Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. While you may understand what psychology is, many people are not so sure what psychology does. What is psychology for? What are your goals?

Let’s take a closer look at the main goals of psychology, what psychologists strive to achieve, and how psychology is used to solve real-world problems.

To describe

One of the first goals of psychology is simply to describe behavior. By describing the behavior of humans and other animals, we can better understand it and gain insight into what is considered normal and abnormal. Psychology researchers use a variety of research methods to help describe behavior, including naturalistic observation, case studies, correlational studies, surveys, and self-report inventories.

To explain

As you can imagine, psychologists are also interested in explaining behavior in addition to simply describing it. Why do people do the things they do? What factors contribute to development, personality, social behavior, and mental health problems?

Throughout the history of psychology, many theories have emerged to help explain various aspects of human behavior. Some examples of such approaches include classical conditioning and attachment theories. Some theories focus on only a small aspect of human behavior (known as mini-theories), while others serve as comprehensive theories designed to explain all of human psychology (known as grand theories).

to predict

Not surprisingly, another main goal of psychology is to make predictions about how we think and act. Once we understand more about what is happening and why it is happening, we can use that information to make predictions about when, why, and how it might happen again in the future.

Successfully predicting behavior is also one of the best ways to know if we understand the underlying causes of our actions. Prediction may also allow psychologists to make educated guesses about human behavior without necessarily understanding the mechanisms underlying the phenomena. For example, if researchers note that scores on a particular aptitude test can be used to predict high school dropout rates, that information can be used to estimate how many students in a particular group might drop out of school. every year.

Change

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, psychology strives to change, influence, or control behavior in order to bring about constructive and lasting change in people’s lives. In our example above, researchers could take what they know about the link between aptitude test scores and dropout rates and use the information to develop programs designed to help students stay in school. From treating mental illness to improving human well-being, changing human behavior is a big focus of psychology.

In Review

So, as you’ve learned, the four main goals of psychology are to describe, explain, predict, and change behavior. In many ways, these goals are similar to the kinds of things you probably do every day when you interact with others.

When dealing with a child, for example, you can ask questions like “What is he doing?” (describing), “Why is he doing that?” (explaining), “What if I answered this way?” (predict) and “What can I do to make it stop doing that?” (Changing).

Psychologists and other social scientists ask many of the same kinds of questions. The big difference is that psychologists use the scientific method to rigorously and systematically test understanding of human and animal behavior.

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