Who Studies Behavior?

[ready for Fall 2026]s

Modified: 2026-07-27 12:18 PM CDST

Psychologists are not the only people who study behavior

• Many groups of people study behavior.
• Laypersons study behavior. Here, the word "layperson" is being used in an analogous manner to the way it is used to describe the minister and the congregation. The minister is clergy and the congregation are laity, or laypersons.
• In my example here, the psychologist is the "clergy" and the class are "laity."
• We attribute to the minister and the psychologist a special knowledge. But, the laity in both cases also know things as well.
• So, laypersons (non-psychologists, you, up to now) have been studying behavior since the dawn of time.
• Every time you wonder about the behavior of a family member, friend, or co-worker, you are acting like a psychological layperson. Today, we call such activity folk psychology or common-sense psychology.
• In fact, many critics of psychology assert that this kind of psychology, the kind we all know, is all that it is necessary to know. We shall see later that such thinking is wrong, scientific psychology (see below) has discovered many fallacies present in folk psychology.

Specialists are another category of persons who study behavior.

• One way that you can identify a specialist is by whether or not that person can make money by being a specialist.
• So, writers, poets, and songwriters might qualify under that definition.
• When we purchase their work we may do so because we think they have a special view of behavior, and their work conveys that view to us.
• An interesting type of specialist is the guru. The guru is someone who can change your life: someone you may feel compelled to follow because of the message they have.
• Think of Jim Jones
  • Jim Jones
    • He convinced his followers the "Peoples Temple" to follow him to a new religious community in Guyana
    • When later investigated by congressman Leo Ryan, who was later killed in Guyana.
    • That led to the infamous mass murder suicide of 909 of Jones's followers, leading to the phrase "drinking the Kool Aid"
  • The Rajneesh
    • The Rajneesh was a fellow who, a few years ago, convinced many people here in the United States, to give him all of their worldly possessions, and then move to Antelope, Oregon.
    • There, part of their duties included waiting by the roadside in the morning while the Rajneesh drove by in one of his many Rolls Royces.
    • The followers would bow their heads when the Rajneesh drove by.
    • The Rajneesh was deported a few years ago for tax evasion
    • Houston car dealer bought the entire lot of 50 Rolls Royces for resale.
  • The point is that there are a few humans out there who do have an exceptional command of practical psychology.

Finally, we come to the category of most interest to us in this course, scientists.

• We will define science and its ramifications in detail a little further on.
• For now, a scientist is a person who asks particular kinds of questions in a particular way.
• Psychologists are scientists; at least, most psychologists view themselves in that way.
• Scientists other than psychologists may also be involved in the study of behavior.