24 TH E M I N D O F TH E BUY E R
p roc e dure of scie ntific meth od i n s olving a
p robl em, w e c an co ncl ude : “ I kn ow. ” Th e
aim of scienc e i s to give posi tive kn owl edge
( th e w ord scien c e i s deri ved from th e La tin
scientia, kn owl edge ) a nd i t i s thi s q uali ty,
an d o th ers wh ich w e sh all enumerate, th a t
differentiat e sc ien tific busi ness p sych ol ogy
from th e unscientific p sych ol ogy of mo st
b usines s m en. Fo r w e mus t a dmi t tha t suc
cessful b usiness m en use a form of psych ol ogy.
Th ey d esc ri b e a n d explain h um a n c onduc t,
some time s i n a ve ry effec tive m anner. I n
wh a t respe c ts is th eir p sych olo gy differen t
from th e sci en tific b rand?
- It i s in divi dual. Tho ugh val uable a s
fa r a s i t goe s, i t i s limited by th e b ounds o f
o ne per so n’s experienc e. I t i s, th e refore, n o t
rep resenta tive of all p o ssibl e sit uations.
Scientific psych ology, h oweve r, is b a sed up on
a large ( the oretically i nfinit e ) numbe r o f ex
periences d raw n from all source s.
(^2). R ul e of thumb p sych ology i s pa rtic ula r.
Th e devi ce s which i t te ach e s a re applicabl e
only to situation s which on e ma n h a s m et.
Th e findings o f scien tific p sych ology, h oweve r,
are general i n th ei r applica tion.
3. R ul e o f th umb p sych ol ogy c omes wi th
l ong, painful an d c ostly experi enc e. On the