Trace the progress of psychology as a science. Several experimental studies led to significant shifts in our thinking of the mind and behavior. We can only know that the experiment produced a significant shift if it occurred at some point in the past and the results of the shift are evident. Although we can trace the roots of psychology to the philosophers of ancient Greece, we are marking the beginning of psychology with William James in 1890 or so. Choosing an experiment done by Aristotle will make it difficult to find precursors. Choosing an experiment from this month’s Science issue is unlikely to have significant consequences – yet (note the use of growth mindset here). For the purposes of this assignment, we’re looking for something in the middle.
The first step in the assignment is to choose a psychology experiment that you feel made a significant contribution to the field. When composing your essay be sure to include why you chose the experiment, why you think it is important, and how it shaped the history of psychology. The article you choose must be a description of experimental research. Do not choose a review article, opinion piece, summary of a researcher’s life’s work, or a meta-analysis. You will be putting this experiment into an historical perspective, which means that you will search for precursors to the experiment and consequences of the experiment. Get a copy of the ORIGINAL research article and read it thoroughly. Historical sources may not be available online from the library. This may require requesting a study from Beach Reach, which can take a few days so that a PDF can be emailed to you. Do not use a secondary source such as Wikipedia, Simply Psychology or Verywellmind. In this essay, you will be asked to describe the importance of the study and why you chose it for this assignment. Describe the methods of the study and explain how they contributed to the study. Describe the results and why they changed the direction of psychology.
The second step in the assignment is to find the research that led to the experiment. Reaching back into what you learned in your Research Methods class, this should be in the introduction to the article. The complete citation should be at the end of the article. In some cases, this may require reading two or three studies to find the research that led to your favorite study. What did these early studies find? What is the historical background that led to this study? How did the favorite experiment differ or evolve from the historical background provided here?
The third step is to describe at least three studies that followed from your favorite choice. There are several ways to find studies that have cited your favorite. In some cases, studies may be cited due to the use of specific technique or as a passing reference. These are not the studies that you are looking for. They are a Jedi mind trick. Find three studies that cite the favorite study as something that led to the follow-up research. These will list the favorite study in the introduction and refer to the importance of the study in the development of the research project. In some cases, one of the follow up studies may be a direct replication of the favorite study.
The fourth step is to explain the impact of the study on the field. The foundation of this assignment is that psychology is a science and is based on the accumulation of evidence that support theories. You may or may not agree with this assessment. However, the assignment requires that you take this position. An accumulation of anecdotes or single subject studies do not qualify as research (I’m talking about you, Sigmund). How was scientific method used in this study? Did it impact the theory-data cycle in an important way? How did the researchers develop testable hypotheses? Were the results expected? Finally, explain why you chose this study and how it influenced your thinking about psychology.
Sample Solution