What are the goals of psychology?

The goals of psychology focus on understanding the emotions,

personalities, and minds of individuals. Through scientific studies,
observations, experiments, and research, psychology aims to achieve
specific goals. Description, explanation, prediction, and change or control
make up the four psychology goals. A psychologist's career possibilities
extend beyond health care services to areas such as education, business,
and marketing.

Describe

The ability to describe is crucial for psychologists since it allows them to

determine whether a thought or behaviour is typical or atypical.
Descriptions allow psychologists to gain a greater understanding of
behaviour and thought. For example, you may describe how a friend,
colleague, or family member behaves, or how their behaviour is
changing. Psychologists can accomplish this goal using various research
methods, such as self-tests, observation, surveys, and case studies.
Psychologists can also use descriptions to learn more about how to alter
a person's thoughts and behaviours

Explain

Psychologists go beyond describing thoughts and behaviours. They seek

to provide explanations for why these behaviours and thoughts occur
and address questions regarding why people act or behave in a certain
manner. Psychologists examine the motivations behind someone's
actions through scientific experiments, observations, and precise tests.
For example, psychologists may conduct experimental studies to
measure how people react to certain variables. After performing these
experiments, they can develop their theories and explanations for human
behaviour. Explaining behaviour offers insights into why people behave
as they do under different conditions.
Predict

Psychology's third goal is to predict future behaviour patterns.

Psychologists can anticipate how and when past behaviours may recur,
how they may change, and what circumstances may trigger them by
noting past behaviour. When psychologists and researchers study
qualitative data involving thought and action patterns, they can more
accurately predict human behaviour. For example, if the results of
aptitude tests show certain scores predict dropout rates, the information
can estimate the number of students who may leave school each year.
Psychologists may learn how to change or control behaviour based on
prediction, which is the last goal of psychology.

Control or change

The fourth goal of psychology is to change or control behaviour to create

positive, meaningful, and lasting changes in people's lives and to improve
behavioural outcomes. For example, an individual can learn to manage a
panic attack with the help of psychological studies and findings.
Changing or controlling behaviour depends on the ability to identify a
behavioural problem accurately, determine its underlying causes, and
develop and implement theory and evidence-based interventions.
Various psychological theories address changing or controlling human
behaviour, including the health belief model, the theory of planned
behaviour, the diffusion of innovation, and the social cognitive theory.
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psychology

What is Psychology
Psychology is the study of cognitions, emotions, and behavior. Psychologists are
involved in a variety of tasks. Many spend their careers designing and performing
research to better understand how people behave in specific situations, how and
why we think the way we do, and how emotions develop and what impact they
have on our interactions with others. These are the research psychologists who
often work in research organizations or universities. Industrial-organizational
psychologists work with businesses and organizations to help them become
more productive, effective, and efficient, and to assist them in working with their
employees and their customers. Practitioners, typically counseling and clinical
psychologists, work with individuals, couples, families, and small groups to help
them feel less depressed, less anxious, become more productive or motivated,
and overcome issues which prevent them from living up to their potential

The study of psychology has five basic goals:

1. Describe –
The first goal is to observe behavior and describe, often in minute detail, what
was observed as objectively as possible

2. Explain –
While descriptions come from observable data, psychologists must go beyond
what is obvious and explain their observations. In other words, why did the
subject do what he or she did?

3. Predict –
Once we know what happens, and why it happens, we can begin to speculate
what will happen in the future. There’s an old saying, which very often holds
true: "the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior."

4. Control –
Once we know what happens, why it happens and what is likely to happen in the
future, we can excerpt control over it. In other words, if we know you choose
abusive partners because your father was abusive, we can assume you will
choose another abusive partner, and can therefore intervene to change this
negative behavior.

5. Improve –
Not only do psychologists attempt to control behavior, they want to do so in a
positive manner, they want to improve a person’s life, not make it worse. This is
not always the case, but it should always be the intention.

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Like every other subject, the study of psychology too has a specific set of goals that the practice
aims to achieve. We give you a brief interpretation of the four major goals of psychology, along
with objectives and examples of each
4 MAIN GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY
To Describe
The first goal of psychology is to describe how humans and animals behave in different
situations. Through continued observation we can define what kind of behavior is considered
normal or healthy and what may be deemed as abnormal or unhealthy.

Psychologists gather information based on observation about an individual’s thoughts, emotions,

actions, and motivations, through studies, surveys, and experiments including the Big-Five
Personality Test, Aptitude test, Rorschach test, Case Studies, Correlation Studies, and self report
inventories, amongst others, which help them to name and classify different types of behavior.
For example, having an obsessive tendency, this type of behavior is described as the obsessive
compulsive disorder

To Explain
Once a particular behavior is defined, they need to be expanded upon so that people can understand why a
person acts or reacts in a certain way. They have to consider which factors trigger certain behavior, as
well as formulate certain theories which will help explain the same. Theories like Attachment Theories,
Behavioral and Cognitive theories, and Classical Conditioning, amongst others, are used to help explain
behavior. For example, in the classical conditioning process, a child is left in a room with a dog. He
originally shows no fear. In the second scenario, the dog is introduced with a loud, frightening noise.
When the dog is reintroduced, the child feels afraid, because he attributes the emergence of the dog with
the unpleasant loud sound
To Predict

Once a psychologist understands why a person acts in a certain way and under what circumstances, he is
able to predict when this behavior might emerge in the future. Being able to correctly predict occurrences
of certain behavior is very important, as with this understanding, models can be developed to encourage
positive behavior and find methods to modify or control negative behavior. Rarely, predictions can be
made without fully understanding why and how it occurs.

For example: A researcher may have noticed a pattern amongst people who consume alcohol to have a
tendency to be addicted to nicotine, but he may not fully understand why this takes place, which only
requires further research. But by understanding this occurrence, methods can be developed to reduce the
possibility of a person becoming both an alcoholic or a nicotine addict. Past behavior can be the clearest
mirror into future reemergence of any behavior, which is why the whole process of describing and
explaining is crucial in order to be able to predict future occurrences.
To Control/Modify

The final goal of psychology is to control or modify certain types of behavior based on observation.
Researchers take cue from what they have observed and predicted to rectify or improve someone’s
behavior. Any form of control can often be unknowingly misused without knowledge of the patient or
psychologist, which is why there are strict guidelines that counselors have to follow while attempting to
rectify a patient’s behavior.

Taking from the previous example of the relation between alcohol consumption and nicotine addiction,
measures can be taken to ensure that pubs and other places offering alcohol could insist on a ‘no smoking’
policy, which might reduce the chances of a person’s addiction to that substance.

Another lesser known goal, or the fifth goal as it is known is “To Improve” We have included this in the
goal of control and modification. A psychologist not only aims to control certain types of behavior, but
they also do so in a way that would improve the individual’s life