thought i would ask this as it is one of those many debated questions!
I take psychology at AS-level and i also take chemistry and biology, and in some ways it is very similar and seems to be very 'with it' on the developing theories, but it deals more with analysing rather than discovering, imo.
so what does anyone else think?

Yeah it is a science, its not a science as most people would know it though (physics, chemistry, biology), I take it at AS level but its nothing like the other sciences I agree with you

Good question. Most science is about categorizing what goes on in the outside world (Physical reality/ the concrete). Psychology could really be considered an art because it depends on subjective reality for its source material, just like art does. The only way it could be considered a science is that it is trying to understand something but from the inside and not materially. I hope this clarifies the situation in some way as the 'definition of reality' is what philosophy is all about, again an art but one that is concerned with existance, not just the mind as psychology is.

Psychology tries to apply scientific methods to the collection and analysis of data but whereas the knowledge gained is justified by the experimental data, much of the knowledge is far less secure.

Since the conclusions drawn are often contingent, although obtained scientifically, they are less sustainable so it is scientific in the sense of using scientific methods.

Rather than trying to decide something is or is not "science", it's more constructive to look at the methods used. Do they use models and theories to generate hypotheses that they then try to disprove by experiment? If so, then they are using scientific methods.

Where the models are explored theoretically, that's also a natural part of scientific work. What distinguishes science from mere speculation, is that those conjectures are subjected to attempts at disproof rather than acceptance as viable explanations without testing.

Is Science an art? e.g. how did 'science' become so big when its roots are from the witchery and alchemy of the past... and why should we ignore specifics just because they've been tested to a positive value and doesn't require the tester to evaluate... faith? <--<< ART

Contempory Psychology is bound by the same rules of the great Philosophers as ANY other Science medium...

Science informs us of specific medical conditions based on Psychological values...

Science also informs us of that to be an acceptable scientific value the subject matter must be recreatable at different venues by different testers to achieve a consistant finding..

Question: how many Psychopaths are on the international register for Psychopaths, how did the testers come to the same conclusion to have ANY amount of Psychopaths on a register, the TESTING involved by DIFFERENT TESTERS in DIFFERENT COUNTRIES all came to the same conclusions about the Psychopaths they added to the register...
conclusion: Of course Psychology is a science!

There are extreme and stringent Scientific testing in Psychology to prove its validity as apposed to any other Science, so by having these extremes surely Psychology is more of a science than science itself?

I am happy to enter into discourse on this subject online or in private