ABSTRACT
Present-day behavioral scientists believe that the understanding of a person's behavior must be based on information gathered objectively and according to scientific principles. The use of scientific methods to obtain understanding is in contradistinction to the use of intuition, unestablished information, and custom. Symbolization is necessary so that facts and the experience of the scientist can be adequately manipulated. Since an experiment and the gathering of facts are only momentary in the passage of time, the experience must in some way be perpetuated symbolically. Through description, a second important method, facts or events can be ordered, manipulated, recorded, and kept. Explanation, a third method of science, contributes to the "why" of experience. This method involves complex abstraction and leads to the development of a theory. The differential method involves the use of individual differences as variables. In such investigations, change of the independent variable is not used; instead, different subjects are chosen on the basis of various criteria.
