Subjectivity in Psychology

Skepsism (from Greek skepsi = thought) is the point of view of Psychology that emphasizes the subjectivity of people in the study of human mind.
 
Asexperia said:
Anyone knows what a survey is. There are oral and written (questionnaires).
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Please provide an example that illustrates your claim, viz. that surveys are tests of subjectivity.

Surveys in general do not do this. They obtain a sample of people's opinions on a certain issue. Whether those opinions are subjective or not isn't explored, as a rule.
 
exchemist said:
Please provide an example that illustrates your claim, viz. that surveys are tests of subjectivity.
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Subjectivity is the way of thinking and feeling of people. Everything a person thinks is subjectivity, it's into his head. Subjectivity can be true or false.
 
Asexperia said:
Subjectivity is the way of thinking and feeling of people. Everything a person thinks is subjectivity, it's into his head. Subjectivity can be true or false.
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Yes there is always some subjectivity in a person's view on any topic.

But how, then, does a survey test this subjectivity? That is what you claimed it did.

To do that, it seems to me you would need the survey process to provide some means of evaluating the degree of subjectivity of responses. Surveys generally do not do this, surely?
 
Asexperia said:
SURVEY:
1) To conduct a study of the opinions or thoughts of a group of people.

2) To determine the exact dimensions and position of an area of land by a series of measurements.

www.wordreference.com
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Nothing in those definitions demonstrates that a survey is a test of subjectivity. Indeed the survey often assumes that subjectivity will be present. The survey is designed to assess the nature of that subjectivity i.e. what personal opinions are held by the responders. The survey does not test subjectivity.
 
Asexperia said:
SURVEY:
1) To conduct a study of the opinions or thoughts of a group of people.

2) To determine the exact dimensions and position of an area of land by a series of measurements.

www.wordreference.com
Click to expand...
Yes. So from that you can see that a survey does NOT, in general, test subjectivity. It just collects and studies opinions or thoughts. The degree to which these thoughts or opinion may be subjective is not the goal of a survey.

I expect one could design a survey, specially, in order to test the degree of subjectivity of people, on a certain issue. But that would require a specific exercise to do it.
 
For psychology, the survey premise is inadequate.

Psychological therapy is usually between a therapist and a patient, and must needs be somewhat subjective from both participants.
(one of the reasons that many therapist choose to sit behind the patient to hide their facial/body reactions thereby eliminating some of the therapists perceived subjectivity.)

In the early part of the last century, Maggie Mead pointed out that usually/unfortunately the interviewer becomes part of the interview thereby harming objectivity.---poor James George Frazer fell victim to that, thereby diminishing the value of his "The Golden Bough" as an anthropological treatise.(still a fun read)

Imho
psychology must be seen as a subset to the set "anthropology"
 
exchemist said:
Yes. So from that you can see that a survey does NOT, in general, test subjectivity. It just collects and studies opinions or thoughts. The degree to which these thoughts or opinion may be subjective is not the goal of a survey.

I expect one could design a survey, specially, in order to test the degree of subjectivity of people, on a certain issue. But that would require a specific exercise to do it.
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When I said that opinion surveys are tests of subjectivity, I was not referring to the subjective degree of such opinions but simply an exploration of how people react to a certain situation.
 
Asexperia said:
When I said that opinion surveys are tests of subjectivity, I was not referring to the subjective degree of such opinions but simply an exploration of how people react to a certain situation.
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Then they are not "tests" of subjectivity.
 
exchemist said:
Then they are not "tests" of subjectivity.
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English is not Asexperia's native language. It is therefore not surprising that they are insensitive to the distinction between a test for subjectivity and a measure of subjectivity. What is disappointing is that they failed to accept the correction and stubbornly insist that they are right. I have met many people for whom English is a second, or third language, who speak better English and have a better grasp of English vocabulary than many native speakers. Asexperia is not one of them.
 
Asexperia said:
It's not about the language, but about logic and knowledge. You two don't know the difference between the biological or chemical test (binary) and the psychological test (spectrum).
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Really, please stop this ignorance. A test for subjectivity would be a process that determined whether or not subjectivity was present. A survey of the type you have described is surveying opinion. It is an opinion poll. Do you deny this?
Opinions are subjective? Do you deny this?
Therefore a survey in the form of an opinion poll is seeking to determine the subjective views of its responders. It does not determine whether or not subjectivity is present, it assumes subjectivity is present and if it is not then it is a flawed poll. Do you deny this?
Your misunderstanding in this matter is due to an arrogant belief on your part that you have a better grasp of English than native speakers. In this instance you don't.
 
Skepsism is different of Subjectivism.

Subjectivism is the philosophical doctrine that limits the validity of knowledge to the subject that knows.

See post #23 for the definition of Skepsism.
 
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