What are the four goals of psychology? To understand the four goals of psychology, you must first understand that psychology is based off of its findings from scientific research and critical thinking. The four goals of psychology are to describe, understand, predict, and control behavior and the mental process. These goals were set to help psychologists to better understand what factors cause different types of behavior and why. In order for these goals to be successful, information must be obtained from direct observation of the patient.
Do these goals help humanity? Do these goals hurt humanity? These questions will be answered in the essay below. Four Goals of Psychology The four goals of psychology are to describe, understand, predict, and control behavior and mental process. Describe The first goal in psychology is describe. The initial job of a psychologist is to carefully observe everything about a patient, like their thought process and behavior, this process is known as describe. Describe is to characterize how humans and other living beings act and think in different situations.
They try to describe who, what, when, where, why, and how the reaction of the human or other living being was the reaction they received. They try to describe what occurred. Understand The second goal in psychology is understand. Psychologists take their observation and develop theories about the causes of behavior. They try to understand why beings, think, feel, and act as they do. They try to figure out why this is happening. The psychologist will try to explain why the thoughts, feelings or actions occurred. Psychologists must think outside the box so to speak to understand their observations, they can’t think the ordinary.
Predict The third goal in psychology is predict. In the third step of psychology, the psychologist uses prediction to try to anticipate the behavior that will happen from the patient’s previous behavior. They try to predict how the patient will think or act or feel to certain treatments or actions. The psychologists, tries to predict under what conditions the event or behavior is likely to occur. Control behavior The final step in psychology is to control behavior. Psychologists try to help the patient understand behavior and the reasons the patient is doing or acting the way he or she is.
Psychologists try to influence the behavior. How is the principle applied or what change in condition is necessary to prevent unwanted occurrence or to bring about a desired outcome. Once the psychologists see what the unhealthy behavior is, he or she can influence the patient change their behavior to healthy behavior. They can influence the behavior in many ways from counseling to medication. The four goals of psychology take time to be processed. With psychologists doing studies everyday on different situations, it is getting easier to help patients.
I feel that the four goals of psychology help humanity in the long run. With psychologists doing research and studying patients and the data collected can help psychologists better predict and even treat future patients. Science has made medications to help with Parkinson disease, schizophrenia, ADD, ADHD and many more. Some disorders are because there are not enough neurotransmitters. Diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease are caused from the brain not having enough neurotransmitters; these are two examples of how the four goals of psychology have helped humanity so far.
Without the four goals of psychology, we may still be practicing trephining, a procedure used seven thousand years ago, where they would chip holes in a person’s skull to allow the evil spirits out. The four goals of psychology help in many ways. We learn through studies why a suicide bomber does what he does. Is it because of religion or because he has mental problems? If we study them, we find the answers we are looking for. With the four goals of psychology, we can study why kids are bullies in school. Is it because they do not get enough attention at home? Do their parents raise them to be bullies?
Are their parents bullies or were they bullies in the past? With the four goals of psychology, these are questions that can be answered and eventually solved with research. In conclusion, the four goals of psychology are to describe, understand, predict, and control behavior and the mental process. With these goals, psychology and psychologists can help make the world a better place by helping patients. Whether using medication or counseling psychologists have many ways to help patients in need of psychological help; and to better understand specific mental disorders.
