Experimental Psychology Study of Emotions

Experimental psychology is an approach that sheds light on people’s lives, their emotions, and other theoretical questions. Research is the cornerstone of experimental psychology. Combining science with research contributes to large findings.

Though difficult to exactly pinpoint when the idea of experimental psychology was conceived, it was in1830s when Gustav Fechner through his work made a breakthrough in this field. He showed that our cerebrum reacts powerfully to the material world instead of reacting latently to an improvement. He demonstrated this by showing that expanding the force of an upgrade doesn’t modify the impression of the improvement.Later on, a proper lab for performing these experiments was set-up by Wilhem Wundt, who is known as the “Father of experimental psychology”.

The major components of experimental psychology are-

Empiricism- rather than based on completely theoretical reasoning, it is based on observations made from data. The observations can support or refute a theory.

Falsifiability- this concept was developed by Karl Popper. He postulated that for any theory to be scientific, the theory must be questionable and can be disproved.

Determinism- in terms of mental state, it refers to the brain’s activity in response to a stimulus and the prediction of these responses.

Normally experimental psychology deals with living humans, sometimes studies are conducted on modified organisms. Modification can be done by surgery, radiation, drug treatment, etc.

Different methods used for measuring values in psychological experiments include- nominal, ordinal, ratio, and interval measurement.