The Common Criticisms of Psychology - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages This paper declares that organized psychology plays a vital role in addressing a wide range of social issues. However, there are concerns about the ideological nature of psychology when it intervenes on social issues.
This discussion highlights that Radical Psychology Network, which is an international organization of psychologists belives that psychology quite often aligns with the status quo and consciously or unconsciously identifies against concerns of progress and social justice. Therefore, they advocate that psychology must take broader stand on issues related to burning social problems by making it more socially committed. It is argued that even psychological research is constituted and affected by mainstream beliefs and practice. Psychology has been criticized for its lopsided reliance on laboratory methods and statistical analyses. Therefore, psychology underestimates the strength of qualitative and interpretive analysis in dealing with the complexities of life in the real world. Also, qualitative analysis does not necessitates the psychologists to manipulate and, thereby objectify the research participants. In quantitative analysis, there is no place for what people have to tell about their own lives. There role is to act merely as spectators in accordance with the psychologists’ design, even when they are informed about it. In addition, people who raise ethical concerns argue that psychology does not pay sufficient attention to the harmful effects of its theories and practices on individuals and societies. Although, there are codes and restriction to mitigate such effects, psychologists are not always in a position to control the detrimental effects of their experiments which may not be immediately apparent. In other words, psychology involves in experiments with people. Therapeutic effectiveness has been questioned from many corners. Some argue that it is futile to empirically ...Download file to see next pagesRead More