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Introduction to Experimental Psychology

Kartiki

Kamala Nehru College, University of Delhi

BA Programme (Psychology + Sociology)

Ms Shivani Dutta

3rd January, 2022

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Introduction to Experimental Psychology

Experiment

It is the deliberate manipulation of a variable to see if corresponding changes in

another variable result, allowing the determination of cause-and-effect relationship.

Experiments are performed to test theories or hypotheses and to provide a database for

explanations of behaviour.

Objectives of Experimental Research

1) To test if a hypothesis is true or false and provide answers to research questions.
2) To determine a relationship between the dependent variable and the independent
variable.
3) To control and eliminate extraneous variables.

History of Experimental Psychology

Psychology is a relatively new discipline, having only been established in the late 1800s.

While it originated as a branch of philosophy and biology, it became a distinct field of study

when Wilhelm Wundt, an early psychologist, established the first laboratory dedicated to the

study of experimental psychology. Before that, Gustav Fechner was often credited with

performing some of the first scientific experiments that would form a basis for

experimentation in psychology with his studies of perception. Some events that led to the

establishment of experimental psychology discipline:

 In 1874 - Wilhelm Wundt published the first experimental psychology textbook, Principles of

Physiological Psychology.

 In 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.
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 In 1879, Wundt established the first experimental lab for study of psychology at the

University of Leipzig, Germany and thus emerged the field of experimental psychology. He

considered psychology to be the study of conscious experience. His perspective, which came

to be known as structuralism, focused on uncovering the fundamental mental components of

perception, consciousness, thinking, emotions, and other kinds of mental states and activities.

Students all over the world came to study the structure of mind at Leipzig. They examined

their own thoughts and mental activities and this is called objective introspections.

 In 1883, G. Stanley Hall opened the first experimental psychology lab in the United States at

John Hopkins University.

 In 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 Truball 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 world's third experimental psychology lab at the

University of Pennsylvania

 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 they could classically condition a 9-month-old

child to develop an irrational fear.

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 1958 - Harry Harlow published The Nature of Love, which described his experiments with

rhesus monkeys on attachment and love. Using methods of isolation and maternal

deprivation, Harlow showed the impact of contact comfort on primate development.

 1961 - Albert Bandura conducted his now-famous Bobo doll experiment, which demonstrated

the effects of observation on aggressive behaviour. Through this experiment he tried to prove

that human behaviour is largely based upon social imitation rather than inherited genetic

factors.

 In 1974, Elizabeth Loftus and John Palmer conducted the Car Crash Experiment to prove that

memory is reconstructive.

Variables

A variable is any measurable attribute of objects, things, or beings. Also, behaviors, events, or
other characteristics that can change, or vary, in some ways are known as variables. There are
different types of variables.
In an experimental setup, the variable getting manipulated by the experimenter is known as
the independent variable. It becomes the cause in the cause-and-effect relationship.

The other variable is called the dependent variable- the variable on which the effect of
manipulation of independent variable is measured. It becomes the effect in the cause-and-
effect relationship.

For example- In a learning experiment, the difficulty of the difficulty of the learning material
will be the independent variable. Depending on how easy or difficult it is to learn the
material, recall will take place. The memory recall will be the dependent variable in this case.

Another type of variable is called extraneous/inferring/confounding variable. They are all

those variables which are not independent variable but could affect the results or the
dependent variable.
For example- If you are studying the effect of phone usage before bed on sleep quality and
quantity, phone usage becomes the independent variable and the sleep quality/quantity
becomes dependent variable. The extraneous variable are extra factors such as temperature of
the room, light and the comfortableness of the bed.
Hypothesis

It is a prediction, stemming from a theory, stated in a way that allows it to be tested.The first

step to finding the answer to a research question is to form a hypothesis or a prediction about

the results of the experiment being conducted to find out the answer to the research question.

We read literature related to the topic of our research, we make our own observations and we
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gather information and evidence that is already present and we create a hypothesis. Every

experiment tests at least one hypothesis, in each case predicting the relationship between

variables.

There are different types of hypotheses-

If the statement is “Rehearsal impacts memory”-

1. Null hypothesis- In this, there is no relationship between the two variables being

studied, that is, one variable does not affect the other. Example- Rehearsal does not

impact memory.

