Psychology should be a science course not social studies

By Tatyana Maldonado

Psychology, the study of mind and behavior, is the only science at Liberty that is classified as a social studies course. I feel it devalues the importance of the course and requires a department change because of that.

The psychology program is one of the most important courses for Lancers, helping them understand themselves and the people around them in various perspectives.

Students learn and study the different aspects of the brain, mental disorders, and other essential concepts, not just in humans. Psychology also studies the same aspects in animals.

While students may not be doing difficult chemistry labs or many hands-on experiments, not every science requires that. 

For example, Liberty’s astronomy courses are heavily research or lecture based, yet it is still in the science department because it is a science. 

This should be the case for psychology, yet it is not.

Many people would disagree with this opinion because, technically, psychology mainly studies humans and the social aspect of human behavior. However, I don’t think that means it should be put in the social studies department. 

Zoology at Liberty also studies behavioral, physiological, and social characteristics in the animal kingdom, according to Liberty’s 2024-25 Course Guide. This makes it very similar to psychology, the only difference is it’s only focused on animals. 

Psychology, as stated before, also studies animal behavior. So why are we not putting the course in the science department?

Psychology has done a lot for society. Helping us understand why we do the things we do. It has taken over a century to cultivate modern psychology, and various scientists such as Sigmund Freud and Ivan Pavlov contributed to that fact with their years of research and experiments.

I believe that giving the program a title as a social studies course, not science, devalues the hundreds of scientists that spent their lives making psychology as integral to understanding society as possible. 

It also prevents students from understanding that psychologists are scientists, and should be labeled as such.

Liberty should consider this opinion in the future, and I hope that the program will get a well-deserved departmental change.