Wize University Psychology Textbook > History of Psychology
Psychology's Goals
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Psychology's Goals
Psychology is a broad discipline with many areas of interest and diverse research methods. Psychology is united around four shared goals:
- To describe the behaviour of people and, to a lesser extent, other animals
- To explain and understand the causes of behaviour
- To predict the behaviour of people and animals
- To influence or control behaviour
Each of these goals depends on the goals below it
Example: In order to predict what someone will do when faced with a novel situation, you need to be able to explain the causes of various possible behaviours. They might flee if they are scared, or approach if they are interested.
Practice: Psychology's Goals
Dr. Tan is conducting a study where participants complete a series of tasks and the research assistants record the steps that the participants take to complete each task. This is most consistent with which goal of psychology?