Branches of Psychology

Experimental Psychology

Human Experimental Psychology

Experimental psychology is the work done by those who apply experimental methods to the study of psychology and its underlying processes. It employs both human participants and animal subjects to study sensation, perception, memory, cognition, learning, motivation, emotion and other related topics through controlled experimentation.

Facts
Central Question
Experimental psychology asks how mental processes and behavior, in humans and animals, can be studied through controlled experimental methods, applying techniques such as manipulated variables, measurement and statistical analysis across topics from sensation to social behavior. 1
Key Debate
Critical psychologists associated with the Frankfurt School argue that experimental psychology treats humans as entities independent of the cultural, economic and historical context in which they actually exist, producing what they see as an inaccurate portrait of human nature. 1
Level of Analysis
Brain 1
Method
Experiment 1
Connections

Associated With

Wilhelm Wundt, Psychologists

Founded the first formal psychology laboratory, generally credited as the founder of experimental psychology.

Includes

Source Albert Michotte (Wikipedia)
Source Alexius Meinong (Wikipedia)
Source Alfred Binet (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Frederic Bartlett
Source Berlin School of experimental psychology (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Body transfer illusion
Source Carl Stumpf (Wikipedia)
Source Charles Samuel Myers (Wikipedia)
Source Daniel Simons (Wikipedia)
Source Edward Wheeler Scripture (Wikipedia)
Source Edwin Boring (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Observer-Expectancy Effect
Source Wikipedia: External Inhibition
Source Wikipedia: Eyeblink Conditioning
Source Geoffrey Loftus (Wikipedia)
Source Georg Elias Müller (Wikipedia)
Source George Trumbull Ladd (Wikipedia)
Source Georgy Chelpanov (Wikipedia)
Source Gerard Heymans (Wikipedia)
Source Graz School (Wikipedia)
Source Heuristic (psychology) - Wikipedia
Source Ironic process theory - Wikipedia
Source Ivan Sechenov (Wikipedia)
Source Joseph Jastrow (Wikipedia)
Source Julian Jaynes (Wikipedia)
Source Knight Dunlap (Wikipedia)
Source Kurt Koffka (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Loran Nordgren
Source Mamie Phipps Clark (Wikipedia)
Source Margaret Floy Washburn (Wikipedia)
Source Matatarō Matsumoto (Wikipedia)
Source Missing letter effect, Wikipedia
Source Modality Effect (Wikipedia)
Source Neal E. Miller (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Observer-Expectancy Effect
Source Oswald Külpe (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer
Source Stimulus control, Wikipedia
Source Raymond Dodge (Wikipedia)
Source Robert S. Woodworth (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Body transfer illusion
Source Steven Pinker (Wikipedia)
Source Stimulus control, Wikipedia
Source Stimulus control, Wikipedia
Source Théodule-Armand Ribot (Wikipedia)
Source Tsuruko Haraguchi (Wikipedia)
Source Walter Richard Miles (Wikipedia)
Source Zing-Yang Kuo (Wikipedia)

