Abstract
ADDRESSING a colloquium of the University of Manchester Branch of the Association of Scientific Workers on May 5, Prof. T. H. Pear explained why in psychology the traditional methods of science are sometimes inadequate. Science has sometimes been defined as measurement and sometimes as organized knowledge of facts, but not all facts can be measured. Moreover, if by facts be meant only events which are in principle open to observation by everyone who wishes to observe them, the psychologist has to study many phenomena, for example, mental images and colour experiences, which are not facts in this sense. Some would claim that they are therefore not amenable to the methods of science, but nevertheless they exist and are important ; synæsthesia, for example. Physics has succeeded in maintaining a rigorous scientific method by ignoring certain difficult aspects of experience.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Place of Psychology in the Sciences. Nature 151, 638 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/151638a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/151638a0