2. Experimental or alternative hypothesis- This contradicts the null hypothesis as there is

relationship between the two variables being studied. One variable affects the other

variable. Example- Rehearsal will impact memory.

3. Directional hypothesis- This comes under alternative hypothesis. If we give direction

(positive or negative) to our statement it becomes directional hypothesis.

 Positive direction- Rehearsal will improve memory

 Negative direction- Rehearsal will impair memory

4. Non directional hypothesis- it predicts that the independent variable will have an

effect on the dependent variable, but the direction of the effect is not specified. For

example- Rehearsal impacts memory (it’s not specified how it impacts memory).

Types of experiments

1) Lab experiments- In laboratory experiments, the researcher can manipulate the

independent variable under highly controlled conditions, where accurate measurements
are possible. The researcher has the liberty to assign people randomly to different groups
and control extraneous variables.
Example- Milgram’s experiment on obedience which was aimed at knowing the extent of

humans' willingness to obey orders from an authority figure. In the experiment the actual

subjects were given the role of a “teacher” who had to shock the “student” or the

confederate every time he gave an incorrect answer. It was seen that 65% of the subjects
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in Milgram’s study delivered the maximum shocks even when they knew that they were

hurting someone. The participants were randomly assigned and this experiment was done

under highly controlled conditions.

Strength-

a) Lab experiments are reliable as they are easy to replicate.

b) It gives the researcher better control over extraneous variables.
c) The exact cause and effect relationship can be measured.
Weakness-

a) Laboratory experiments lack external validity.

b) Experimenter bias may take place. These are the ways that the experimenter can
accidentally influence the participant.
c) Subjects may act differently because they have a clue of what the experimenter is
trying to measure and how they want the subject to behave. This is known as demand
characteristics.
2) Field experiments- These experiments are conducted in a natural setting. The
experimenter still manipulates the independent variable, but in a real-life setting. Since
the study is conducted in field, controlling extraneous variables becomes difficult.
Example- Bickman’s conducted a study in 1974 which aimed to see if people’s

appearance effects the level of obedience they are shown. A person was supposed to wear

one of the three uniforms- a guard uniform, milkman’s uniform and sports jacket in three

situations in which people were asked to do something. The situation where- to pick up

litter; to give change to a person for parking; to stand on the other side of bus stop. It was

found that people are more likely to follow the instruction of someone they feels has the

ability to punish and this can be caused by someone's dress alone.

Strengths-

a) It provides high exterior or ecological validity.

b) There is less likelihood of demand characteristics affecting the results, as participants
may not know they are being studied. This occurs when the study is covert.
c) It is an appropriate method for studying complex social influences, processes, and
changes in life like setting.
Weaknesses-

a) The chances of extraneous variables confounding the research findings are more in
field experiments due to the uncontrolled extraneous variables.
b) Precise replication of the natural environment of field experiments is understandably
difficult, so they have poor reliability
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3) True experiment- it is a kind of experiment in which participants are assigned at random

to two or more experimentally manipulated treatment conditions or to a treatment group
and a control group.
True experiments have four elements: manipulation, control , random assignment,

and random selection. These experiments involve highly controlled and systematic 

procedures in an effort to minimize error and bias.

Example- An investigator wants to evaluate whether a new technique to teach math to

elementary school students is more effective than the standard teaching method. Using an

experimental design, the investigator divides the class randomly (by chance) into two

groups and calls them "Group A" and "Group B." The students cannot choose their own

group. The random assignment process results in two groups that should share equal

characteristics at the beginning of the experiment. In Group A, the teacher uses a new

teaching method to teach the math lesson. In Group B, the teacher uses a standard

teaching method to teach the math lesson. The investigator compares test scores at the

end of the semester to evaluate the success of the new teaching method compared to the

standard teaching method. At the end of the study, the results indicated that the students

in the new teaching method group scored significantly higher on their final exam than the

students in the standard teaching group.

