EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

a method of studying psychological problems; the term generally connotes all areas of psychology that use the experimental method. The experimental method in psychology is an attempt to account for the activities of animals (including humans) and the functional organization of their mental processes by manipulating variables that may give rise to behaviour; it is primarily concerned with discovering laws that describe manipulable relationships. The areas of study in psychology that lean heavily on the experimental method include those of sensation and perception, learning and memory, motivation, and physiological psychology. There are experimental branches in most areas, however, including child psychology, clinical psychology, educational psychology, social psychology, and even parapsychology. Usually the experimental psychologist deals with normal, intact organisms; but in physiological psychology, studies are often conducted with organisms modified by surgery, radiation, drug treatment, or long-standing deprivations of various kinds; or with organisms who naturally present organic abnormalities or emotional disorders. See also physiological psychology; psychophysics.