INTRODUCTION TO EXPERIMENTAL

PSYCHOLOGY

PSYCHOLOGY
Definitions-

 Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes. Behaviour includes all
of our outward or overt actions and reactions, such as talking, facial expressions, and
movement. The term mental processes refers to all the internal, covert activity of our minds,
such as thinking, feeling, and remembering. (C)
 We can define psychology as the scientific study of behaviour and the mind. The term
behaviour refers to actions and responses that we can directly observe, whereas the term
mind refers to internal states and processes—such as thoughts and feelings—that cannot be
seen directly and that must be inferred from observable, measurable responses.
 Psychology relates to virtually every aspect of your life. Psychological research provides us
with a greater understanding of ourselves and with powerful tools to improve our lives and
promote human welfare.
 Science involves two types of research: basic research, which reflects the quest for
knowledge purely for its own sake, and applied research, which is designed to solve specific,
practical problems. For psychologists, most basic research examines how and why people
behave, think, and feel the way they do. In applied research, psychologists often use basic
scientific knowledge to design, implement, and assess intervention programs. (P&S)
 Several trends, ideas, and developments in philosophy and several fields of science
combined to produce the idea of a field that uses scientific methods to study human
behaviour.
 From philosophy came two key ideas: empiricism, the view that knowledge can be gathered
through careful observation, and rationalism, the view that knowledge can be gained
through logic and careful reasoning. When these ideas were combined, they produced the
basic ground rules of modern science. When these new rules for investigating the world
around us were put into practice, important advances in many fields of science occurred—
and with gathering speed. Some of these advances—especially discoveries in the field of
physiology, the branch of biology that studies the functions of living organisms—were
directly related to the emergence of psychology. (B)
 Multiple perspectives- Behavioural, Cognitive, Biological, Socio-cultural, Psychodynamic,
Evolutionary, Humanistic. Behavioural focuses on overt behaviour. Cognitive focuses on
cognitive processes such as memory, thought, reasoning. Biological focuses on the biological
events and processes that underlie behaviour. Sociocultural focuses on all aspects of social
behaviour and on the impact of cultural factors on behaviour. Psychodynamic focuses on
personality and on the role of hidden, often unconscious processes on behaviour.
Evolutionary focuses on the possible role of inherited tendencies in various aspects of
behaviour. Humanistic focuses on study of meaning, values, and purpose in life; study of
self-concept and its role in thought, emotion, and behaviour. (P&S)
 A science is a body of systematised knowledge that is gathered by careful observing and
measuring events. Psychology as a science is objective, systematic, standardised, replicable,
measurable, falsifiable. (expand in detail in the nature of psychology section) (M&K)
Goals-

 To describe how people and other species behave.

 To understand the causes of these behaviours.
 To predict how people and animals will behave under certain conditions.
 To influence behaviour through the control of its causes.
 To apply psychological knowledge in ways that enhance human welfare.

 DESCRIPTION: WHAT IS HAPPENING? The first step in understanding anything is to describe

it. Description involves observing a behaviour and noting everything about it: what is
happening, where it happens, to whom it happens, and under what circumstances it seems
to happen.

 EXPLANATION: WHY IS IT HAPPENING? Based on observations, the psychologist might try to

come up with a tentative explanation. Finding explanations for behaviour is a very important
step in the process of forming theories of behaviour. A theory is a general explanation of a
set of observations or facts.

 PREDICTION: WHEN WILL IT HAPPEN AGAIN? Determining what will happen in the future is a
prediction.

 CONTROL: HOW CAN IT BE CHANGED? The focus of control, or the modification of some
behaviour, is to change a behaviour from an undesirable one to a desirable one.

