Contents
Experimental psychology is a field of psychology that structures knowledge related to research problems (in various psychological directions) and ways to solve them. Experimental psychology is called a scientific discipline about the methods of psychological research.
Overview
Experimental psychology began to actively take shape in the XNUMXth century as a consequence of the need to bring psychology to meet the basic requirements for science. It is believed that any science should have its own subject of study, its own methodology and its own terminology. The original task of experimental psychology was to introduce the scientific method into psychology. The founder of experimental psychology, the man who turned pre-experimental psychology into experimental psychology, is W. Wundt, a German psychologist and physiologist who created the world’s first scientific psychological school.
As it developed, experimental psychology expanded its area of interest: starting with the development of the principles of a psychophysiological experiment, from instructions for the correct setting of a psychological experiment, it turned into a scientific discipline that seeks to generalize knowledge about research methods for all areas of psychology (the experiment becomes only one of the available methods). Of course, experimental psychology is not concerned only with the classification of research methods, it studies their effectiveness and develops them.
Today, this scientific discipline has managed to reach a significant level of development, but the process of its formation is far from complete: there is still no developed view in psychology on the role and possibilities of experiment in scientific research, which could claim to be generally accepted.
The list of prominent scientists who actively used experimental methods in the study of mental processes and contributed to the development of this scientific discipline includes the names of physiologists (Binet, Pavlov, Sechenov), physicists (Bouger, Weber, Fechner, Helmholtz), doctors (Bekhterev). As natural scientists, they had a significant impact on the development of the approach to psychological science, largely transferring their research experience from other scientific fields to it. Behaviorists also greatly influenced the formation of experimental psychology, which determines the specifics of many of its aspects. A distinctive feature of experimental psychology in all periods of its development can be considered the widespread use of mathematical methods. F. Galton is considered responsible for the introduction of mathematics into psychology.
Now experimental psychology is considered in practice as a discipline responsible for setting up correct experiments in many areas of applied psychology, for example, to determine the appropriateness and effectiveness of a change or innovation (for example, in labor psychology). Great successes in the use of its methods have been achieved in the study of psychophysiology and the psychology of sensations and perception. However, the achievements of experimental psychology in promoting fundamental psychology are currently less significant and are in question. The limits of applicability of experimental methods in psychology are a subject of discussion among psychologists to this day.
Main principles of methodology
The methodology of experimental psychology is based on the following principles:
1. General scientific methodological principles:
- The principle of determinism. Experimental psychology proceeds from the fact that human behavior and mental phenomena are the result of any causes, that is, they are fundamentally explicable.
- The principle of objectivity. Experimental psychology considers that the object of cognition is independent of the cognizing subject; the object is fundamentally cognizable through action.
- The principle of falsifiability is the requirement proposed by K. Popper to have a methodological possibility of refuting a theory that claims to be scientific by staging one or another fundamentally possible real experiment.
2. Psychology-specific principles:
- The principle of unity of the physiological and mental. The nervous system ensures the emergence and flow of mental processes, but the reduction of mental phenomena to physiological processes is impossible.
- The principle of unity of consciousness and activity. Consciousness is active, and activity is conscious. An experimental psychologist studies the behavior that is formed in the close interaction of the individual with the situation. Expressed by the following function: R=f(P,S), where R is behavior, P is personality, and S is situation.
- development principle. Also known as the historicism principle and the genetic principle. According to this principle, the subject’s psyche is the result of a long development in phylogenesis and ontogenesis.
- System-structural principle. Any mental phenomena should be considered as integral processes. (The impact is always made on the psyche as a whole, and not on some isolated part of it.)
Major developments in creation
- XVI century — the first information about psychological experiments.
- The XNUMXth century is the beginning of the systematic setting up of psychological experiments with a scientific goal (for the most part, experiments with elementary visual sensations).
- 1860 — publication of G. T. Fechner’s book «Elements of Psychophysics», which founded psychophysics and is considered the first work on experimental psychology.
- 1874 — publication of W. Wundt’s book «Physiological Psychology».
- 1879 — the foundation of Wundt’s psychological laboratory, in which the first scientific psychological school was created.
- 1885 — publication of the work of G. Ebbinghaus «On Memory», in which the author comes to understand the task of experimental psychology as the establishment of a functional relationship between certain phenomena and certain factors by solving any problems.
Basic Concepts
- test subject
- Validity
- Sample
- Hypothesis
- Psychological experiment
- Flawless Experiment
- Psychometry
- Psychophysics
Research methods in psychology
The classification given here is based on the classification of B. G. Ananiev, who combined in it all the stages of psychological research, from organizational to interpretation. [Ananiev’s classification is given here with some changes.]
