• Question: what do you think is the most important use for psychology in modern society?

    Asked by anon-215135 to Laura, Kathryn, Ian, Chris, Bogdana, Alex on 10 Jun 2019.
    • Photo: Alex Lloyd

      Alex Lloyd answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      For me, I think the most important use for psychology is to give us a better understanding of why people do certain things (whether these are good or bad!). If we have a better understanding of this, we can put interventions in place to help give people the best chance at life. In my research, I try to understand why teenagers take risks and when this can lead to bad outcomes like crime and substance misuse. If we know why some teenagers are more likely to do these things than others, we can try and help to steer those who might end up in the criminal justice system towards a more positive life.

    • Photo: Chris Fullwood

      Chris Fullwood answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      To help people overcome or live more enriched lives when they live with mental health issues

    • Photo: Ian Cookson

      Ian Cookson answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      Currently I’d say it would be to stop climate change, challenging behaviours and policies that are damaging the environment. Second to that I’d say preventing conflict, whether that is war or racism.

    • Photo: Kathryn Atherton

      Kathryn Atherton answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      Understanding human behaviour gives us the power to change it for the better.

    • Photo: Laura Fisk

      Laura Fisk answered on 11 Jun 2019:

      So, society is made up of people. Therefore, the better we understand people – the better society has a chance to be. We’re always discovering new ways that people interact, and how to help people understand one another better.
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      The internet – and particularly social media – have presented us with new ways of interacting as people, and it’s generally meant that more of us communicate with and about more people than ever before. That means we need to be able to ‘expand’ our theories of how people interact and apply them to the internet world. Psychology has a lot of theories to help us undertand how people work with one another, but we need to apply it to these new ways of interacting. I think as we get more practiced at doing that, we’ll be able to help people be kinder and more compassionate to one another online – and so in real life – and this will help us all get along better.

    • Photo: Bogdana Huma

      Bogdana Huma answered on 13 Jun 2019:

      I think psychology is uniquely equipped to observe, reveal, and explain the changes in modern society, with an ultimate aim of improving human life.

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