# PTE Listening MCS #3: Scientific Methodology in...

Listening: Multiple Choice, Single Answer #3 - Level 1 - Feeds Listening

> Listen to the recording and answer the question by choosing one option. Only one answer is correct.

According to the professor, why are psychologists interested in developing laws?

- To help students understand the art of psychology.
- To permit scientists to experiment with human subjects.
- To raise the status of psychology as serious science.
- To be able to make predictions about human behavior

## Answer

To be able to make predictions about human behavior

## Explanation

The speaker emphasizes that the primary goal of establishing scientific laws is to gain the ability to anticipate future outcomes based on established patterns of human conduct.

## Hints

- Focus on the speaker's explanation of what scientific laws provide to the researcher.
- Think about the difference between 'status' and 'function'. The speaker discusses what laws allow psychologists to do, not how they are perceived.

## Transcript

Psychology is a relatively new science. Like other sciences, psychology must be able to state laws. A law is a way of organizing knowledge about something so that we can make predictions. When enough knowledge is gained about a subject, a scientist can state precisely what will happen under certain conditions. We experimental psychologists are interested in developing laws about human behavior, so we'll be able to understand and predict what people do and why they do it. Of course, to develop laws about human behavior, we must assume there's some regularity to it. We can't be psychologists without making the assumption that behavior follows certain patterns. One of the major laws psychologists have discovered is called the law of effect. The law of effect states that whether or not a person will repeat a behavior depends on the effect that behavior has. If an action is rewarded, it's likely to be repeated. If the action is not rewarded or if it's punished, it's not likely to be repeated. How do psychologists state laws? First, using available knowledge, a psychologist makes a hypothesis about behavior. Then, the psychologist tests the hypothesis through an experiment. But even if the experiment proves the hypothesis was correct, it's not yet a law. It's just the beginning of the work. To arrive at a law that will apply to all humans, many repetitions of the experiment must be conducted under different conditions. Only repeated verification, especially proof that the behavior can be predicted, will result in a law.

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