1. Organizational group:
- Comparative method
- Longitudinal method
- Complex method (use of both comparative and longitudinal methods in combination)
2. A group of empirical methods for obtaining data (depending on the chosen organizational method):
- Observation and self-observation (introspection)
- Experimental Methods
— Laboratory experiment
— Natural experiment
— Formative, or psychological and pedagogical experiment
3. Psychodiagnostic methods
- Sociometry
- Standardized and projective test methods
— Luscher test
— graphology
4. Verbal-communicative methods
- Conversation method
- Interview
- Clinical interview
- Polling method
- Questionnaires and Questionnaires
- personality tests
5. Methods for the analysis of processes and waste products (or praximetric methods)
- Timing
- Cyclography
- Professiography
- Modeling method
- biographical method
6. All methods and techniques for processing empirical data:
- Methods of mathematical statistics
- Methods for the qualitative characteristics of the obtained material
7. Interpretive methods
- Genetic method (developmental phase analysis)
- Structural method (analysis of systems and types of intersystem connections)
- Psychography
Criticism of experimental psychology
Since the very creation of experimental psychology, there have been discussions about the applicability of such a research method as experiment in psychology. There are two polar points of view:
in psychology, the use of experiment is fundamentally impossible and unacceptable;
psychology as a science without experiment is untenable.
The first point of view — about the impossibility of applying the experiment — is based on the following provisions:
The subject of research in psychology is too complicated.
The subject of research in psychology is too unstable, which leads to the impossibility of observing the principle of verification.
In a psychological experiment, the subject-subject interaction (subject-experimenter) is inevitable, which violates the scientific purity of the results.
The individual psyche is absolutely unique, which makes psychological measurement and experiment meaningless (it is impossible to generalize the obtained data to all individuals).
The psyche has an inherent property of spontaneity, which makes it difficult to predict.
And etc.
Opponents of experimental methods are many adherents of the hermeneutic approach in psychology, based on the method of understanding by W. Dilthey.
Supporters of the second point of view, which justifies the expediency of introducing an experiment into science, argue that an experiment makes it possible to discover the principle underlying a phenomenon. The experiment is seen as an attempt at laboratory reconstruction of a simplified reality in which its important characteristics can be modeled and controlled. The purpose of the experiment is to evaluate the theoretical principles underlying the psychological phenomenon.
There is also a point of view that can be taken as a compromise between the two mentioned above — the idea of levels of mental organization. According to it, there are six levels of mental regulation (0 — physiological level, 1 — psychophysiological level, 2 — the level of sensory-perceptual processes, 3 — the integrative level of the psyche, 4 — the level of personality, 5 — the level of individuality). The power of the natural-scientific method is highest when considering physiological processes, and gradually decreases, tending to zero at the level of the individual. Accordingly, the power of the hermeneutic method rises from zero at the physiological level to its maximum at the individual level. This is shown in the diagram as follows:
Research objectives in psychology
Four common interrelated tasks facing scientific research: describe behavior, predict behavior, explain behavior, control behavior.
Behavior Description
Identification of regular sequences of events, including stimuli or external factors and responses or behaviors. Composing clear and precise descriptions is the first step in any scientific research, without which it is impossible to predict and explain behavior.
Behavior prediction
The discovery of the laws of behavior (the presence of constant and predictable relationships between variables) should lead to the implementation of forecasting with varying degrees of probability.
Explanation of behavior
Finding the causes of the behavior in question. The process of establishing causal relationships is complex and involves many aspects.
Behavior Management
Application in practice of the laws of behavior discovered in the input of psychological research.
Ethical Issues in Psychological Research
When working with a subject, it is necessary to observe the ethics of psychological research. In most cases, you need:
Obtain the consent of the potential subject, explaining to him the purpose and objectives of the study, his role in the experiment to the extent that he was able to make a responsible decision about his participation.
Protect the subject from harm and discomfort.
Take care of the confidentiality of information about the subjects.
Fully explain the meaning and results of the study after the end of the work.
When working with animals:
It is forbidden to harm and cause suffering to an animal, if it is not caused by the objectives of the research, determined by the approved program.
It is necessary to provide sufficiently comfortable conditions of detention.
Based on materials: Zarochentsev K. D., Khudyakov A. I. Experimental psychology: textbook. — M .: Publishing House Prospekt, 2005. S. 30