Accounting for human behavior Essay Example for Free

Accounting for human behavior EssayIn order to survive and move with the other members of the society, it is crucial for us to understand what the other spate are thinking about and what the inherent factors that contribute to their behavior are. In our daily life, people are continuously interpreting and explaining others behavior, sometimes horizontal without aware of it themselves. How does this knowledge of interpreting the others come about? And is it a reliable method?Most people are using common sentience datum explanation to interpret human behavior, while companionable scientists provide explain our world by social science theories. What are they? And which one can give a much reliable and accurate account for human behavior?Common Sense Explanations are organise basing on individuals past experiences or were passed down from the last generations. It is the most basic and simple form of knowledge that helps us to survive. For instance, people understand that i t result be hurt when a ball is throwing at them and in result, they leave alone run away from it. We use the common comprehend to perceive the world we are support in. It is unimaginable if a person does not possess any common mother wit at all. hold in much Old Age Problem essaySocial acquaintance Theories, like the theories in native science, are derived from scientific methods. They are either induced or deduced from different task or experiment. however since the subject matter in social sciences is completely different from that of infixed science, observation, survey and interview which sometimes involves a control group, are the methodology used to test the experimental hypotheses, instead of using research lab experiments. Hence, social science theories are backed up by empirical studies and data, and in that respectfore should be more widely applicable, objective and reliability to explain human behavior.Unlike social science theories, common sense is held by e veryone. Therefore, people can draw on this knowledge immediately when they want to analysis behavior of the others and giving a faster response to the situation. However, the strength of common sense is also its wideest impuissance. In many an(prenominal) cases, common sense explanation cannot give us a satisfactory answer because it has oversimplified the circumstance. For instance, it is a general belief that the more violent movies a child watches, the more aggressive he will be. People may neglect other factors,such as family backgrounds, in contributing to childrens aggressive behavior, which had be to be an equally crucial by many social scientists.In addition, human behaviors are interwoven as well as unique to each individual. Different culture, race, living environment and family history will lead to the formation of different behaviors. Similarly, common sense explanation varies in different culture, society and individual, and therefore, in truth is not the same to e veryone in our society. How can a foreigner understand all the traditional attitudes and value of a Chinese? Likewise, it is not easy for us to comprehend all the behaviors of the foreigners. As a result, there will be bias if we rely on common sense explanation as it is as well generalized and oversimplified without really investigating the underlying factors behind the scene.In contrast, social sciences theories can supplement the weakness of common sense explanation as each theory is based on a numbers of hypotheses which in turn will be tested, though the methodology used is somewhat different from that of natural science. In other words, social science theories are more reliable and valid than that of common sense explanations. Moreover, social science theories are more widely applicable as they are derived from a great numbers of data which are collected from different channels and people. Some people may deliberate that some social sciences theories are similar to our commo n sense explanations, for which is a coincident that we cannot deny since many hypotheses are formed with the basis of common sense assumptions.People can use common sense to explain or judge most things we encounter in our daily life. However, when we come to analyze more complicated matters, such as human behaviors, common sense explanation alone would be insufficient. In these circumstances, social science theories, which have been undergoing empirical researches and experiments, are more reliable.We cannot ignore the importance of common sense since it is a basic knowledge that people possessed, whereas social science theories may not be cognize to most people. And in many cases common sense is the foundation of many hypotheses, and thus is the origin of a theory. But it is crucial to note that when people want to have an in-depth, comparatively reliable and valid explanation, social science theories should be employed.REFERENCERoth (1990), Introduction to Psychology, United Kin gdom The Open University.Gross (1992), Psychology The Science of Mind and Behaviour, p.19-23, London Hodder Stoughton