How is psychology as a scientific discipline similar to casual observation of everyday life?

Question

I have surfed the net and can't quite find where to go with it.

Answer 1

Psychologist usually apply systematic observation and statistical techniques. There are some observational techniques and classification of observed events, but most of the time psychologists try to collect information from select groups or random groups of people and they apply some treatment or condition to some of the people and collect data to find out how the treatment group differed from the control group and thus determine whether the treatment had an effect. For example, they may look at the difference in psychiatric symptoms of people before and after psychological treatments, such as Cognitive Behavior Therapy vs. Psychoanalysis.