PSYCH 111General Psychology

The Need for Systematic Research

Scientific methodology may be the most important human development of the past one thousand years. Thanks to this method, observation is no longer constrained by the limits and biases of human thinking. Psychologists no longer have to rely on the often fallacious procedure of casual observation. Now they can explore human behavior and mind systematically, using objective means to identify real phenomena.

This demonstration will help you appreciate the inadequacy of casual observation. Try to answer the following questions that are based on everyday observations:

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1. What appears on the back of a $1 bill?
2. Do police officers wear their badges on the left or right side of their uniforms?
3. A telephone number pad has 24 letters on it. Which two are absent?
4. Some pencils are cylindrical, and others have multiple sides. How many sides do the latter have?
5. How many times are there in a regular dinner fork?
6. What is the shape of a stop sign?
7. Which way does Lincoln face on the penny?
8. In which hand does the Statue of Liberty hold her torch?

Hopefully you can see the need for systematic research as opposed to casual observation that can lead to some of the erroneous "common sense" conclusions that were explored in the introduction to chapter 1.