Essay about science After I consulted several scholarly articles, encyclopedia and dictionaries on the definition of science, I have chosen to focus… [623881]

Essay about science After I consulted several scholarly articles, encyclopedia and dictionaries on the definition of science, I have chosen to focus on the definition found in the Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Humanities namely: „Science is the whole of the acquired knowledge, while knowing an object means to have a general acquaintance with it and involves an intellectual knowledge of the object area (J.Grote,W.James) and so, implies the capacity for discursiveness and communication. Originally the science indicates any form of human knowledge, but Socrates stressed the need not to confuse the true science with the data of the related knowledge of the practical actions. Only the true science is aware of its own incompleteness. Aristotle was the first who clearly distinguished between the human natural tendency towards knowledge and the authentic/genuine knowledge, understanding it as a guaranteed systematic objective science, namely a science in the cotemporary sense of the term”1. The confidence level of the source is represented both by CV of the author and the reputation of the publishing house or of the journal in which this source is published. Another factor that influences us to trust the cited source is given by the reviews and the number of citations made by other authors. In psychology the main sources of scientific information are: books, journals that can be found either in a physical format i.e. printed or in electronic format. Therefore we can find these sources of information both in libraries and databases, some of them being open sources and others paid. The editorial standards in psychology are A.P.A., namely those of the American Association of Psychology2. Why A.P.A.? Because: „It is essential for any psychological professional – in the academic, clinical or research field (or all of them), or any other fields, or indeed any combination of these – to make regular visits to the website of the American Psychological Association (APA)”3. The APA is the biggest scientific and professional psychological association in the world”4. This organization was founded in July 1892 at Clark University (Massachusetts) by G. Stanley Hall, who was its first President. Initially it was made up of 31 members interested in what they used to call the new psychology. Although making slow progress at first and in the early part of the twentieth century, after 1945 a period of strong growth and diversification has started. Large quantities of information can be accessed from its website, all of it valuable and interesting; therefore we will highlight those referring to its divisions5. There are 54 of these divisions, relating to different disciplines in psychology, research areas, methodological aspects, and so on. Each division has its own staff, publications (including both journal and books), activities, conferences, etc., as well as its own website. On the 1 Enciclopedie de filozofie și științe umane (Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Humanities), All Educational,2004,București, p. 1075. 2 They can be found here: http://www.apa.org/ . 3 http://www.apa.org/. 4 Buela-Casal, Olivas-Ávila, Musi-Lechuga & Zych International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology,2011, p. 96. 5 http://www.apa.org/about/division/ .

APA’s publications webpage6, one can find books, videos, databases, and 69 scientific journals published by the Association. It goes without saying that all of these are of great relevance and interest. However, the Association’s official journal, American Psychologist, merits special mention. This journal, being an outlet for publications on the theory and practice of psychology and on the APA’s contributions to political affairs, announces the changes occurring in the organization itself or in some of its thematic areas, new regulations, updates of existing regulations and so on. For example, all the changes and novelties documented in one of its flagship publications, The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, are first announced in American Psychologist”7. Constantin Ioan Necula Student, anul I Catedra de Psihologie Universitatea „Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu
6 http://www.apa.org/pubs/index.aspx. 7 International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 2014, No. 14, p. 77.