Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. While you might understand what psychology is, many people are not quite so sure about what psychology does. What purpose does psychology serve? What are its goals? Let's take a closer look at the major goals of psychology, what psychologists strive to accomplish, and how psychology is used to solve real-world problems.
One of the first goals of psychology is simply to describe behavior. Through describing the behavior of humans and other animals, we are better able to understand it and gain a better perspective on what is considered normal and abnormal. Psychology researchers utilize a range of research methods to help describe behavior including naturalistic observation , case studies, correlational studies , surveys, and self-report inventories.
Researchers might start by observing human behavior and then describing a problem. By understanding what is happening, psychologists can then work on learning more about why the behavior happens and even how to change it.
Imagine that researchers want to learn more about consumer behavior. They might use market research surveys, direct observation, and other data collection methods to gather information on what people are doing when they shop. This gives researchers greater insight into what is really happening in a particular population. As you might imagine, in addition to merely describing it, psychologists are also interested in explaining behavior. Why do people do the things they do? What factors contribute to development, personality, social behavior, and mental health problems?
Throughout psychology's history, many theories have emerged to help explain various aspects of human behavior. A few examples of such approaches including classical conditioning and attachment theories. Some theories focus on just a small aspect of human behavior known as mini-theories while others serve as all-encompassing theories designed to explain all of human psychology known as grand theories.
In the previous example, researchers collected data to understand what consumers are purchasing. Psychologists would then conduct research to understand why consumers purchase certain items. Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home Social studies How do theories advance Psychological Science How do psychologists use case studies naturalistic observation and surveys to observe and describe behavior and why is random sampling important? Social studies. Ben Davis June 12, How do theories advance Psychological Science How do psychologists use case studies naturalistic observation and surveys to observe and describe behavior and why is random sampling important?
How do these experiments and theories help advance Psychological Science? What does Psychological Science focus on? How do psychologists use research to observe and describe behavior? What are the 5 types of psychological research?
What are the psychological methods? What are the key characteristics of research? What are the six characteristics of research? Term Why are the answers that flow from the scientific approach more reliable than those based on intuition and common sense? We also are routinely overconfident of our judgments, thanks partly to our bias to seek information that confirms them. Although limited by the testable questions it can address, scientific inquiry can help us sift reality from illusion and restrain the biases of our unaided intuition.
Term What are three main components of the scientific attitude? Definition The three components of the scientific attitude are 1 a curious eagerness to 2 skeptically scrutinize competing ideas and 3 an open-minded humility before nature. This attitude carries into everyday life as critical thinking, which examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses outcomes.
Putting ideas, even crazy-sounding ideas, to the test helps us winnow sense from nonsense. Term How do theories advance psychological science? Definition Psychological theories organize observations and imply predictive hypotheses.
After constructing precise operational definitions of their procedures, researchers test their hypotheses, validate and refine the theory, and, sometimes, suggest practical applications. If other researchers can replicate the study with similar results, we can then place greater confidence in the conclusion.
Term What are positive and negative correlations, and why do they enable prediction but not cause-effect explanation? Definition Scatterplots help us to see correlations. In a negative correlation ranging from 0 to —1. An association sometimes stated as a correlation coefficient indicates the possibility of a cause-effect relationship, but it does not prove the direction of the influence, or whether an underlying third factor may explain the correlation. Term What are illusory correlations?
Definition Illusory correlations are random events that we notice and falsely assume are related. Patterns or sequences occur naturally in sets of random data, but we tend to interpret these patterns as meaningful connections, perhaps in an attempt to make sense of the world around us.
Term How do experiments, powered by random assignment, clarify cause and effect? Definition To discover cause-effect relationships, psychologists conduct experiments, manipulating one or more factors of interest and controlling other factors. Random assignment minimizes preexisting differences between the experimental group exposed to the treatment and the control group given a placebo or different version of the treatment.
The independent variable is the factor you manipulate to study its effect. The dependent variable is the factor you measure to discover any changes that occur in response to these manipulations.
Term How can we describe data with measures of central tendency and variation? Definition Three measures of central tendency are the median the middle score in a group of data , the mode the most frequently occurring score , and the mean the arithmetic average. Measures of variation tell us how similar or diverse data are. A range describes the gap between the highest and lowest scores. The more useful measure, the standard deviation, states how much scores vary around the mean, or average, score.
The normal curve is a bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many types of data. Term What principles can guide our making generalizations from samples and deciding whether differences are significant? Definition Three principles are worth remembering: 1 Representative samples are better than biased samples.
When averages from two samples are each reliable measures of their own populations, and the difference between them is relatively large, we can assume that the result is statistically significant—that it did not occur by chance alone. Term Can laboratory experiments illuminate everyday life?
Definition By intentionally creating a controlled, artificial environment in the lab, researchers aim to test theoretical principles. These general principles help explain everyday behaviors. Definition Attitudes and behaviors vary across cultures, but the underlying principles vary much less because of our human kinship. Although gender differences tend to capture attention, it is important to remember our greater gender similarities.
Term Why do psychologists study animals, and is it ethical to experiment on animals? Definition Some psychologists are primarily interested in animal behavior. Others study animals to better understand the physiological and psychological processes shared by humans.
Under ethical and legal guidelines animals used in experiments rarely experience pain. Term Is it ethical to experiment on people?
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