Understanding Human Behavior: Psychology’s Scope & History
Psychology: Definition and History
We are all interested in how people act, not only what happens but also why. While these questions are often answered vaguely, psychology has developed a body of knowledge about behavior.
Definitions and Purposes
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior. It describes behavior (what) and explains its causes (why).
Example 1: Why did you purchase this book? What do you expect from it? If you achieve your goals, would you likely buy another book on a different subject? Psychologists seek to answer these questions to understand what people do and why.
The description of behavior in psychology is not casual but aims at prediction and control. Prediction is when a psychologist correctly anticipates events in natural circumstances. Control means manipulating the situation to achieve a result.
Example 2: Teaching a child the names of colors is to control behavior. Anticipating that a child can differentiate between blue and red (even without naming them) is to predict behavior.
Areas of Behavioral Studies
- Humans and Animals: Behavior is any observable and measurable response of a person or animal. Psychology studies all behavior, including human and animal. Ethical issues arise when working with human subjects.
- Heredity and Environment: Psychologists explore whether behavior results from inherited characteristics or learning. Both influences affect behavior, alone and together.
- Conscious and Unconscious: Behavior can be a conscious choice or result from unknown, unconscious reasons. Psychology studies both conscious and unconscious motives.
Normal and Abnormal
Psychology examines both normal and abnormal behavior. Behavior is often judged as abnormal if it creates problems for the individual or society.
Age Ranges
Psychology studies behavior across all life stages, from conception to death, focusing on early childhood, adolescence, and old age.
Theory and Application
Psychology includes both theoretical analysis and the application of its principles to specific problems.
Background and Early Psychology
Psychology is a relatively new discipline, with its start commonly dated to 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychological laboratory at the University of Leipzig, Germany. Wundt initiated the first psychology journal and wrote the first textbook in physiological psychology.
Interest in psychological issues extends from antiquity. Philosophy, natural sciences, medicine, and even pseudo-scientific areas have contributed to psychology’s development.
For thousands of years, philosophers have tried to understand behavior. Many basic psychological problems, such as learning, motivation, personality, and perception, were first discussed by philosophers.
Example 3: Psychologists and philosophers are interested in how the human mind develops. Plato believed humans were born with innate knowledge. John Locke believed the human mind at birth was a “blank slate.”
The emergence of an independent psychology became possible when philosophy began emphasizing empirical criteria in the 18th and 19th centuries. A scientific research attitude became the core of psychology.