Related Branch

Source Experimental psychology

Related Branches

Source Wikipedia: Engineering psychology
Source History of psychology (Wikipedia)
Source Psychonomics, Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: Theoretical psychology
Sources
1. Experimental psychology
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section, opening sentence
    Experimental psychology is the work done by those who apply experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes.
  • Criticism, Frankfurt school section
    Critical psychologists claim that experimental psychology approaches humans as entities independent of the cultural, economic, and historical context in which they exist.
  • Lead
    the work done by those who apply experimental methods to psychological study
  • Article text
    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.
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Wikipedia: Body transfer illusion
  • Includes: Rubber Hand Illusion, Article categories: Experimental psychology
  • Includes: Body Transfer Illusion, Lead section
    Body transfer illusion is the illusion of owning either a part of a body or an entire body other than one's own, thus it is sometimes referred to as "body ownership" in the research literature.
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Wikipedia: Observer-Expectancy Effect
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Includes: Experimenter's Bias, Lead sentence
    The observer-expectancy effect is a form of reactivity in which a researcher's cognitive bias causes them to subconsciously influence the participants of an experiment.
  • Includes: Observer-Expectancy Effect, Lead sentence
    The observer-expectancy effect is a form of reactivity in which a researcher's cognitive bias causes them to subconsciously influence the participants of an experiment.
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Matatarō Matsumoto (Wikipedia)
Includes: Matataro Matsumoto, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Matataro Matsumoto, Lead sentence
Matatarō Matsumoto (松本 亦太郎, Matsumoto Matatarō; 1865-1943) was a Japanese psychologist who set up the first psychological laboratory in Japan.
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Wikipedia: Engineering psychology
Wikimedia FoundationRelated Branches: Engineering Psychology, Article text
Quote, Related Branches: Engineering Psychology, Article text
Engineering psychology was created from within experimental psychology.
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Wikipedia: Theoretical psychology
Wikimedia FoundationRelated Branches: Theoretical Psychology, Article text
Quote, Related Branches: Theoretical Psychology, Article text
Theoretical psychology existed long before any branches of traditional empirical and experimental psychology.
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History of psychology (Wikipedia)
Related Branches: History of Psychology, Article text
Quote, Related Branches: History of Psychology, Article text
Soon after the development of experimental psychology, various kinds of applied psychology appeared.
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Psychonomics, Wikipedia
Related Branches: Psychonomics, Article text
Quote, Related Branches: Psychonomics, Article text
The field is directly related to experimental psychology.
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Margaret Floy Washburn (Wikipedia)
Includes: Margaret Floy Washburn, Lead
Quote, Includes: Margaret Floy Washburn, Lead
She was best known for her experimental work in animal behavior and motor theory development.
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Daniel Simons (Wikipedia)
Includes: Daniel Simons, Lead
Quote, Includes: Daniel Simons, Lead
is an experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist
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Alexius Meinong (Wikipedia)
Includes: Alexius Meinong, Life
Quote, Includes: Alexius Meinong, Life
he founded the Graz Psychological Institute (Grazer Psychologische Institut; founded in 1894) and the Graz School of experimental psychology
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Carl Stumpf (Wikipedia)
Includes: Carl Stumpf, Lead
Quote, Includes: Carl Stumpf, Lead
He is noted for founding the Berlin School of experimental psychology.
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Oswald Külpe (Wikipedia)
Includes: Oswald Külpe, Lead, experimental psychology
Quote, Includes: Oswald Külpe, Lead, experimental psychology
revolutionized experimental psychology at his time
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Joseph Jastrow (Wikipedia)
Includes: Joseph Jastrow, Lead, branch
Quote, Includes: Joseph Jastrow, Lead, branch
contributed to experimental psychology
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Berlin School of experimental psychology (Wikipedia)
Includes: Berlin School of experimental psychology, Lead, name of the school
Quote, Includes: Berlin School of experimental psychology, Lead, name of the school
The Berlin School of Experimental Psychology was founded by Carl Stumpf
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Graz School (Wikipedia)
Includes: Graz School, Lead, name of the school
Quote, Includes: Graz School, Lead, name of the school
of experimental psychology and object theory was headed by Alexius Meinong
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Edwin Boring (Wikipedia)
Includes: Edwin Boring, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Edwin Boring, Lead sentence
was an American experimental psychologist
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Théodule-Armand Ribot (Wikipedia)
Includes: Théodule-Armand Ribot, Biography
Quote, Includes: Théodule-Armand Ribot, Biography
In 1885 he gave a course of lectures on experimental psychology at the Sorbonne, and in 1888 was appointed professor of that subject at the College of France.
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Alfred Binet (Wikipedia)
Includes: Alfred Binet, Biography, Education and early career
Quote, Includes: Alfred Binet, Biography, Education and early career
Laboratory of Experimental Psychology at the Sorbonne
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Kurt Koffka (Wikipedia)
Includes: Kurt Koffka, Lead
Quote, Includes: Kurt Koffka, Lead
developmental psychology, and experimental psychology
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Robert S. Woodworth (Wikipedia)
Includes: Robert S. Woodworth, Lead
Quote, Includes: Robert S. Woodworth, Lead
His 1938 textbook of experimental psychology was scarcely less influential
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George Trumbull Ladd (Wikipedia)
Includes: George Trumbull Ladd, Career
Quote, Includes: George Trumbull Ladd, Career
one of the first to introduce (1879) the study of experimental psychology into America
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Edward Wheeler Scripture (Wikipedia)
Includes: Edward Wheeler Scripture, Biography, Yale laboratory
Quote, Includes: Edward Wheeler Scripture, Biography, Yale laboratory
He established an experimental psychology laboratory at Yale University
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Geoffrey Loftus (Wikipedia)
Includes: Geoffrey Loftus, Lead
Quote, Includes: Geoffrey Loftus, Lead
a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Stanford University in 1971
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Charles Samuel Myers (Wikipedia)
Includes: Charles Samuel Myers, Biography, early career
Quote, Includes: Charles Samuel Myers, Biography, early career
Myers became the first lecturer at Cambridge University whose whole duty was to teach experimental psychology
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Knight Dunlap (Wikipedia)
Includes: Knight Dunlap, Lead
Quote, Includes: Knight Dunlap, Lead
