Take out specific points in the following statement and write them in point form
"We hear these sorts of statements all the time. They are opinions about
people that are stated as though they were facts. You may agree with
some of these statements and disagree with others. But how do we decide
whether any of the statements are true? How can we gain more
confidence in our ideas about people? Can we become more specific in
our claims than the above generalisations suggest?
There are many systems of belief about people, our behaviour and
what makes us who we are. Psychology is one of these belief systems, but
it is not the only one. Many people, for example, look to religion to
explain human behaviour. Others base their views on what older, more
experienced people in society say is true. Increasingly, perhaps, many of
us look to celebrities or famous people to give us lessons in life and
knowledge about people.
Psychology differs from other systems of belief about people in one
crucial respect: psychologists are concerned not only with what we know
about people, but also about how we come to know these things.
Psychology is commonly defined as a scientific and applied discipline
that studies human behaviour, cognition and emotions. However, this
definition is impoverished by its limited understanding of the psyche as
only behaviour, cognition or neurochemistry. There is a long history to
why we ended up with this positivistic definition. While it is beyond the
scope of this chapter to tell this history, it should be said that this
definition is a hangover of psychology’s narrow view of science – as being
both objective and neutral. This is a conception that is consistent with
psychology as Euro-American, male, White and bourgeois. However, a
more inclusive and complete definition of psychology should include an
understanding of the psyche as embodied and discursive.
In many approaches to understanding people – approaches that differ
from psychology – it is important to know who is making claims about
people, their behaviour and what makes them human. For example, in
many systems of belief, the views of a recognised elder or expert are
thought to be the best insight we can have into people. In such systems of
belief, people will defend their views by saying that these views are
similar to those of an elder or recognised expert. However, in psychology,
while there are indeed experts, the way in which we weigh up whether a
belief about people is true is rather different.
Consider, for instance, the statement: ‘How people develop in later life
is related in some way to their early experiences.’ This statement is so
broad that all psychologists would probably agree with it.
But a psychologist who is influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud,
the founder of psychoanalysis, may agree with this statement on the basis
of having read Freud’s work. The psychologist may have been convinced
that Freud’s method of analysing adults and linking current behaviour to
early experience provides useful information on human development.
This psychologist would not agree with the statement simply because
Freud agrees with it, but would agree with it on the basis of being
convinced by Freud’s methods and approach to creating new knowledge
about people."
- Opinions about people stated as facts
- How to determine if statements are true
- Different systems of belief about human behavior
- Psychology as a scientific and applied discipline
- Psychology's limited understanding of the psyche
- Importance of knowing who is making claims about people
- Different approaches to understanding people
- Example statement about human development in later life
- Influence of Sigmund Freud on psychologists' beliefs