Garcia, Reynejean G.

Experimental Psychology
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History of Experimental Psychology

Early Experimental Psychology

Wilhelm Wundt
Introduced a mathematical and experimental approach to the field. Wundt founded
the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany. Other experimental psychologists,
including Hermann Ebbinghaus and Edward Titchener, included introspection among
their experimental methods.
Charles Bell
British physiologist, whose main contribution was research involving the nervous
system. He wrote a pamphlet summarizing his research on rabbits. His research
concluded that sensory nerves enter at the posterior (dorsal) roots of the spinal cord and
motor nerves emerge from the anterior (ventral) roots of the spinal cord. Eleven years
later, a French physiologist Francois Magendie published the same findings without
being aware of Bell's research. Due to Bell not publishing his research, this discovery
was called the Bell-Magendie law. Bell's discovery disproved the belief that nerves
transmitted either vibrations or spirits.
Ernst Heinrich Weber
German physician who is credited with being one of the founders of experimental
psychology. Weber's main interests were the sense of touch and kinesthesis. His most
memorable contribution to the field of experimental psychology is the suggestion that
judgments of sensory differences are relative and not absolute. This relativity is
expressed in "Weber's Law," which suggests that the just-noticeable difference, or jnd is
a constant proportion of the ongoing stimulus level.
Gustav Fechner
Fechner published in 1860 what is considered to be the first work of experimental
psychology, "Elemente der Psychophysik. Fechner was profoundly interested in
establishing a scientific study of the mind-body relationship, which became known
as psychophysics.
Oswald Külpe
Founder of the Würzburg School in Germany. He was a pupil of Wilhelm Wundt for
about twelve years. Unlike Wundt, Külpe believed experiments were possible to test
higher mental processes. In 1883 he wrote Grundriss der Psychologie, which had strictly
scientific facts and no mention of thought. The lack of thought in his book is odd because
the Würzburg School put a lot of emphasis on mental set and imageless thought.
Würzburg School
The work of the Würzburg School was a milestone in the development of
experimental psychology. The School was founded by a group of psychologists led by
Oswald Külpe, and it provided an alternative to the structuralism of Edward Titchener
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and Wilhelm Wundt. Mental set affects perception and problem solving without the
awareness of the individual; it can be triggered by instructions or by experience.

George Trumbull Ladd

Experimental psychology was introduced into the United States by George Trumbull
Ladd, who founded Yale University's psychological laboratory in 1879. In 1887, Ladd
published Elements of Physiological Psychology, the first American textbook that
extensively discussed experimental psychology.
Charles Sanders Peirce
With his student Joseph Jastrow, randomly assigned volunteers to
a blinded, repeated-measures design to evaluate their ability to discriminate weights.
The Peirce–Jastrow experiments were conducted as part of Peirce's pragmatic program
to understand human perception; other studies considered perception of light, etc. While
Peirce was making advances in experimental psychology and psychophysics, he was also
developing a theory of statistical inference, which was published in "Illustrations of the
Logic of Science" (1877–78) and "A Theory of Probable Inference" (1883); both
publications that emphasized the importance of randomization-based inference in
statistics. Peirce's pragmaticist philosophy also included an extensive theory of mental
representations and cognition, which he studied under the name of semiotics.
20th century
In the middle of the 20th century, behaviorism became a dominant paradigm within
psychology, especially in the United States. This led to some neglect
of mental phenomena within experimental psychology. In Europe this was less the case,
as European psychology was influenced by psychologists such as Sir Frederic
Bartlett, Kenneth Craik, W.E. Hick and Donald Broadbent, who focused on topics such
as thinking, memory and attention. This laid the foundations for the subsequent
development of cognitive psychology.
In the latter half of the 20th century, the phrase "experimental psychology" had shifted in
meaning due to the expansion of psychology as a discipline and the growth in the size
and number of its sub-disciplines. Experimental psychologists use a range of methods
and do not confine themselves to a strictly experimental approach, partly because
developments in the philosophy of science have affected the exclusive prestige of
experimentation.
Methodology
Sound methodology is essential to the study of complex behavioral and mental
processes, and this implies, especially, the careful definition and control of experimental
variables.
Some underlying assumptions of psychological science
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As a scientific endeavor, experimental psychology shares several assumptions with
most other sciences. Among these are the following.
Empiricism
This notion of empiricism requires that hypotheses and theories be tested against
observations of the natural world rather than on a priori reasoning, intuition, or
revelation.
Testability
Closely related to empiricism is the idea that, to be useful, a scientific law or theory must
be testable with available research methods. Testability implies falsifiability, which is the
idea that some set of observations could prove the theory to be incorrect.
Determinism
Experimental psychologists, like most scientists, accept the notion of determinism.
This is the assumption that any state of an object or event is determined by prior states.
Parsimony
Another guiding idea of science is parsimony, the search for simplicity. For example,
most scientists agree that if two theories handle a set of empirical observations equally
well, we should prefer the simpler or more parsimonious of the two.
Operational definition
Some well-known behaviorists such as Edward C. Tolman and Clark Hull.
Operational definition implies that a concept be defined in terms of concrete, observable
procedures. Experimental psychologists attempt to define currently unobservable
phenomena, such as mental events, by connecting them to observations by chains of
reasoning.
Experiments
In experiments, human participants often respond to visual, auditory or other stimuli,
following instructions given by an experimenter; animals may be similarly "instructed"
by rewarding appropriate responses.
A crucial experiment
Ideally, one hypothesis may be confirmed and all the others rejected. However, the
data may also be consistent with several hypotheses, a result that calls for further research
to narrow down the possibilities.
Reliability and Validity
Reliability
Measures the consistency or repeatability of an observation.
Validity
Measures the relative accuracy or correctness of conclusions drawn from a study. To
determine the validity of a measurement quantitatively, it must be compared with a
criterion.
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Internal validity
Refers to the extent to which a set of research findings provides compelling
information about causality.
External validity
Refers to the extent to which the outcome of an experiment can be generalized to
apply to other situations than those of the experiment.
Construct validity
Refers to the extent to which the independent and dependent variables in a study
represent the abstract hypothetical variables of interest.
Conceptual validity
Refers to how well specific research maps onto the broader theory that it was
designed to test.
Scales of measurement
Measurement can be defined as "the assignment of numerals to objects or events
according to rules.
Nominal measurement
Numbers are used simply as labels – a letter or name would do as well.
Ordinal measurement
From the ordering or ranking objects, so that A is greater than B, B is greater than C,
and so on.
Interval measurement
Determining the equality of ratios. For example, if, on a balance instrument, object A
balances two identical objects B, then one can say that A is twice as heavy as B and can
give them appropriate numbers.
One-way designs
The simplest experimental design is a one-way design, in which there is only one
independent variable.
Factorial designs[edit]
One-way designs are limited in that they allow researchers to look at only one
independent variable at a time.
Main effects and interactions
The effects of independent variables in factorial studies, taken singly, are referred to
as main effects. This refers to the overall effect of an independent variable, averaging
across all levels of the other independent variables. A main effect is the only effect
detectable in a one-way design.
Within- and between-subjects designs
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Two basic approaches to research design are within-subjects design
and between-subjects design. In within-subjects or repeated measures designs, each
participant serves in more than one or perhaps all of the conditions of a study. In
between-subjects designs each participant serves in only one condition of an experiment

