Contents of email that I thought I had sent minutes after my last one: > s/someone else/others > <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sed>Also I wanted to note that this counted > as my belated reply to the alternative medicine thread: perhaps most > medicines, not just 'alternative' varieties, are still 'magic'; that is, > not fully understood but used because they seem to work for a certain > problem when used a certain way. Obviously if people's lives and > well-being/comfort are at stake we should use any solution, but not settle > for leaving things unexplained.
Eric: I think the difference between chemistry and psychology, although your point is well-taken, is that if I want to measure pH I simply use litmus or electronic testing, whereas if I want to measure stress I ask questions about how someone is feeling, which takes other factors into account (like whether they trust me enough to tell me). I suppose there could be interference between the actual pH and me through my methods of testing - the litmus - but it seems it leaves less room for error and is more easily fiddled with. The fact is, there are ethical considerations for tinkering with someone's mind - it would be considered out of line to test how someone reacts to stress by insulting their parents, for instance. And a direct test of the brain would fall more under neurology, I think. (This is the point at which Eric sent the email 7 minutes ago) > The big problem in psychology (IMHO) is the lack of a paradigm that > effectively organizes the accepted results and shows where to seek results > in the future. Perhaps this is what I am getting at. How does one untangle the complex web of cause and effect that makes up a mind? It takes a very logical series of tests that eliminate possibilities until only one is left to make a direct link from. I also would like to note that since you are actually a professional in the field and I am not, you have a much better knowledge of specific studies and general phenomena, and so maybe this discussion is more about the public perception of psychology rather than psychology itself. -Arlo James Barnes
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