Question

Is psychology common sense?
Why study psychology?

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Answer 1

• GENERAL OUTLINE:-
• Common sense is something much more subtle than just hackneyed old sayings. Rather it is our intuitive sense of the way people think and behave based on all we know, both consciously and unconsciously.
• The argument you’ll get about the problem with common sense refers to a study carried out by Houston (1985). Houston asked 50 random people in a local park 25 questions about psychology.
• The questions had all the psychological jargon removed so that they were easily understood, but the psychological principles remained. He found that out of 25 questions, 16 were answered correctly more often than would be expected by chance.
• It can just as easily be interpreted both ways. The fact that people score above chance means they have some intuitive understanding of psychology’s findings. On the other hand the fact that people don’t score 100% shows that people don’t know everything. Perhaps even this is just common sense.
  
• Ultimately what really sets psychology apart from common sense is the scientific method. Psychology tests common sense ideas about people (along with some nonsensical ideas) to try and find out the truth. Sometimes common sense is proved right, other times not.
• The answer is that to build a useful grasp of human psychology more than limited experience and intuition are necessary.
• In this area of science, you will be dealing with entire arrays of issues that you yourself do not have to contend with on a daily basis. This requires structured education to allow you to absorb that knowledge from other sources outside of your own personal experiences.
• Make no mistake, it may not be common sense, but practical application of psychology definitely benefits from it.
• Because we spend so much of our time trying to understand other people's behaviour and the motives for their behaviour, in some sense we are all psychologists. Perhaps it is this reason that leads some people to dismiss psychology as nothing more than just common sense - or a slight advance of it (Eysenck, 1998: 2).
• Naturally, there are some similarities with one another in that they can both try to explain human behaviour; however this does not mean that they are the same thing.
• The most important difference between psychology and common sense is that psychology uses systematic and objective methods of observation and experimentation. Common sense on the other hand is usually played out in proverbs or short phrases, most of which are contradictory to one another.
• For example 'he who hesitates is lost' and 'look before you leap' or 'out of sight, out of mind' and 'absence makes the heart grow fonder'.Common sense refers mainly to a set of beliefs and skills that are shared by most people but acquired through no specialist education.
  
• Psychology is a fascinating area of study. It will help you understand human behaviour and mental processes and allow you to better understand how we think act and feel.
• Studying subjects such as emotion, language, and body language can help you fine-tune your interpersonal communication skills. By learning more about these things, you can gain a greater understanding of other people and what they are trying to say.
• Due to time limit,any remaining questions can be asked as another question,they will be answered,thankyou for your cooperation.