Purpose, methods, and history
What factors influence people’s behaviors and thoughts?
Experimental psychology utilizesscientific methodsto answer these questions by researching the mind and behavior.
Experimental psychologists conduct experiments to learn more about why people do certain things.
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Overview of Experimental Psychology
Why do people do the things they do?
What factors influence howpersonalitydevelops?
And how do our behaviors and experiences shape our character?
For example, researchers might utilize experimental methods to investigate why people engage in unhealthy behaviors.
These are often topics of experimental psychology research.
Experimental Psychology Methods
So how exactly do researchers investigate the human mind and behavior?
Experimental psychologists use a variety of differentresearch methodsand tools to investigate human behavior.
Methods in the experimental psychology category include experiments, case studies, correlational research, and naturalistic observations.
Experiments
Experimentation remains the primary standard in psychological research.
In some cases, psychologists can perform experiments to determine if there is a cause-and-effect relationship between different variables.
All of the participants would then take the same driving test via a simulator or on a controlled course.
Such studies are often performed in instances where experimentation is not possible.
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.
Psychology is a relatively young discipline, emerging in the late 1800s.
Experimental psychologists can research a variety of topics using many different experimental methods.
Each one contributes to what we know about the mind and human behavior.
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