brought up and still brings hot debate that this essay considers herein. Humanistic perspectives consider individual differences on the basis of what is actually observed from the human individuals considered, thus the argument that the study of psychology is not only science-based, but rather art-oriented as well. On the same note, the scientific aspect of the study of psychology cannot be ignored since it actually exists. For instance, solutions to many mental disorders considered in psychology studies are evaluated and assessed on the baseline of factors that are social and environmental in nature. Biology is scientific, and many at times have the study of psychology incorporated the biological aspect of humans in its study (Ellen, 2008).
Psychology neither generalizes behavior nor condition based on the studies and observations made through it. It is fundamental to note that science does. It pursues a worldwide goal based on a few by generalizing a case. In this regard, the humanistic perspective directs its focal point on self actualization and further brings on board human actions and experiences. The interaction between the variables considered in the context of humanistic perspective finds scientific methods not really useful. The humanistic perspective is by virtue of major consideration focused on the meaning of humanism, outlining its positivity-based image. The positive image of the humanistic perspective is derived from the definite meaning of a human. The human nature is attributed to goodness and quality is a counting feature (Ellen, 2008). Human perspectives in the context of the point of consideration herein seeks to identify methods that tailor realization of the human potential based on the definition of psychology, in the light of science and art.
References
David, G. Meyers. (2010). Exploring Psychology, Eighth Edition, In Modules. California: Worth Publishers.
Ellen, E. (2008). What Is Psychology? Essentials. Chicago: Cengage Learning.