Strength-

a) It is much easier for other researchers to replicate the experiment and scientific
validity of such experiments is high.
b) Since they are performed in highly controlled environments, the results can be trusted
easily.
c) Because subjects are randomly assigned systemic bias can be avoided.
Weakness-

a) True experiments require a lot control of variables so the experiment can turn
artificial. Human beings are different and complex so the results of such experiments
cannot be generalized.
b) The results of this experimental design cannot be replicated in studies conducted on
human beings due to ethical problems.
4) Quasi experiment- Many times in experiments, manipulating the IV and random
assignment of subjects to both control and experimental group is not possible in
the truest sense. Sometimes it may be unethical to have a control group or it
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may not be possible to carry out randomization. Such experiments are then
called quasi-experiments.
Example-

If you want to see if the COVID-19 vaccine has any effect on the baby of

pregnant women, you cannot simply administer them with the vaccine. Since

there is no pre-existing evidence for this, you cannot risk having a

complication. So, you cannot entirely manipulate the independent variable in

this case nor can you use randomization. So instead, you will have to select

women who had willingly got the vaccine administered while they were

pregnant and then choose women who had not got it administered as a control

group.

Strength-

a) This design is more suitable for real world, natural setting than true
experimental design.
b) It is more practical and feasible to conduct.
c) The results of this type of experiment can be generalized.
Weakness-

a) It can be hard to establish causal relationship if you cannot properly

manipulate the independent variable.
b) Statistical analysis can be difficult as it requires randomization.
c) Increased potential for bias associated with sampling.

Experimental Designs

1) Between group design

 A between-group design is an experiment that has two or more groups of subjects each

being tested by a different testing factor simultaneously. The simplest between-group

design occurs with two groups; one is generally regarded as the treatment group, which

receives the ‘special’ treatment, (that is, is treated with some variable) and the control

group, which receives no variable treatment and is used as a reference.

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Example- To check the efficacy of a different treatment plans a researcher can chooses

different group of people and each undergoes one treatment plan. In the end the results

are compared and the most effective treatment plan is found out.

Strength-

a) Multiple variables can be tested simultaneously, and with enough testing subjects, a
large number can be tested.
b) Between-subjects design sessions are less time consuming because the testing groups
are only being tested for one condition. This is ideal for receiving and analysing data
more quickly and being able to complete more sessions in less time.
c) Setting up the scheduling of this design is easy because participants only take part in
one test. The researchers prepare for one testing condition by scheduling one testing
group.

Weakness-

a) This experimental design often requires a large number of participants to generate any
useful and reliable data.

b) Individual differences may threaten validity. Because different participants provide

data for each condition, it’s possible that the groups differ in important ways, and
these differences can be alternative explanations for the results.
2) Within-group design
The word “within” means you’re comparing different conditions within the same group or

individual. In a within-group design, all participants take part in every condition. All

participants in the sample are exposed to the same treatments. The participants serve as their

own control by providing baseline scores across different conditions.

Example-If we are doing an experiment on exercise and memory. For your independent

variable, you decide to try two different types of exercise: yoga and jogging. Instead of

breaking participants up into two groups, you have all the participants try yoga before taking

a memory test. Then, you have all the participants try jogging before taking a memory test.

Next, you compare the test scores to determine which type of exercise had the greatest effect

on performance on the memory tests.

Strength-
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a) Does not require a large pool of participants. 

b) It can also help reduce errors associated with individual differences. Since individuals
are exposed to all levels of a treatment, so individual differences will not distort the
results.
c) It is statistically powerful because individual variation is removed.

Weakness-

a) Carryover effect may take place. Carryover effects are a broad category of internal
validity threats that occur when an earlier treatment alters the outcomes of a later
treatment.
b) Fatigue is another potential drawback of using a within-subject design.

3) Mixed design

A study that combines features of both a between-subjects design and a within-subjects

design. Thus, a researcher examines not only the potential differences between two or more

separate groups of participants but also assesses change in the individual members of each

group over time.

Example- A researcher might use a mixed design to study the influence of different types of

music on relaxation. He or she could divide participants into a control group (listening to no

music) and two experimental groups (one listening to classical music and one listening to

rock music). The researcher could administer a pre-test to participants in all groups in order

to determine the baseline level of physiological arousal prior to hearing any music and then

introduce the music and test participants while they listen. After stopping the music, he or she

could administer another test (a post-test) to determine what specific reduction in arousal may

have occurred throughout the listening period. In this situation, music type is a between-

subjects factor (each participant hears only a single genre of music) and physiological arousal

is a within-subjects factor (each participant is evaluated on this variable on multiple

occasions and the different assessments compared).

