Why Van Gogh lost his ear
Posted by Huyette on November 4, 2009 in statistics
Stats Blog
Psychology, loosely defined, is the study of mind and behavior. Statistics, it seems, are the medium by which psychology becomes accepted as a science. Statistics allow researchers to quantify, measure and record these behaviors and actions of the mind. Yet, when has the mind ever been something that can be grasped or represented through numbers. In fact, the human mind is, by nature, so expansive and amazing that it cannot be represented through numbers. What I found so intriguing about psychology was that unlike physics or math, there is not always a right answer, yet the field is still scientific in nature; it was the perfect blend of science and art. But it seems that in the struggle to become accepted as a science, psychology has become focused on the numbers, with statistics being the enabler. In doing this, I think there was a loss of appreciation for what makes psychology amazing- the mind. I doubt we will ever truly understand everything about the mind, regardless of the number of experiments we run. And this fact gives psychology a degree of art and rather than attempting to overcome that I believe it should be embraced. Any mathematician will tell you that math is beautiful; Einstein stated that the more he learned about the universe the less he believed it was really created by science but rather something beyond our comprehension. Beauty is something that cannot be defined and neither can whatever created our universe but both of these facts are accepted by the scientists in their respective fields- fields which are considered the ‘hard’ sciences- math, physics, etc.
Statistics has inherent value that should not be overlooked. Statistics allow us to estimate the effectiveness of the HA project, and give us an ability to measure unconscious or implicit actions. I am simply stating that statistics should not be viewed as everything. For example, the discussion groups and open ended questions were basically disregarded in the HA data but wouldn’t a conversation with a student be more informative than simply EGWA scale. For the purposes and nature of this project it is clear that questionnaires are the appropriate form of data gathering but in my opinion means, standard deviations and ANOVAs will never be as telling as listening to an Iraq child discuss his life at school. My statement about statistics is this: statistics has a well needed place in psychology but if the ambiguous nature of the mind is no longer appreciated then psychology has lost its magnitude and beauty. The incomprehensible nature of the mind is what gives psychology it’s art and beauty and should be accepted as such.
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