Experimental Psychology

Focusing on the various aspects of human behaviour, the book introduces the nature and theories of sensation, perception, learning, memory, psychophysics and other areas involved in psychology. It also highlights the importance of cognitive processes such as thinking, reasoning and problem-solving. Besides, the book provides essential knowledge and skills for using statistical tools in organising and computing research data. Designed in an easy-to-understand and illustrative manner, this book is primarily aimed at undergraduate students of psychology. The text will also prove useful to all those students who have been introduced with this subject for the first time.

Programming is an important part of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience, and Python is an ideal language for novices. It sports a very readable syntax, intuitive variable management, and a very large body of functionality that ranges from simple arithmetic to complex computing. Python for Experimental Psychologists provides researchers without prior programming experience with the knowledge they need to independently script experiments and analyses in Python. The skills it offers include: how to display stimuli on a computer screen; how to get input from peripherals (e.g. keyboard, mouse) and specialised equipment (e.g. eye trackers); how to log data; and how to control timing. In addition, it shows readers the basic principles of data analysis applied to behavioural data, and the more advanced techniques required to analyse trace data (e.g. pupil size) and gaze data. Written informally and accessibly, the book deliberately focuses on the parts of Python that are relevant to experimental psychologists and cognitive neuroscientists. It is also supported by a companion website where you will find colour versions of the figures, along with example stimuli, datasets and scripts, and a portable Windows installation of Python.

Originally published in 1962, the experimental study of aesthetics was a field particularly associated with the name of C.W. Valentine, who in this book provided a critical review of research carried out since the end of the nineteenth century principally by British and American psychologists. The investigations described, many of them conducted by the author, are concerned with individual responses to what is commonly regarded as beautiful in painting, music, and poetry, an important distinction being made between the perception of objects as ‘beautiful’ as opposed to ‘pleasing’. The reactions of children and adults, and of people having different ethnic and social backgrounds, are explored in a variety of experiments dealing with specific elements, including colour, form, and balance in painting; musical intervals, discord, harmony, melody, and tempo; and rhythm, metre, imagery, and associations in classical and romantic poetry. Other experiments seek to disclose the temperamental and attitudinal factors underlying individual differences in the judgement and appreciation of specific works of art. Of particular interest are the studies of responses to modern paintings, poems and musical compositions. The findings throw light on the development of discrimination and taste and suggest the possibility of some common factor in the appreciation of these three arts. It was felt that critics as well as psychologists and aestheticians would find much to encourage reflection and to stimulate further research.

"Both those who believe that psychoanalysis is to become the core of an all-embracing psychology and those who expect to find its position within the rest of psychology will welcome this volume. The first will find in it much with which an all-embracing psychology has to cope, the latter an orientation about the remote and recent past of the scientific neighbours among whom it will have to find a place." "Boring's volume is not just a history of experimental psychology, but also of its matrix--general psychology." -- Book Jacket.