INTRODUCTION TO

EXPERIMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
WHAT IS EXPERIMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY?

 The phrase “experimental psychology” refers to

 work done by those who apply experimental
methods to the study of behavior and the
processes that underlies it.
 as well as to several specific areas of research
within psychology which predominantly use
experimental methods
WHAT IS AN EXPERIMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGIST?
 A psychological scientist who:
 primarily uses the experimental method to study
behavior
 answers questions about the when, where, and
why of behavior by careful manipulation and
control of relevant variables
 carefully records and conducts quantitative
analysis of the behavioral data
EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY: A
SET OF SPECIFIC AREAS OF STUDY

 Specific areas of study within psychology which

predominantly use experimental methods include:
 sensation, perception, emotion, motivation,
conditioning, learning, memory, and cognition
 HISTORY
 1874 - Wilhelm Wundt published the first experimental
psychology textbook,  “Principles of Physiological
Psychology”.
 1879 - The first experimental psychology lab was
founded in Leipzig, Germany by Wilhelm Wundt during
the late nineteenth century.
 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 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 famous Little Albert Experiment, in which they
demonstrated that emotional reactions could be
classically conditioned in people.
 1929 - Edwin Boring's 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.
 1961 - Albert Bandura conducted his now-famous Bobo
doll experiment, which demonstrated the effects of
observation on aggressive behavior.
 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
MEANING OF EXPERIMENT
 The discipline of psychology deals with human behavior
and how the behavior are caused.
 For ascertaining the causes of behavior some methods
are applied in a specific setting to observe the behavior,
systematically under controlled conditions.
 Thus, the systematic observation of behavior under
controlled condition is called an experiment.
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
 Experimental method is a method of investigation that
allows us to study cause and effect relationship between
the variables.
 An experimental method is planned to answer the
questions about cause (independent variable) and effect
(dependent variable) or to examine a relationship
between the independent and the dependent variable.
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
 There are three important tasks of an experimenter while
conducting an experiment:
 Bring change in the value of experimental variables
 Keep the other factors constant or under control
 Observe changes in the behavior
o The person who carries out the experiment is called
experimenter
o The person whose behavior is observed called subject
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
 A psychological experiment is conducted on a problem
of psychological nature which poses a question before
the experimenter.
 The experimenter tries to provide a provisional answer to
the question in the form of a hypothesis.
 Hypothesis is, thus an anticipated answer to the research
question.
VARIABLES
 The variables considered in behavioral studies have been
classified into two broad categories: independent and
dependent variable
 The causal variable is called independent variable,
independent variables are the variables which are
manipulated by the experimenter
 The effect of independent variables are observed on the
dependent variable
VARIABLES
 In a psychological experiment the experimenter wants to
study the effect of an independent variable on the
dependent variable.
 There are many other variable which influence the result
of an experiment in which experimenter is not interested.
 Such type of variables are called extraneous variables.

 Extraneous variables are those that may effect the

behavior you wish to investigate, but for the present
experiment they are not of interest.
CONTROL OF EXTRANEOUS
VARIABLES
 There are various methods of controlling extraneous
variables:
 One of the important method is method of elimination.
In this method the experimenter makes it possible to
remove such types of variables from the experiment.
 Secondly the extraneous variables can be control by
keeping the values of independent variables constant in
both conditions, that is, the controlled as well as
experimental conditions. This is called method of
constant conditions.
CONTROL OF EXTRANEOUS
VARIABLES
 And the variation in dependent variable may not be
caused by the extraneous variable.
 Effect of extraneous variables can be balanced by
random assignment of subject or group to the treatments.
 Another method called matched groups method in
which the subject is assigned to the groups after
matching them to some of the permanent organismic
variables, like age, sex, intelligence, education, etc.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD
EXPERIMENT
 A good psychological experiment must posses the
following characteristics:
 Control psychological experiments must have the
quality of control, attempts must make to conduct an
experiment under controlled conditions.
 Manipulation in good psychological experiment there
is provision that the experimenter can manipulate the
independent variable under controlled conditions.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD
EXPERIMENT
 Repetition means the experimenter should be in a
position to repeat the whole or part of the experiment so
that consistency of the findings can be assured. When an
experimenter obtains similar results on repetition of the
experiment , the results are considered as reliable.
 Objectivity means neutrality. While conducting an
experiment the experimenter, as well as subject must
neutral, objective and honest.
STEPS INVOLVED IN CONDUCTION OF
AN EXPERIMENT
 Following steps involved in the conduction of an
experiment:
 Finalization of problem: a problem is a question
proposed for a solution. An experimental study aims at
acquiring knowledge about the relationship among
natural phenomena. Thus, the emergence of problem
becomes the starting point of an experiment.
 Formulation of hypothesis: after identifying a problem
the experimenter give the tentative solution to the
problem under study called hypothesis.
STEPS INVOLVED IN CONDUCTION OF
AN EXPERIMENT
 Hypothesis can be more than one in number. Hypothesis
are generally derived from theories. They can also be
formulated on the basis of personal experience.
 Another type of hypothesis is null hypothesis that
predicts that there is no difference between the
individuals; that is why the null hypothesis is known as
hypothesis of no difference.
 Method of experiment: after formulation of hypothesis
experimenter makes plan for the collection of data. At
this stage the experimenter finalizes the subjects or
participants, also arranges necessary tools and materials
related to the experiment.
STEPS INVOLVED IN CONDUCTION OF
AN EXPERIMENT
 Design of experiment: it usually provides the blue print
for study. It provides clarity to experimenter about ways
of manipulation of an independent variable, control of
extraneous variable, the possible conditions of the
experiment, assignment of subjects to different
conditions.
 Procedure: actual experiment is started after the
finalization of the design . The experiment makes
necessary arrangements for collection and recording the
data. Tries to make the subject comfortable. Gives
necessary instructions, introduce the task and explain
how they will perform in different conditions.
STEPS INVOLVED IN CONDUCTION OF
AN EXPERIMENT
 Recording and analyzing the data: the data are
collected very carefully. After the collection of data, the
introspective report of the subject is recorded by the
experimenter. The recorded data are analyzed by the
experimenter in the light of hypothesis for arriving at a
definite conclusion.
REPORTING AN EXPERIMENT
 Following stages are involved in the preparation of report:
 Problem: before stating the problem of the experiment the
name of the experiment should be written on the top of the
reporting file. The statement of the problem mention after
the name. the problem is stated in such a way that the
purpose of the experiment should be very clear.
 Introduction: after stating the problem, the experimenter
provides a detail introduction to the problem as well as the
variables taken for the experiment. Introduction contains
the nature definition and significance of the variables.
REPORTING AN EXPERIMENT
 Hypothesis: in the next stage, the experimenter
mentions the hypothesis formulated on the problem.
 Method of experiment: under method major part of the
experiment is explained. It includes, description of
subjects, selection of apparatus and materials,
description of design, planning and arrangement as well
as procedure of data collection