Sometimes in psychology experiments, groups of participants are required to take the same test more than once. In some cases, performance can change from the first instance of testing and the next simply due to repeating the activity. Definition: A practice effect is any change that results merely from the repetition of a task. What…
Psychologist Muzafer Sherif suggested that conflict between groups was the result of competition for limited resources. To put this theory to the test, he conducted a series of experiments that are today referred to as the Robbers Cave Experiment. In this article, learn more about what happened in the Robbers Cave Experiment and the conclusions…
In psychology, a single-blind study is a type of experiment or clinical trial in which the experimenters are aware of which subjects are receiving the treatment or independent variable, but the participants of the study are not. A study in which both the experimenters and participants are unaware of who is receiving the independent variable and…
A factorial design is a type of experiment that involves manipulating two or more variables. While simple psychology experiments look at how one independent variable affects one dependent variable, researchers often want to know more about the effects of multiple independent variables. How a Factorial Design Works Let’s take a closer look at how a…
An extraneous variable is anything in a psychology experiment other than the independent and dependent variables. The variables can present challenges and introduce errors, so it is important for experiments to control these extraneous factors. Researchers accomplish this by holding the extraneous variables constant across all conditions of the experiment. In this article, learn more about…