Nature-

 A number of scholars have posited varied views on the nature of psychology as a discipline.
Since the inception of the discipline, the debate surrounding the nature of psychology as an
art or science has received prominent coverage.
 Psychology has been defined by the application of scientific methods. Psychologists conduct
valuable research and have developed some key insights into behaviour, cognition,
consciousness, and more generally, the human condition. Science is an approach involving
the use of several systematic methods for gathering information plus adherence to several
key values or standards. The values and standards that are essential for scientific research
are accuracy, open-mindedness, objectivity, falsifiability and scepticism.
(Accuracy: A commitment to gathering and evaluating information about the world in as
careful, precise, and error-free a manner as possible.
Objectivity: A commitment to obtaining and evaluating such information in a manner that is
as free from bias as humanly possible.
Scepticism: A commitment to accepting findings as accurate only after they have been
verified over and over again, preferably by many different scientists working independently.
Open-Mindedness: A commitment to changing one’s views—even views that are strongly
held—in the face of evidence that shows these views to be inaccurate.)
Thus, adopting the scientific method entails imbibing these values and methods to
systematically uncover truths pertaining to how people function. This adoption of the
 scientific method makes psychology a science—and that makes the information it acquires
so valuable.
 In many fields of Psychology, psychologists put into practical use, the knowledge about
human behaviour. Social psychologists employ the principles of psychology to solve
problems like intergroup conflict and group decision making. Organisational psychologists
solve the problems at a workplace and apply their knowledge for the betterment of an
organisation.
 However, the knowledge they put into use isn’t just a mechanical implementation of proven
scientific techniques. Instead, the psychologist’s behavioural and emotional repertoire as
having a significant bearing on the work that they do. It requires the psychologist’s use of
professional experience, manner of delivery, empathic intuition, and judgment. So, the
professional practice of psychology is also an art.

EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
Definitions and features-

 The scientific method has the following steps: Identify a Question of Interest, Gather
Information and Form Hypothesis, Test Hypothesis by Conducting Research, Analyse Data,
Draw Tentative Conclusions, and Report Findings, Build a Body of Knowledge.
 Three basic procedures used by psychologists in their systematic study of human behaviour:
observation (sometimes termed description), correlation, and experimentation.
 In order to attain the goal of explanation, it is usually important to know something about
causality—the extent to which changes in one variable produce or cause changes in one or
more others. How can such causal relationships be established? Primarily through another
method of research known as experimentation or the experimental method.
Experimentation involves the following strategy: One variable is changed systematically, and
the effects of these changes on one or more other variables are carefully measured. If
systematic changes in one variable produce changes in one or more others (and if additional
conditions we’ll soon consider are also met), it is possible to conclude with reasonable
certainty that there is indeed a causal relationship between these variables: that changes in
one do indeed cause changes in the other.
 A domain of psychology focused on exploring theoretical questions, often by creating a
hypothesis and then setting out to prove or disprove it through experimentation.
 It involves the study of a wide range of behavioural topics among humans and animals,
including sensation, perception, attention, memory, cognition and emotion.
 Experimental psychology is a study of psychological issues that uses experimental
procedures.
 Raymond Corsini (1999) defines experimental psychology as, “the scientific study of
behaviour, motives or cognition, normally in a laboratory setting for the purpose of
predicting, explaining, or controlling behaviour.”
 An experiment provides the strongest tests of hypotheses about cause and effect.
 The investigator carefully controls conditions – often in a laboratory – and takes
measurements in order to discover the causal relationships among variables.
Characteristics of an experiment-

 The researcher manipulates (i.e., controls) one or more variables. In the simplest possible
experiment, the researcher manipulates one variable by creating two different conditions to
which participants are exposed.
 The researcher measures whether this manipulation influences other variables (i.e.,
variables that represent the participants’ responses).
 The researcher attempts to control extraneous factors that might influence the outcome of
the experiment.

Terms and symbols used-

 S – Stimulus, O – Organism, R – Response, A – Antecedent, E - Experimenter

 A psychological experiment can be symbolized as a S-O-R relationship, wherein the E applies
a certain stimulus to O’s receptors and observes O’s responses. Here, E’s aim is to discover
what goes on in the organism between the stimulus & the response. In another class of
experiments, E does not attempt to observe directly what goes on in O but hopes to find out
indirectly by varying the conditions & noting the resulting variations in the response. The
response depends on the stimuli acting at that moment & on factors present in the organism
at that moment. This general statement can be put into the following equation: R = f (S, O)
where response is a function of S factors and O factors.

Differences between Tests and Experiments-

 Experiments are aimed at establishing a cause-and-effect relationship between variables,

while tests help develop an understanding of individuals with respect to certain attributes.
 Experiments involve manipulation of a variable (known as the independent variable) to see
how it would impact another variable (known as the dependent variable), while controlling
the impact of other variables. No such manipulation is carried out in psychological testing.
 Furthermore, the conduction of experiments in a controlled condition often creates artificial
situations which may not be like real world contexts. Thus, on many occasions the
applications of results obtained in experiments to real life settings is controversial. This is
distinct from testing, where the focus is mainly on how people typically think and behave.
  Lastly, experiments follow a nomothetic approach wherein the focus is on general principles,
while in testing, the approach is idiographic where the emphasis is on the uniqueness of the
person.

Historical background of experimentation in Psychology-

 Check Reshma Ma’am’s presentation

Scope of Experimental Psychology-