Читать книгу The Handy Psychology Answer Book - Lisa J. Cohen - Страница 50

Without the scientific method, the discipline of psychology could not exist. Although the questions of psychology are as old as human beings themselves, what distinguishes the field of psychology from these older traditions is the use of the scientific method to answer these questions. The scientific method involves 1) a systematic study of nature, 2) the use of mathematics to interpret the information gleaned from this study, and 3) the commitment to change one’s theories to fit the data. This last component is extremely important. In science, theories are always conditional. If the data unmistakably contradicts the theory, the theory has to change.