Strength-

a) The best features of both the in-between group design and within-group design come
together in this.
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Weakness-

a) It was sometimes be less efficient or economical as a pure within-subjects design or

in-between group design.

Critical evaluation of experimental methods

Strengths-

a) It helps in establishing cause and effect relationship between independent and

dependent variables.
b) Researcher can exercise control over variables, systematically manipulate some
variables, carefully measure other variables and can also make some variables
constant.
c) Replication of result under similar controlled conditions is possible.
d) Experimental research provides conclusions that are specific. Because experimental
research provides such a high level of control, it can produce results that are specific
and relevant with consistency.

Weaknesses-

a) The results may get impacted by certain biases. Some of the most common biases
encountered in experiments are: ·
 Selection Bias – It occurs when differences between groups are already present at the
beginning of the experiment. Example: differences in age, intelligence etc.
 Experimenter Bias – These are the ways that the experimenter can accidentally
influence the participant. 
 Demand Characteristics: These refer to the clues in an experiment that lead the
participants to think they know what the researcher is looking for (for example-
experimenter’s body language might suggest approval/disapproval to the subject and
as a result may influence subject’s responses).

b) Experimental laboratory setting is artificial, making the generalization of the results to

the real-life world a little difficult. The subjects may behave differently in a lab setting
and in real life.

c) There may be ethical or practical problems with variable control.

d) Participants can be influenced by their current situation.

Human error isn’t just confined to the researchers. Participants in an experimental
research study can also be influenced by extraneous variables.

Ethical Concerns in Research

1) Deception
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It is the temporary withholding of information about a study from the persons who

participate in the experimental research. In order to avoid the participants from changing

their behavior after getting a clue about the hypothesis that is being tested, researchers

sometimes choose to withdraw information. They believe that such information may

change participants’ behavior and so render the results of the research useless.

But deception is permissible till the time 2 basic ethical procedures are followed-

a) Informed consent- Informed consent is the process by which researchers working with
human participants describe their research project and obtain the subjects' consent to
participate in the research based on the subjects' understanding of the project's
methods and goals.
b) Debriefing is the act of informing participants about the intentions of the study in
which they just participated; during this process, researchers reveal any deceptions
that occurred and explain why deception was necessary. Subjects are encouraged to
ask questions.
Having discussion with participant, why the procedure was chosen, how subject can

benefit from the results. The aim of the debriefing is not just to provide information,

but to help the participant leave the experimental situation in a similar frame of mind

as when he/she entered it. It is done to give a sense of closure to the participant.

2) Research with animals

While most research conducted by psychologists involves human participants,

some studies are performed with animals. For starters they may want to study the

behavior of endangered species so that they can assist in protecting them from extinction.

Research on the mating habits of the giant panda of China has helped to increase the

world population of these beautiful animals, which do not readily reproduce in zoos.

Secondly, psychologists conduct research on animals in order to examine the generality of

basic principles of behavior–for example, certain forms of learning.

The most important reason for conducting research with animals, however, is also

the one that raises important ethical issues: some research exposes animal subjects to

conditions or treatments that could not be used with human beings. For obvious ethical
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and legal reasons, researchers cannot operate on the brains of healthy people in order to

study the roles of various parts of their brains in memory, learning, or other aspects of

behavior.

3) Confidentiality
Participants, and the data gained from them must be kept anonymous unless they

give their full consent. No names must be used in a research report. If you want to use

some of their info for the experiment you need to ask for their consent. If you want to

record the interview, you’ll again have to ask for consent.

4) Protection of participants
No harm done to the subject in any way. Researchers must ensure that those

taking part in research will not be caused distress. They must be protected from physical

and mental harm. This means you must not embarrass, frighten, offend or harm

participants or even tire out the subject. Experiments like ‘Stanford Prison Experiment’

have been heavily criticized due to the mental and physical trauma that some of the

participants had to endure in it.

5) Right to withdrawal
Participants should be able to leave a study at any time if they feel uncomfortable.

They should be told at the start of the study that they have the right to withdraw. This can

be done at any time, even after the experiment is over. They should also be allowed to

withdraw their data. In experiment such as Milgram’s Obedience Experiment the subject

was nudged to shock the participant even when he was not willing to sometimes. This is

unethical.
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