His concentration was in experimental psychology
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Gerard Heymans (Wikipedia)
Includes: Gerardus Heymans, Lead
Quote, Includes: Gerardus Heymans, Lead
The establishment of his psychological laboratory marked the start of experimental psychology in the Netherlands
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Tsuruko Haraguchi (Wikipedia)
Includes: Tsuruko Haraguchi, Studies at Columbia University
Quote, Includes: Tsuruko Haraguchi, Studies at Columbia University
She focused on experimental psychology and pedagogy
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Georg Elias Müller (Wikipedia)
Includes: Georg Elias Müller, Lead
Quote, Includes: Georg Elias Müller, Lead
was a significant early German experimental psychologist
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Albert Michotte (Wikipedia)
Includes: Albert Michotte, Lead
Quote, Includes: Albert Michotte, Lead
was a Belgian experimental psychologist
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Raymond Dodge (Wikipedia)
Includes: Raymond Dodge, Lead
Quote, Includes: Raymond Dodge, Lead
was an American experimental psychologist who studied the movements of the eye
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Georgy Chelpanov (Wikipedia)
Includes: Georgy Chelpanov, Views
Quote, Includes: Georgy Chelpanov, Views
Conducted experiments on the perception of space and time, developed methods of laboratory research
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Ivan Sechenov (Wikipedia)
Includes: Ivan Sechenov, Lead, objective psychology
Quote, Includes: Ivan Sechenov, Lead, objective psychology
through his attempts to introduce objective experimental methods to the wider field of Russian psychology
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Walter Richard Miles (Wikipedia)
Includes: Walter Richard Miles, Career, Stanford
Quote, Includes: Walter Richard Miles, Career, Stanford
helping to integrate Muybridge's visual experiments into formal experimental psychology
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Julian Jaynes (Wikipedia)
Includes: Julian Jaynes, Academic career
Quote, Includes: Julian Jaynes, Academic career
making significant contributions in the fields of experimental psychology, learning, and ethology
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Wikipedia: Loran Nordgren
Includes: Loran Nordgren, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Loran Nordgren, Lead section
In 2009, he was a social and experimental psychologist and assistant professor at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management.
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Wikipedia: Frederic Bartlett
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Bartlett's War of the Ghosts Experiment, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Bartlett's War of the Ghosts Experiment, Lead section
Sir Frederic Charles Bartlett FRS (20 October 1886 - 30 September 1969) was a British psychologist and the first professor of experimental psychology at the University of Cambridge.
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Heuristic (psychology) - Wikipedia
Includes: Heuristic (Psychology), Lead section
Quote, Includes: Heuristic (Psychology), Lead section
Heuristics (from Ancient Greek εὑρίσκω (heurískō) 'to find, discover') is the process by which humans use mental shortcuts to arrive at decisions.
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Missing letter effect, Wikipedia
Includes: Missing Letter Effect, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Missing Letter Effect, Lead section
In cognitive psychology, the missing letter effect refers to the finding that, when people are asked to consciously detect target letters while reading text, they miss more letters in frequent function words (e.g. the letter "h" in "the") than in less frequent, content words.
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Stimulus control, Wikipedia
  • Includes: Peak Shift Effect, Lead section
    In behavioral psychology, stimulus control is a phenomenon in operant conditioning that occurs when an organism behaves in one way in the presence of a given stimulus and another way in its absence.
  • Includes: Stimulus Control, Lead section
    In behavioral psychology, stimulus control is a phenomenon in operant conditioning that occurs when an organism behaves in one way in the presence of a given stimulus and another way in its absence.
  • Includes: Stimulus Generalization, Lead section
    In behavioral psychology, stimulus control is a phenomenon in operant conditioning that occurs when an organism behaves in one way in the presence of a given stimulus and another way in its absence.
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Wikipedia: Eyeblink Conditioning
WikipediaIncludes: Eyeblink Conditioning, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Eyeblink Conditioning, Lead section
Eyeblink conditioning (EBC) is a form of classical conditioning that has been used extensively to study neural structures and mechanisms that underlie learning and memory.
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Steven Pinker (Wikipedia)
Includes: Steven Pinker, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Steven Pinker, Lead section
Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a Canadian cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual.
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Wikipedia: External Inhibition
WikipediaIncludes: External Inhibition, Lead section
Quote, Includes: External Inhibition, Lead section
External inhibition is the observed decrease of the response of a conditioned reaction when an external (distracting) stimulus that was not part of the original conditioned response set is introduced.
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Wikipedia: Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer
WikipediaIncludes: Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer, Lead section
Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT) is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when a conditioned stimulus (CS, also known as a "cue") that has been associated with rewarding or aversive stimuli via classical conditioning alters motivational salience and operant behavior.
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Modality Effect (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Modality Effect, Lead
Quote, Includes: Modality Effect, Lead
The modality effect is a term used in experimental psychology, most often in the fields dealing with memory and learning, to refer to how learner performance depends on the presentation mode of studied items.
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Mamie Phipps Clark (Wikipedia)
Includes: Mamie Phipps Clark, Article text
Quote, Includes: Mamie Phipps Clark, Article text
Clark was the first Black woman to earn her Ph.D. in experimental psychology, which she did in 1943.
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Neal E. Miller (Wikipedia)
Includes: Neal E. Miller, Lead
Quote, Includes: Neal E. Miller, Lead
Neal Elgar Miller (August 3, 1909, March 23, 2002) was an American experimental psychologist.
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Ironic process theory - Wikipedia
Includes: Ironic Process Theory, Lead
Quote, Includes: Ironic Process Theory, Lead
The phenomenon was identified through thought suppression studies in experimental psychology.
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Zing-Yang Kuo (Wikipedia)
Includes: Zing-Yang Kuo, Lead
Quote, Includes: Zing-Yang Kuo, Lead
Kuo; simplified Chinese: 郭任远; traditional Chinese: 郭任遠; pinyin: Guō Rènyuǎn; Jyutping: Kuo Yam6 Yun5; 1898-1970) was a Chinese experimental and physiological psychologist.
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