Experimental Instrument
Instruments used in experimental psychology evolved along with technical advances and
with the shifting demands of experiments. The earliest instruments, such as the Hipp
Chronoscope and the kymograph, were originally used for other purposes.
Hipp chronoscope / chronograph
This instrument, invented by Matthäus Hipp around 1850, uses a vibrating reed to
tick off time in 1000ths of a second.
Stereoscope
The first stereoscope was invented by Wheatstone in 1838. It presents two slightly
different images, one to each eye, at the same time. Typically the images are photographs
of the same object taken from camera positions that mimic the position and separation of
the eyes in the head.
Kymograph
Developed by Carl Ludwig in the 19th century, the kymograph is a revolving drum
on which a moving stylus tracks the size of some measurement as a function of time.
used to record response times.
Photokymographs
This device is a photographic recorder. It used mirrors and light to record the photos.
Galvanometer
The galvanometer is an early instrument used to measure the strength of an electric
current. Hermann von Helmholtz used it to detect the electrical signals generated by
nerve impulses, and thus to measure the time taken by impulses to travel between two
points on a nerve.
Audiometer
This apparatus was designed to produce several fixed frequencies at different levels
of intensity.
Colorimeters
Determine the color composition by measuring its tricolor characteristics or
matching of a color sample. This type of device would be used in visual experiments.
Algesiometers and algometers
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Both of these are mechanical stimulations of pain. They have a sharp needle-like
stimulus point so it does not give the sensation of pressure. Experimenters use these when
doing an experiment on analgesia.
Olfactometer
An olfactometer is any device that is used to measure the sense of smell. The most
basic type in early studies was placing a subject in a room containing a specific measured
amount of an odorous substance.

Mazes
Probably one of the oldest instruments for studying memory would be the maze. The
common goal is to get from point A to point B, however the mazes can vary in size and
complexity. Two types of mazes commonly used with rats are the radial arm maze and
the Morris water maze.
Electroencephalograph (EEG)
The EEG is an instrument that can reflect the summed electrical activity of neural
cell assemblies in the brain.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
The fMRI is an instrument that can detect changes in blood oxygen levels over time.
The increase in blood oxygen levels shows where brain activity occurs.
Positron emission tomography (PET)
PET is also used to look at brain activity. It can detect drugs binding neurotransmitter
receptors in the brain.
Some research areas that employ Experimental methods
Cognitive psychology
Some of the major topics studied by cognitive psychologists
are memory, learning, problem solving, and attention. Most cognitive experiments are
done in a lab instead of a social setting; this is done mainly to provide maximum control
of experimental variables and minimal interference from irrelevant events and other
aspects of the situation.
Animal cognition
Animal cognition refers to the mental capacities of non-human animals, and research
in this field often focuses on matters similar to those of interest to cognitive psychologists
using human participants.
Sensation and perception
Experiments on sensation and perception have a very long history in experimental
psychology. Experimenters typically manipulate stimuli affecting vision, hearing, touch,
smell, taste and proprioception.
Behavioral psychology
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The behavioristic approach to psychology reached its peak of popularity in the mid
twentieth century but still underlies much experimental research and clinical application.
Its founders include such figures as Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, and B.F. Skinner.
Social psychology
use experimental methods, both within and outside the laboratory, in an attempt to
understand human social interaction. Two widely cited experiments in social psychology
experiment are the Stanford prison experiment conducted by Philip Zimbardo in 1971
and the Milgram obedience experiment by Stanley Milgram.

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