Research and inquiry

Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behaviour. Its questions are old. Ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato argued that some knowledge is inborn rather than gained from experience. In the seventeenth century René Descartes proposed that mind and body are separate but interacting (dualism), and later empiricists such as John Locke claimed the mind starts as a ‘blank slate’ written on by experience. These thinkers relied on reasoning and reflection rather than measurement.

Psychology became a separate science in 1879, when Wilhelm Wundt opened a laboratory in Leipzig and measured reaction times and trained observers’ reports of their own sensations. From that point the discipline has depended on empirical evidence: information collected through systematic, scientific observation that other researchers can check and repeat. Because findings are continually tested and revised, TASC expects you to support claims with current research rather than common sense.

The scope of psychology is wide. Psychologists work in clinical, educational, organisational, forensic, sport, health and neuropsychological settings, and research ranges from single neurons to whole cultures. To organise this breadth, behaviour is studied from several perspectives:

Research in every perspective follows the scientific method, which you should be able to sequence:

1. Define the problem or question.
2. Review the literature (what is already known).
3. Propose a testable hypothesis.
4. Choose a research design and sampling method.
5. Collect data.
6. Analyse the results.
7. Draw conclusions and report them, which often raises new problems.

Criterion 7 asks you to argue a point of view using evidence and at least two theoretical perspectives, and to explain how those perspectives connect. Perspectives are lenses, not rivals: the strongest answers show how one level of explanation influences another.