• @FlowVoid
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    2 days ago

    Unlike alchemy and dowsing, psychology can make predictions that have been experimentally verified. To me, that means it is a science.

    For example, suppose 100 people were asked whether they prefer to win $50 guaranteed, or a 50% chance of winning $100 and a 50% chance of winning nothing. Let X be the percentage who prefer the first option.

    Now suppose they were asked whether they prefer to lose $50 guaranteed, or a 50% chance of losing $100 and a 50% chance of losing nothing. Let Y be the percentage who prefer the first option.

    Psychology predicts that X will generally be greater than Y, and this has been verified experimentally. No other branch of science can make such a prediction.