PSYC 2510 Chapter 2: Psychology: Themes and Variations

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2510
• Professor: Richard Lalonde

Document Summary

Assumed by the scientific approach, it is believed that there are laws of behaviour that can be discovered through empirical research. The goals of the science of psychology include: (1) the description and measurement of behaviour, (2) the prediction and understanding of behaviour, and (3) the application of this knowledge to the task of controlling behaviour. The two major advantages of the scientific approach are its clarity in communication and its relative intolerance of error. Theories permit psychologists to make the leap from the description of behaviour to understanding it, by integrating apparently unrelated facts into a coherent whole. Experimental research involves an independent variable being manipulated to ascertain its effect on the dependent variable. This research is often done by comparing control and experimental groups, which must be alike in regards to important extraneous variables. For example, an experimental group may serve as its own control group. Many experiments have more than one independent or dependent variable.