The "how" and the "why" of human behavior can be studied by
Answers
Physiology and Human Behavior
Researchers interested in how humans respond to stimuli, therefore – whether it’s an Internet ad or an interpersonal encounter – can enhance their investigations by employing biometric sensors that document psychophysiological patterns.
Self-assessment / self-reporting remains a powerful and useful tool for understanding the how and the why of human behavior but has some major limitations.
Self-assesment
People aren’t always entirely honest when describing how something makes them feel – not necessarily because they’re trying to be duplicitous or crafty, but because they may feel pressured by the formal self-critical exercise to give what they think is the “right” answer (or the least embarrassing one).
Furthermore, it’s often exceedingly difficult to explain in coherent sentences our response to a piece of information, or our mood at a given moment. We may not know exactly why we favor one product over another, or why we’re feeling generally joyful or generally depressed (there are many techniques for honing a survey’s efficacy – you can learn more in one of our blog posts).
Meanwhile, physiological data – such as the rate of our heartbeat, the degree of our perspiration, and the direction and rhythm of our eye movements can shed light on behavioral phenomena our conscious minds may deny, distort, or completely fail to register.
heartbeat
The academic and commercial applications of the psychophysiological studies considering such data are virtually limitless, relevant to fields as diverse as neuroscience, psychotherapy, marketing, and design.