A psychology department may be found at almost all colleges and institutions. It's usually found at a social science school or division. A biology department may also be found at most colleges and institutions. It is frequently found in a science school or division. Psychology is taught in high schools as one of the social subjects, and rarely as a social science; biology is taught as one of the sciences.
Nothing in the above remarks appears to be in the least bit contentious. Those assertions are, in reality, self-evident. The implications of such remarks, on the other hand, are crucial and pertain to the position of psychology among the several sciences.
Language has the potential to alter mind, as psychology professors are well aware. We're all aware that the way you phrase a question has an impact on the response. So, when we make a distinction between the sciences and the social sciences, we're signaling that we're qualifying our status: we're not exactly a science; instead, we're a science that's not quite a science. This daily use of terminology concerning psychology (i.e., it is a "social" science — the quotation marks are widely heard) conceals psychology's true effect on other medical, social, and natural disciplines. Psychology has a significant influence.
Boyack, Klavans, and Borner (2005) looked at a million scientific research publications to see how the various sciences interacted. Mathematics, physics, chemistry, earth sciences, medicine, social sciences, and psychology were recognized as seven science centres of impact. The true place of psychology among the other scientific fields is obvious. Our field has an impact on a wide range of other scientific fields. Cacioppo (2007) has detailed some of the psychological effects.
Another piece of good news is that we now have proof that psychology courses promote scientific literacy, which is a major aim of the National Academies of Science. As our psychology majors moved through the program, my colleague Jeff Holmes and I assessed their scientific literacy. A definite increasing trend could be seen. The level of scientific literacy, on the other hand, was unrelated to the amount of natural science courses taken by the students (Holmes & Beins, 2008).
Furthermore, psychology graduate students had higher proficiency in formal, logical thinking, as well as statistical and methodological reasoning, than chemistry graduate students a few decades before (Lehman, Lempert, & Nisbett, 1988). This isn't to argue that chemistry students were less capable than psychology students in their respective fields. Rather, these findings point to one of psychology education's most noteworthy strengths: the development of nuanced, critical thinking. The facts are unmistakable. Psychology is a good field for developing critical and scientific thinking skills. Unfortunately, statistics alone does not always persuade individuals to change their beliefs (unless they are trained in psychology, of course).
So, what are our options?
We can follow in the footsteps of a number of past psychology departments. We may utilize language to set the tone for the conversation. In the 1990s, Dartmouth University renamed its department the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Since then, a number of other departments have followed suit. Psychiatric science departments may be found all across the country (Jaffe, 2011). This concept should be used in our regular talks as well. We should make sure that when our friends and colleagues talk about science, they are talking about the right type of science. Biological sciences, physical sciences, and, last but not least, psychological sciences are all available. It's no longer allowed to practice science that isn't science.