Laboratory Based Experiments

Paper Summary:

The paper gives a brief outline of the philosophical roots of inquiry into the human mind and the shift to 'scientifically valid' experimentation advocated by enlightenment scholars such as Descartes. The paper explores whether the conditions in laboratory experiments are artificial and, if so, does this affect the validity of results when applied to real world conditions.

From the Paper:

"As the study of the human mind shifted its focus from philosophical introspection to scientific inquiry problems of "confounding variables" arose contaminating certain aspects of psychological experiments. This led researchers to a shift the experiments into the laboratory, resulting in increasingly artificial and controlled conditions. Problems encountered when applying results from the laboratory to "real world" conditions are valid concerns that require consideration. In this essay I will give a brief outline of the history of the shift to laboratory-based experiments in psychology, examine the reasoning behind the increasingly controlled experimental conditions, discuss whether these conditions limit generalisability and consider the value of such experiments in defining aspects of human behavior in "real world" conditions."

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