Sorry, I was interpreting the debate not so much as how the nomenclature has/is used, but whether psychology has relationships between variables that are as demonstratably consistent as gravity, boyle's law, or the inverse square law etc. Although these 'laws' state the conditions upon which they are true (although some seem to be universal), does psychology have anything near equivalent, that we would suggest it is in the same league as these 'laws'. --Mike
--- On Wed, 8/13/08, Christopher D. Green <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Christopher D. Green <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [tips] "Laws" in psychology To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, August 13, 2008, 5:30 AM Jim Dougan wrote: At 10:03 PM 8/12/2008, Michale Smith wrote: Surely there are laws in other fields; e.g. Boyle’s law for gasses; the laws of thermodynamics; the law of gravity; the inverse square law of light. There may well be. That is a distinct issue from whether the term has been used with any consistency in the past. It would seem that a law should be able to be defined and not at the whim of whomever: Something like a relationship between variables which is consistent across conditions—and I don’t think psychology has any such stable relationships which ‘always hold’. It sounds like you just did exactly what I said Gary could do. It is not so much a matter of "whim." It is a matter of whether such a relationship has consistently been called a law, and whether only such relationships are so called. The answer would appear to be no (which is why arguing over why this psychological phenomenon is called a law, but that equally (un)reliable on is not is a futile debate. The fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves. :-) Regards, Chris -- #yiv1001636770 p.p1 {margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:16.0px Times New Roman;} #yiv1001636770 p.p2 {margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:16.0px Times New Roman;min-height:18.0px;} #yiv1001636770 p.p3 {margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:12.0px Helvetica;} #yiv1001636770 span.s1 {font:16.0px Lucida Grande;} Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ "Part of respecting another person is taking the time to criticise his or her views." - Melissa Lane, in a Guardian obituary for philosopher Peter Lipton ================================= --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
