Many of us form biased opinions based on the behavior we see in people. We might judge the person wrongly assuming that his behavior is because of the circumstances that the individual faces (Gilbert, & Malone, 1995). People also believe that an individual’s unique attributes affect his behavior. Philosophers try to find the reason for a person’s behavior.
In order for the researcher to have a strong argument as to why an individual acts the way he does, the researcher must form an appropriate theory which has enough evidence to support it (Fiske, 2004). The theory may explain why the person refuses to stay clean giving reasons such as he might be facing a psychological problem. If the researcher wants to develop the idea, then he must have done a lot of research showing that people who do not bathe are insane. Various scholarly books should support his or her idea. However, many researchers often shy away from forming a theory since they believe that in creating a theory, they will have to go through a hard process of identifying it, developing it and defending it. Many researchers believe that they do not have the necessary skills to develop a theory that will demand attention (Fiske, 2004). When undermining themselves they often miss out on the fact that they could be onto a good idea and be successful in creating the new theory.
People do not see the importance for research in psychology since most of the academic journals do not relate to real life experiences. This disappoints many researchers since they believe that field research is more relevant to the area of psychology than academic research is (Cialdini, 2009). In addition, many researchers are now opting for field research than academic research since in the field; they are able to see the practicality of their work.
In conclusion, after researching the three academic journals, I believe that they relate to my life as a student because I also shy away from doing complex research for my assignments since I believe that I will have a hard time defending my theories to my lecturer. I have also made opinions about people without having done any research and have therefore been biased. These books are important to me because they have enabled me to be more flexible in my thinking and to know the importance of research to my life and to the lives of others.
References
Cialdini, R. B. (2009). We have to break up. Perspectives on psychological science, 4(1), 5-6.
Fiske, S. T. (2004). Mind the gap: In praise of informal sources of formal theory. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8(2), 132-137.
Gilbert, D. T., & Malone, P. S. (1995). The correspondence bias. Psychological bulletin, 117(1), 21.
