This research explores the influence of the rise of experimental science in the nineteenth century on the shaping of the theoretical and conceptual bases of psychology. The effect of the relationship between experimental science and psychology on perceptions of the validity of psychology also is addressed.
The rise of experimental science in the nineteenth century initiated a shift away from a process whereby discoveries were fitted into existing views of nature and toward a development of new concepts and theories (Wolpert, 1992, pp. ix-xiv). Mendel's work in the 1860s on inheritance factors led to the development of the science of genetics. The work of Lavoisier broke chemistry free of its associations with alchemy, and placed on the path to become a physical science. Some medical scientists began to explore the human mind, an area of inquiry that led to the development of the social science of psychology.
The rise of experimental science firmly established four objectives for all scientific inquiry--description, prediction, control, and understanding (von Bertalanffy, 2967, pp. 61-65). The least demanding of these objectives is the description of reality in an understandable way. Prediction involves both the observation and description of behavior. The development of answers to questions concerning the causes and consequences of behavior led to the framing and testing of hypothesized relationships through scientific experimentation. Based on the results of the testing of hypotheses, experimental scientists draw conclusions about the behavioral relationships investigated. Hypothesis testing leads experimental scientists to apply control to some variables in an effort to isolate causal relationships between variables affecting behavior. The cumulative results of description, prediction, and control of behavior provide the experimental scientist with the knowledge required to formulate theories and concepts that explain...