Psychological Experiments
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Psychological Experiments
Why do psychologists do experiments? Psychology is very hard to define due to
it's very nature and the wide range of topics that it covers. No two books will
give exactly the same definition of 'psychology' or what subject matter it
covers. However most definitions would suggest psychology to be the 'scientific
study of behaviour and mental processes.' An astonishing variety of topics is
covered under this definition for example topics can range from 'obesity' to
'living with a divided brain', from 'expression of aggression' to 'childhood
amnesia'. No one today can afford not to know psychology as it touches every
aspect of life. For example: How does the way your parents raised you affect the
way you raise your kids? What effect does stress have on your immune system? How
effective is psychotherapy when treating depression? How should instruments in a
nuclear power station be designed to minimise human error? Can men care for
infants as ably as women? Psychologists work on these and many more questions
which need to be answered as through psychological theories and research we can
learn to better understand ourselves, what motivates us and how to handle
situations in a better way although each situation and the individuals involved
in it are unique, some things could be applied to real life. For example parents
may learn that reward is better than punishment when handling their kids. Also
such theories and research have and will continue to influence laws concerning a
number of areas such as capital punishment, pornography, sexual behaviour (for
example sexual deviancy) However as most questions like the ones mentioned above
relate to the 'psyche' (a totality of inner experience lacking in spatial
dimensions) the problem is: How do external observers investigate someone else's
psyche systematically if they cannot understand it with their senses?
Behaviourism, a movement in psychology, maintains 'we cannot study the psyche at
all because its immateriality renders it inaccessible to measurement.' This is
where experimentation comes in. An experiment is a 'method of investigation in
which the researcher manipulates the situation in order to bring about a change
in the research participant's behaviour.' Behaviourists, use cause-effect
methodology to measure the directly observable: the environment and behaviour as
this is essentially the only way one can get an insight in to the answer of any
of the above questions. However many psy...
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