Psychology is not just common sense

The Frenchman Descartes described common sense as:

Good Sense is, of all things among men, the most equally distributed… And in this it is not likely that all are mistaken: the conviction is rather to be held as testifying that the power of judging aright and of distinguishing Truth from Error, which is properly what is called Good Sense or Reason… but solely from this, that we conduct our thoughts along different ways, and do not fix our attention on the same objects. For to be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is rightly to apply it. (Veitch, 1901, p. 149).

This matches the meaning of common sense in the modern day context as the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines it as “the basic level of practical knowledge and judgement that we all need to help us live in a reasonable and safe way” (p. 242). However, the practical knowledge and judgement involved can be questionable at times as it is not entirely correct and that is when psychology comes into practice. The American Psychological Association [APA] (2014) defines psychology as “the study of the mind and behavior[sic]”, encompassing all facets of the human experience (para. 1). This study of the mind and behaviour is scientific in nature and people who work in this field are called psychologists. Psychologists are interested in studying overt behaviours (actions and responses that can be observed directly) but are particularly interested in studying covert behaviours which are internal processes that cannot be observed directly (Jackson, 2008). This essay will be elaborating on how psychology is not just common sense, demonstrating how psychology-related methods and common sense reasoning differ in terms of thought proces...

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