Research in the Behavioural Sciences - Chapter 1

What does the history of this research look like?

Many people think that psychologists are only concerned with treating people with mental problems. That is partly true, but psychologists also conduct research to find out more about people's behavior and mental processes. People have been explaining human behavior for centuries. Aristotle and Buddha for example systematically asked questions about why people behave in certain ways. In the past, however, explaining human behavior was not done scientifically. The statements that were made were mainly speculative. It was therefore impossible to test the validity of the statements. Consequently the accuracy and correctness of the statements could not be tested either. Declarations were often given on the basis of, for example, religious dogmas. Scientific psychology originated in the last 25 years of the 19th century. Scientists such as Wundt, James, Watson and Hall began to see that psychological issues can be answered using scientific methods that are......read more