does psych count as social science...

[Guest VraisCopains]

...for UWO med school? for example, I'm at UofT where psych counts as a science, so will it count as a social science pre req. at UWO?

also, who is the official person to contact for admission information?

 

Thanks

[Guest Steve U of T]

I had a similar question last August about one of my courses, and emailed the admissions office (admissions at fmd.uwo.ca). I took a biological anthropology course at U of T that is considered a science. The response I got from UWO was that as long as it is an anthropology course (and not biology), it will count as a social science, since all anthropology courses at UWO are social sciences. This situation seems pretty much the same as yours, so I suspect you will get the same response (that psych will be counted as a social science). Email them to make sure.

 

 

edited to prevent spammers from getting a genuine e-mail address that already gets enough mail... GS

[Guest therealcrackers]

At UWO psych courses are run through the Faculty of Social Sciences --- so my understanding is that it is a non-science course. When I took it, it was counted as such --- I also took first-year physics to fulfill the science course requirement.

[Guest RageoftheDragon]

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[Guest aneliz]

Psych = non-science at UWO. It can be counted as such to fill the non-science pre-req. It CANNOT be counted as a 'biology' at UWO.

[Guest VraisCopains]

Rage you are obviously ignorant if you say that psych is a pseudoscience. By the end of second year I know as much about the brain as any physiology major, if not more.

Research in psychology is done using the scientific method so your claim that its not a "real science" is wrong. Furthermore, I am doing a biology/psych double major and my psych course happen to be more challenging than my biology courses.

 

Everyone else, thank you for your replies. I will e-mail them just to make sure and post the reply for others

[Guest Titanium2003]

"Psychology=pseudoscience. No questions. Take a real course in science...geez."

 

RotD

 

I hope you're joking with this post. If you are, it's all good.

 

If not, that is one of the more ignorant comments I have read in quite a time. Psychology is a wide discipline that has an art/social science/basic science component just like medicine. Don't let pre-med mania tempt you to bash other disciplines.

[Guest VraisCopains]

I didn't e-mail, but I did read the FAQ on the admissions website and it clearly says that psychology counts as a "non-science" credit.

[Guest aneliz]

It is difficult to guess at the 'tone' intended in online posts... Please remember that every discipline has some merit and lets not bash each other or each other's programs. Psych is a legit degree program, whether it is 'science' or 'social science' is a heated debate...and one that also goes on within psych itself. Regardless, it is a decent 'pre-med' program and there are more than a few people in my class that did psych undergrad degrees.

[Guest RageoftheDragon]

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[Guest Steve U of T]

According to Sir Karl Popper (a well known philosopher of science), the criterion of demarcation between science and pseudoscience is falsifiability. In his paper discussing this, he uses Freud's and Adler's theories on psychoanalysis as specific examples of pseudoscience, since their claims are applicable to any situation, and cannot be falsified. Of course, psychology goes far beyond what Freud and Adler did, and most of the people I know who study psychology (I myself have no background in it) think Freud's work is garbage.

[Guest Gohan DBZ]

Two things:

 

1) I did a double degree in Human Bio and Psy at U of T and, as mentioned before, Psy courses are no pushover to hardcore science courses. Ofcourse, there are difficult hardcore anatomy, physiological courses, but there are also difficult "scientific" and non-scientific Psy courses, such as cognitive neuroscience and personality, respectively.

 

2) I believe it is unjustifiable to assume that traditional science degrees, such as physiology and biology, are superior to disciplines, such as Psy, which is a fusion of social and biological science. In general, it is wrong, I believe, to think that science is better than social sciences or humanity disciplines. I find philosophy to be intellectually superior to many of the science courses I have taken and to be an important discipline. If one is to assume science is better than social sciences and humanities, it is tantamount to declaring that figures such as Nietzsche, and more contemporary figures, such as Noam Chomsky and Michael Ignatiff (considered one of the greatest Canadian intellect - not a doctor/scientist) irrelevant, which is just absurd.

 

One final note, I also think it is wrong for people to regard Freud's work or any of his disciples work, such as Adler's and Jung's, as garbage simply because it is not empirical. The power of their work lies not in the ability to prove any claim, the notion of "falsability", but rather in their ideas and the ripple effect it had. It is largely thanks to their work that we have come to understand the importance of early childhood in shaping one's life, the importance of sexuality in driving one's behaviour, and unconscious forces. Everyone nowadays is familiar with the notion of hidden sexual desires, hidden demons, multiple aspects of personality, and so forth. These advances are due to the ideas put forth by Freud and his followers. Simply, Freud is a genius and should not be dismissed because his ideas did not evolve through empirical research.

[Guest Steve U of T]

Popper would probably agree that Freud and Adler were intelligent people, and that there is truth to their work, even though he considers it pseudo-science. There is nothing wrong with fields outside of science. I wouldn't have quoted a philosopher if I thought it was of a lower echelon than science (the philosophy of science is itself not scientific). When I said my friends think Freud's work is garbage, I'm fairly sure the reason for that has nothing to do with a lack of empiricism. They simply don't like what he said. I didn't mean to link my friends' opinions about Freud with the notion that his work was pseudo-science. I merely mentioned their opinion to make the point that Freud represents only a part of psychology, and there are other aspects of it that are very much scientific. Of course, I haven't asked them about Freud since first year, and they've likely changed their opinions after getting more exposure to psychology.

 

I believe there are many science students who think they are above non-science students, but there are probably just as many non-science students who think little of scientists (of course, both groups are wrong). I've encountered people who assume that science and math students can't read or write well. Also, there is a huge branch of the philosophy of science (antirealism) that believes science does not provide an accurate description of the universe. Some antirealists agree that science has some merit, although others are far more radical, believing it to be completely unjustified.

[Guest knifeparty43]

psychology = voodoo... just about as good as sniffing a couple blades of grass while standing on one foot while poking out the eyeball of a chicken.

 

library science is where it's at

 

G-UNIT!

[Guest aneliz]

Alright gang... this thread has ceased to be productive... I know that you are probably kidding with your last post, but it is often difficult to interpret the 'tone' of a post from the words on the screen. Psych is a legit field of study, and whether it is science or social science is not going to be solved anytime soon.

[Guest shrinkage]

He/She/It has made several inappropriate posts on at least three threads within the last few days.

 

I truly hope this is not actually a pre-med or med student who will one day deal with patients. If this person (I am assuming kp is a guy, as I haven't met too many overtly hostile females) was in front of me right now, I would be strongly tempted to destroy his maxillofacial region...

 

>:

[Guest knifeparty43]

dude...chill out

 

now you're resorting to threats, hardly the kind of behaviour that would make a good physician.

 

hostile? man you're way out there.

 

obviously my posts reflect the rediculousness of these threads and are fodder to incite further absurdities from people like you. I guess I met that objective!

 

oh, and you'd be the last person I want palpating my prostate

 

get real

[Guest Gohan DBZ]

To Steve of U of T,

 

My remarks was not aimed at you, I did not detect any personal bias in your response. Rather, it was aimed at individuals like your PSY friends and others who think lowly of Freud or think Science is better than other fields.

 

So, sorry if it appeared as attacking you.

 

Regards

[Guest aneliz]

This thread has outlived it's usefulness...

 

Bottom line: psych courses are counted as social science (ie can be used to satisfy the 3.0 non-science requirement) at UWO.

 

The End.