Differential psychology is a part of science,which deals with the identification and study of the psychological differences between one person and a certain group of people. As a rule, in the course of research, special attention is paid to the psychological manifestation of people belonging to different age, ethnic and social groups.
And although differential psychology as aan independent science has emerged very recently, it is very important. This term was first used in 1900, when Stern developed a concept that determines and explains the differences between individuals and their groups.
This branch of science sets twomain goals. First, in the course of research, scientists try to identify individual differences. Secondly, psychologists are tasked with explaining the cause of their origin and origin.
Differential psychology and the works of Francis Galton. Having examined the work of this scientist, one can understandsome features of differential psychology. During his experiments, most psychologists preferred to study the common features of mankind. At the same time, Galton was interested in the individual characteristics of each person and the possibility of their heredity. It was during this period that the idea was born that the mental and physical abilities, talent and some non-standard human capabilities are transmitted genetically from relatives.
That's why he carefully studied hispatients, both from a psychological and from a physiological point of view. For example, he assessed the level of muscle tone, determined the upper threshold of auditory sensitivity, etc. Then a special test was developed - the subject was asked to create a certain image in his imagination, and then to describe in detail all the features. Galton also studied some individual qualities of the image, and also compared the results of the experiment of close relatives, for example, determined the level of similarity of images among brothers and sisters.
It was he who first sent out extensive questionnaires to all scientists in England to determine the level of their intellect and to reveal the features of thinking.
Differential psychology and its methods. Like in any other science, scientists use a wide variety of research methods. They can be divided into different groups.
If we take into account the type of experiment used in the experiments, we can distinguish:
The activity of the impact on the object under investigation also has significance:
The level of generalization is also taken into account. In this case, the methods are divided into:
These methods of research use science psychology in virtually any study.
In addition, it is conventionally divided the methods of differential psychology into:
Of course, differential psychology hastheir problems. For example, if some characteristics of a person are really individual or very rare, the researcher, from his point of view, is unlikely to be able to understand them.
To date, this department of psychologyis at a stage of rapid development. After all, the characteristics of different people, representatives of different sexes, nationalities, classes, ages, etc. are studied. In addition, various types of relationships between subjects are also taken into account. All this creates great opportunities for new discoveries, research and development of ways to eliminate psychological problems.
