How Experimental Psychology Studies Behavior

How Experimental Psychology Studies Behavior Basics Print How Experimental Psychology Studies Behavior By Kendra Cherry facebook twitter Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author, educational consultant, and speaker focused on helping students learn about psychology. Learn about our editorial policy Kendra Cherry Updated on June 24, 2019 Hinterhaus Productions / Getty Images More in Psychology Basics Psychotherapy Student Resources History and Biographies Theories Phobias Emotions Sleep and Dreaming What factors influence peoples behaviors and thoughts? Experimental psychology utilizes scientific methods to answer these questions by researching the mind and behavior. Experimental psychologists conduct experiments to learn more about why people do certain things. Overview Why do people do the things they do? What factors influence how personality develops? And how do our behaviors and experiences shape our character? These are just a few of the questions that psychologists explore, and experimental methods allow researchers to create and empirically test hypotheses. By studying such questions, researchers can also develop theories that enable them to describe, explain, predict, and even change human behaviors. For example, researchers might utilize experimental methods to investigate why people engage in unhealthy behaviors. By learning more about the underlying reasons why these behaviors occur, researchers can then search for effective ways to help people avoid such actions or replace unhealthy choices with more beneficial ones. Reasons to Study Experimental Psychology While students are often required to take experimental psychology courses during undergraduate and graduate school, you should think about this subject as a methodology rather than a singular area within psychology. Many of these techniques are also used by other subfields of psychology to conduct research on everything from childhood development to social issues. Experimental psychology is important because the findings discovered by psychologists play a vital role in our understanding of the human mind and behavior. By better understanding exactly what makes people tick, psychologists and other mental health professionals are able to explore new approaches to treating psychological distress and mental illness. Methods Used So how exactly do researchers investigate the human mind and behavior? Because the human mind is so complex, it seems like a challenging task to explore the many factors that contribute to how we think, act, and feel. Experimental psychologists use a variety of different research methods and tools to investigate human behavior. 1. Experiments In some cases, psychologists can perform experiments to determine if there is a cause-and-effect relationship between different variables. The basics of conducting a psychology experiment involve: Randomly assigning participants to groupsOperationally defining variablesDeveloping a hypothesisManipulating the independent variablesMeasuring the dependent variables For example, researchers could perform a study to look at whether sleep deprivation impairs performance on a driving test. The experimenter could control for other variables that might influence the outcome, but then vary the amount of sleep that participants get the night before a driving test. All of the participants would then take the same driving test via a simulator or on a controlled course. By analyzing the results, researchers can then determine if it was changes in the independent variable (amount of sleep) that led to differences in the dependent variable (performance on a driving test). Experimentation remains the primary standard, but other techniques such as case studies, correlational research, and naturalistic observation are frequently utilized in psychological research. 2. Case Studies Case studies allow researchers to study a single individual or group of people in great depth. When performing a case study, the researcher collects every single piece of data possible about the subject, often observing the person of interest over a period and in a variety of situations. Detailed information about the individual’s background including family history, education, work, and social life are also collected. Such studies are often performed in instances where experimentation is not possible. For example, a scientist might conduct a case study when the person of interest has had a unique or rare experience that could not be replicated in a lab. 3. Correlational Research Correlational studies make it possible for researchers to look at relationships between different variables. For example, a psychologist might note that as one variable increase, another tends to decrease. While such studies can look at relationships, they cannot be used to imply causal relationships. The golden rule is that correlation does not equal causation. 4. Naturalistic Observation Naturalistic observation gives researchers the opportunity to observe people in their natural environments. This technique can be particularly useful in cases where the investigators believe that a lab setting might have an undue influence on participant behaviors. What Experimental Psychologists Do Experimental psychologists work in a wide variety of settings including colleges, universities, research centers, government, and private businesses. Some of these professionals may focus on teaching experimental methods to students, while others conduct research on cognitive processes, animal behavior, neuroscience, personality, and many other subject areas. Those who work in academic settings often teach psychology courses in addition to performing research and publishing their findings in professional journals. Other experimental psychologists work with businesses to discover ways to make employees more productive or to create a safer workplace, a specialty area known as human factors psychology. A to Z List of Psychology Careers The History of Experimental Psychology In order to understand how experimental psychology got to be where it is today, it can be helpful to look at how it originated. Psychology is a relatively young discipline, emerging in the late 1800s. While it started as part of philosophy and biology, it officially became its own field of study when the early psychologist Wilhelm Wundt founded the first laboratory devoted to the study of experimental psychology. Some of the important events that helped shape the field of experimental psychology include: 1874 - Wilhelm Wundt published the first experimental psychology textbook, Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie (Principles of Physiological Psychology).1875 - William James opened a psychology lab in the United States. The lab was created for the purpose of class demonstrations, rather than to perform original experimental research.1879 - The first experimental psychology lab was founded in Leipzig, Germany. Modern experimental psychology dates back to the establishment of the very first psychology laboratory by pioneering psychologist Wilhelm Wundt during the late nineteenth century.1883 - G. Stanley Hall opened the first experimental psychology lab in the United States at John Hopkins University.1885 - Herman Ebbinghaus published his famous Über das Gedächtnis (On Memory), which was later translated to English as Memory. A Contribution to Experimental Psychology. In the work, he described his learning and memory experiments that he conducted on himself.1887 - George Trubal l Ladd published his textbook Elements of Physiological Psychology, the first American book to include a significant amount of information on experimental psychology.1887 - James McKeen Cattell established the worlds third experimental psychology lab at the University of Pennsylvania.1890 - William James published his classic textbook, The Principles of Psychology.1891 - Mary Whiton Calkins established an experimental psychology lab at Wellesley College, becoming the first woman to form a psychology lab.1893 - G. Stanley Hall founded the American Psychological Association, the largest professional and scientific organization of psychologists in the United States.1920 - John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner conducted their now-famous Little Albert Experiment, in which they demonstrated that emotional reactions could be classically conditioned in people.1929 - Edwin Borings book A History of Experimental Psychology was published. Boring was an influential experimental psychologist who was devoted to the use of experimental methods in psychology research.1955 - Lee Cronbach published Construct Validity in Psychological Tests, which popularized the use of the construct validity in psychological studies.1958 - Harry Harlow published The Nature of Love, which described his experiments with rhesus monkeys on attachment and love.1961 - Albert Bandura conducted his now-famous Bobo doll experiment, which demonstrated the effects of observation on aggressive behavior. A Word From Verywell While experimental psychology is sometimes thought of as a separate branch or subfield of psychology, experimental methods are widely used throughout all areas of psychology. Developmental psychologists use experimental methods to study how people grow through childhood and over the course of a lifetime. Social psychologists utilize experimental techniques to study how people are influenced by groups. Health psychologists rely on experimentation and research to better understand the factors that contribute to wellness and disease.