Experimental psychology

Experimental psychology refers to work done by those who apply experimental methods to psychological study and the processes that underlie it. Experimental psychologists employ human participants and animal subjects to study a great many topics, including (among others) sensation & perception, memory, cognition, learning, motivation, emotion; developmental processes, social psychology, and the neural substrates of all of these.

History

The term experimental psychology dates back to the translation of Wilhelm Wundt's lectures, but the discipline itself is generally considered to have begun in 1879, when Wundt opened the first laboratory specifically dedicated to psychological research in Leipzig, Germany. Other important early contributors to the field include Hermann Ebbinghaus (a pioneer in studies on memory), Ivan Pavlov (who discovered classical conditioning), William James, and Sigmund Freud. Freud, indeed, is not considered an experimental psychologist, because his methods did not involve the rigorous experimental techniques that are used today (and were used then).

Methods

Experimental psychologists have devised a variety of ways to indirectly measure these elusive phenomenological entities. One direct way to measure mental activity is through Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which has been used to measure lying, love, and pain. While these methods are by no means perfect and are often disputed in their efficacy, they have nonetheless led to important discoveries about the workings of the human mind and brain.

Fields

Experimental psychology is an umbrella term for a variety of different fields. These include cognitive psychology, comparative psychology, developmental psychology, and personality psychology, among others. Each of these fields uses experimental methods to study the mind and behavior.

See also

• Cognitive psychology
• Comparative psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Personality psychology
• Social psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Neuropsychology
• Psychophysics

References

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  Wilhelm Wundt, the father of experimental psychology

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  Charles Bell, known for his work on the nervous system

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  Charles Sanders Peirce, philosopher and logician

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  Joseph Jastrow, psychologist and pioneer in experimental psychology

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  Ivan Pavlov, known for his work on classical conditioning