Introduction to Experimental Psychology
Experimental psychology
- Psychology is a scientific field; scientific method is apparent since it is the entry to how
psychological research is conducted
- Born with the study of sensory processes and then expanded to the study of perception,
emotion, reaction time, learning, and thinking (concepts usually studied in cognitive
psychology)
o Traditional topics of research in experimental psychology because of the nature
that it is easier to measure because we know behavioral indicators to observe
these cognitive processes
- Study of scientific methodology and the methods of experimentation
- Its methods are no longer confined to those narrow topics but are used in almost the whole
of psychology
o This new conception of experimental psychology represents the bringing together
of 3 distinct aspects of science: experimental methodology, statistics, and the
philosophy of science
▪ Experimental methodology – basis of experimental psychology
▪ Statistics – important aspect of experimentation; analyzes data gathered
▪ Philosophy of science – important to understand what science is, how the
scientific method is used, and where experimentation fits into the larger
framework of scientific methodology
- A technical subject
Modern social and psychological sciences were developed at the end of the 19 th century
- At the time, natural sciences were established as pure sciences
- Psychology imported the scientific thinking of that time that generating knowledge is best
expressed in mathematical form through tests, measurements, and experimentations
o Quantification approach
▪ Has its foundations
▪ The Vienna Circle of Logical Empiricism – a group of philosophers and
scientists drawn from the natural and social sciences, logic, and
mathematics who met regularly from 1924 to 1936 at the University of
Vienna
Pioneers:
1. Wilhelm Wundt
- Father of experimental psychology
- Recognized as the first experimental psychologist
- Opened the first psychology laboratory in Germany in 1879
- Employed rigorous scientific methods to study human sensory experience
2. G. Stanley Hill
- Wundt’s student
, - American psychologist who opened the first psychology lab in the United States
Why are we studying experimental psychology?
- Human behavior is so complex
- Therefore, the study of psychological problems requires the most effective research
methods available
Common sense psychology
- Not the psychology that we are studying
- Common sense thinking is a type of non-scientific inference
Stereotyping
- Another type of non-scientific inference
- Associating a certain trait to a group of people
- Can lead to confirmation bias or overconfidence bias
Other sources of false information:
1. People in authority like scientists, experts, teachers, politicians, Church people, leaders,
high-status people
2. Attractive or popular people like movie stars, actors, singers, confident-looking people
3. Method of tenacity
4. Personal and other people’s experience (a prior)
- We use our experience and other people’s experiences to infer and predict behavior
- Usually results to confirmation bias
o Confirmation bias – tendency to search for and use information that supports rather
than refutes our ideas
5. Personality theories
- When we understand other people’s behavior based on their traits, there is a strong bias
to overlook situational factors
Research shows that we are not always aware of how mental processes affect our behavior.
Psychology
- The scientific study of behavior and mental processes (Ciccarelli & White, 2012)
Psychology as a science: The scientific method
1. Perceiving the question (stating the problem)
2. Forming a hypothesis
3. Testing the hypothesis (experimentation)
4. Drawing conclusions
5. Reporting the results (publication / submission)
Characteristics of modern science
1. The scientific mentality
Experimental psychology
- Psychology is a scientific field; scientific method is apparent since it is the entry to how
psychological research is conducted
- Born with the study of sensory processes and then expanded to the study of perception,
emotion, reaction time, learning, and thinking (concepts usually studied in cognitive
psychology)
o Traditional topics of research in experimental psychology because of the nature
that it is easier to measure because we know behavioral indicators to observe
these cognitive processes
- Study of scientific methodology and the methods of experimentation
- Its methods are no longer confined to those narrow topics but are used in almost the whole
of psychology
o This new conception of experimental psychology represents the bringing together
of 3 distinct aspects of science: experimental methodology, statistics, and the
philosophy of science
▪ Experimental methodology – basis of experimental psychology
▪ Statistics – important aspect of experimentation; analyzes data gathered
▪ Philosophy of science – important to understand what science is, how the
scientific method is used, and where experimentation fits into the larger
framework of scientific methodology
- A technical subject
Modern social and psychological sciences were developed at the end of the 19 th century
- At the time, natural sciences were established as pure sciences
- Psychology imported the scientific thinking of that time that generating knowledge is best
expressed in mathematical form through tests, measurements, and experimentations
o Quantification approach
▪ Has its foundations
▪ The Vienna Circle of Logical Empiricism – a group of philosophers and
scientists drawn from the natural and social sciences, logic, and
mathematics who met regularly from 1924 to 1936 at the University of
Vienna
Pioneers:
1. Wilhelm Wundt
- Father of experimental psychology
- Recognized as the first experimental psychologist
- Opened the first psychology laboratory in Germany in 1879
- Employed rigorous scientific methods to study human sensory experience
2. G. Stanley Hill
- Wundt’s student
, - American psychologist who opened the first psychology lab in the United States
Why are we studying experimental psychology?
- Human behavior is so complex
- Therefore, the study of psychological problems requires the most effective research
methods available
Common sense psychology
- Not the psychology that we are studying
- Common sense thinking is a type of non-scientific inference
Stereotyping
- Another type of non-scientific inference
- Associating a certain trait to a group of people
- Can lead to confirmation bias or overconfidence bias
Other sources of false information:
1. People in authority like scientists, experts, teachers, politicians, Church people, leaders,
high-status people
2. Attractive or popular people like movie stars, actors, singers, confident-looking people
3. Method of tenacity
4. Personal and other people’s experience (a prior)
- We use our experience and other people’s experiences to infer and predict behavior
- Usually results to confirmation bias
o Confirmation bias – tendency to search for and use information that supports rather
than refutes our ideas
5. Personality theories
- When we understand other people’s behavior based on their traits, there is a strong bias
to overlook situational factors
Research shows that we are not always aware of how mental processes affect our behavior.
Psychology
- The scientific study of behavior and mental processes (Ciccarelli & White, 2012)
Psychology as a science: The scientific method
1. Perceiving the question (stating the problem)
2. Forming a hypothesis
3. Testing the hypothesis (experimentation)
4. Drawing conclusions
5. Reporting the results (publication / submission)
Characteristics of modern science
1. The scientific mentality
