paradigm

• paradigm shift


  Occurs when paradigms are challenged more and more over time until there is so much evidence that the old paradigm can no longer be accepted such that new paradigms will take its place. For example, from the psychoanalysis of the psychodynamic approach to the behaviourist approach and then again to the cognitive approach and then to the biological approach.
• Kuhn suggested what distinguishes scientific disciplines from non-scientific disciplines is a shared set of assumptions and methods known as a paradigm. He argued that Psychology lacked a universally accepted paradigm and was therefore best seen as pre-science. Natural sciences on the other hand have a number of principles at their core. Eg biology has the theory of evolution. In contrast, psychology has many conflicting approaches.
• A subject can only be called a science if the majority of its workers agree with and work within an agreed paradigm.
• There are too many conflicting theoretical aproaches and methods of enquiry eg behaviourists look at behaviour and Freud looks at the unconscious mind.
• Not all psychologists take the view psychology is still at the pre-science stage - most accept the definition of psychology as 'the study of mind and behaviour' so there is broad agreement about the overall subject matter and therefore with an agreed paradigm, psychology is a science.
• Psychology started as a very unscientific principle, and Kuhn argued that it is a pre-science but now it is moving towards more scientific principles as we are currently in the paradigm of cognitive neuroscience in psychology using brain scanning techniques.