To find out what an expert has to say about these facts and why it is important to learn psychology, Bored Panda reached out to Ronald E. Riggio, a Professor of Leadership and Organizational Psychology at Claremont McKenna College. He is also the author of more than a dozen books and research articles in the areas of leadership, assessment centers, organizational psychology and social psychology.
We first asked the professor why it is important to understand human behavior. R. Riggio explained that the only way we know one another is through our behavior. "We behave in certain ways, and others interpret that and draw conclusions about us — what kind of person we are, whether they want to continue interacting with us, etc. So, we need to better understand our own behavior and how it affects others.
It is also critically important to study our own behavior if we are engaging in self-damaging patterns of behavior (e.g., not taking care of ourselves, abusing substances, abusing or using other people for personal gains, the list goes on and on). That is why psychology is such a popular topic and subject of study (psychology is one of the most popular college majors). We all want to understand more about our own, and others', behavior in order to make sense out of our social role and increase our knowledge and effectiveness in life."
Are you curious about how psychological facts can help us maneuver through life? R. Riggio shared that our perception is inherently biased by our own belief systems, lifetime experiences, and what we have observed. "For example, we are quite protective of our image of ourselves. We like to believe that we are good, smart, and kind and that we possess a host of other positive qualities. We use self-protective biases to help guard our often-fragile egos, and maintain a positive view of ourselves. By studying psychology, we can learn more about these systematic biases and how to not be fooled by them. Psychology helps us to be honest with ourselves: own up to our mistakes. Review and critique our own behavior. Second, we must realize that the situation and our psychological makeup are responsible for our actions and outcomes."
Ronald Riggio is sure that we can become more successful in life by learning about psychology. "We can gain self-insight that can help us to become a better person. In my work in organizational psychology, we use psychological knowledge and methods to make conditions better at work, and by studying and assessing work behavior, we can increase job performance, job satisfaction and engagement of workers, and have huge effects on the organization's functioning and on making organizations better, and more rewarding, places to work."
If you'd like to learn more about how psychology can benefit your life, check out Riggio's blog posts on Psychology Today here!
