Samuel Chiltern answered
Psychology is a social science, which focuses on understanding the human mind, and the way in which it interprets and interacts with the world. The subject has four main goals:
Description is the process of analysing behaviour, in an attempt to understand what is considered healthy and productive, and which behavioural traits are less desirable.
To Explain
Psychology is not considered a fundamental science like physics or chemistry. However, the emerging trends in psychology over the past 100 years have seen an increasing emphasis on the use of objective measurements of mental health.
Cognitive psychology is a great example by which to illustrate this ideological shift. This sub-discipline of psychology uses techniques such as measuring electrical brain activity, and mapping these patterns to a patient's mental states.
Through this approach, psychologists are beginning to establish a base of objective evidence to explain the thoughts and feelings of individuals. By learning to recognise healthy and unhealthy patterns, psychologists should be able to spot problems in patients earlier, and to provide more effective treatments.
To Predict
Once psychologists have reached an understanding of certain behaviours, they can use this information to predict a person's behaviour, based upon how they've responded to certain events in the past.
This is useful in organisational settings where an employer might want to choose workers who are a good fit for the company culture, or to make sure that they can cope under stressful circumstances.
To Change Behaviour
This is the area in which psychologists must be very careful to operate within stringent ethical constraints. With a willing participant, a psychologist can help an individual to overcome crippling fears, or destructive behavioural patterns, such as aggression or compulsive lying.
Psychological techniques can be employed within organisations to encourage desirable behaviours: Encouraging students to study harder, or encouraging staff members to build better relationships with each other, for example.
- To describe
- To explain
- To predict
- To change behaviour
Description is the process of analysing behaviour, in an attempt to understand what is considered healthy and productive, and which behavioural traits are less desirable.
To Explain
Psychology is not considered a fundamental science like physics or chemistry. However, the emerging trends in psychology over the past 100 years have seen an increasing emphasis on the use of objective measurements of mental health.
Cognitive psychology is a great example by which to illustrate this ideological shift. This sub-discipline of psychology uses techniques such as measuring electrical brain activity, and mapping these patterns to a patient's mental states.
Through this approach, psychologists are beginning to establish a base of objective evidence to explain the thoughts and feelings of individuals. By learning to recognise healthy and unhealthy patterns, psychologists should be able to spot problems in patients earlier, and to provide more effective treatments.
To Predict
Once psychologists have reached an understanding of certain behaviours, they can use this information to predict a person's behaviour, based upon how they've responded to certain events in the past.
This is useful in organisational settings where an employer might want to choose workers who are a good fit for the company culture, or to make sure that they can cope under stressful circumstances.
To Change Behaviour
This is the area in which psychologists must be very careful to operate within stringent ethical constraints. With a willing participant, a psychologist can help an individual to overcome crippling fears, or destructive behavioural patterns, such as aggression or compulsive lying.
Psychological techniques can be employed within organisations to encourage desirable behaviours: Encouraging students to study harder, or encouraging staff members to build better relationships with each other, for example.
