Introduction to Psychology

Introduction to Psychology

Psychologists do more than just wonder about human behavior: they conduct research to understand exactly why people think, feel, and behave the way they do. Like other scientist, psychologists use the scientific method, a standardized way to conduct research. A scientific approach is used in order to avoid bias or distortion of information. After collecting data, psychologists organize and analyze their observations , make inferences about the reliability and significance of their data and develop testable hypotheses and theories. Psychological research has an enormous impact on all facets of our lives, from how parents choose to discipline their children to how companies package and advertise their products to how governments choose to punish or rehabilitate criminals. Understanding how psychologists do research is vital to understanding psychology itself.

Psychological Research

Scientist use the following terms to describe their research:

- Variables: the events, characteristics, behaviors or conditions that researchers measure and study.
- Subject or Participant: an individual person or animal a researcher studies.
- Sample: a collection of subjects researchers study. Researchers use samples because they can not study the entire population.
- Population: the collection of people or animals from which researchers draw a sample. Researchers study the sample and generalize their results to the population.

The Purpose of Research

Psychologists have three main goals when doing research:

- to find ways to measure and describe behavior.
- to understand why, when, and how events occur.
- to apply this knowledge to solving real-world problems.

The Scientific Method

Psychologists use the scientific method to conduct their research. The scientific method is a standardized way of making observation, gathering data, forming theories, testing predictions, and interpreting results. Researchers make observations