WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?

Psychology is considered to be scientific because psychology studies people and their behavior systematically through careful and controlled observations.

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Behavior includes all of our external or overt actions and reactions such as talking, walking, facial expressions, etc.

Mental processes refer to all the internal or overt actions of our mind such as thinking, feeling, remembering, etc.

Psychology is considered to be scientific because psychology studies people and their behavior systematically through careful and controlled observations.

The findings of psychology can be verified and re-verified. Existing theories of psychology are modified in the light of new findings.

However, psychology is not an exact science as pure sciences such as physics and chemistry. In pure sciences such as physics, chemistry, etc. it is possible to make accurate predictions, but the subject of psychology is human behavior. Each human being is unique and different from the other and therefore one cannot predict with a hundred percent accuracy, how a person will behave in a given situation.

Yet Psychology is a science since it rigorously follows scientific methods.

Psychology has four goals-
  • It describes what is happening,
  • Explains why it is happening,
  • Predicts when will it happen again and this prediction tries to control human behavior, i.e., it determines how human behavior can be changed.


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