Archive | November, 2011
18 Nov

Theories and approaches in psychology form the basis of all research within the subject. It’s by using the beliefs in their theory that a psychologist will pick and evaluate their topic of research. But is this helpful to the advancement of the field or is it hindering psychological research?

Before they even conduct a study the theory that the researcher adheres to will have already steered their research into a certain direction. The simple decision of choosing what area to study is laid out by what they and their theory believe to be important. For example a behavioural psychologist wouldn’t look at the levels of dopamine in participants known to be violent as it isn’t considered an important or even contributing factor by their theory. This means that they are already narrowed in what they’re ging to study and the possibilties they will find within that field. Is this a good thing for research that a psychologist is so easily swayed by their dominant theory? And what if there is a paradigm shift within that theory does that mean that previous research is flawed?   This stringent narrow focus could detract from factors that could effect the subject of research. Surely this isnt helping psychology or scientific knowledge?

Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that all psychological approaches are terrible things in psychology and because of them the subject’s producing bias information because I’m not. Approaches in psychology show what the researcher believes to be the most prevalent and contributing factor to human behaviour and as such highlights important factors and angles on behaviour however it’s when the theory becomes so dominant that it controls the researchers studies ie: when the reasearcher is unable to admit that they’re wrong/could be wrong (Freud springs to mind here) .

In conclusion though appraoches in psychology are highly important in the psycholgical field and they help give reeacrhers ficus in their studies, when the researcher is obsessivley dedicated to their theory it can in fact be more detrimental than helpful to scientific knowledge.