Lesha Szulimowski
F2025231
'Discuss the contribution of psychological research conducted in the laboratory to our understanding of how humans behave and respond in the real world, drawing on examples from Chapters 2, 4 and 9 of Investigating Psychology.'
In the world of psychology, it's questionable as to how accurate research conducted in the laboratory can be to our understanding of how humans behave in the real world. The brain is the most complex organ in the human body and with it comes a multiplex of emotions and behaviour which makes it difficult to interpret. This essay will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of famous psychological studies by Milgram, Skinner and Loftus and Palmer which were all conducted in the laboratory …show more content…
Despite this, the most frequent issue is the lack of reality that can be fabricated in the laboratory, when making connections to everyday situations, the problem as to how different both situations are. In Milgram's original study it was questionable as to how generalisable the findings were since all participants were men, but for the original purpose of the study, the findings were applicable to make successful comparisons to the Nazi soldiers of World War Two. Similarly, the behaviour displayed shows that despite continuing to administer shocks, it was due to the immense pressure to continue and was, therefore, obedience and not a free choice. In the same manner the Loftus and Palmer experiment found that our memories can be prone to suggestion and has influenced courtroom practices and police questioning, leading questions are allowed in the courtroom but under 'The Youth Justice and Criminal Act of 1999' which has recognised that some witnesses especially children are more vulnerable to memory distortion (Pike and Brace, 2012). In my opinion, the laboratory fails to capture the complexities of the real life world as all three studies mentioned lacked ecological validity as they were simplified to enable behaviour to be monitored. The artificiality makes it complicated when referring to real world behaviour but does provide us with a great foundation for further
F2025231
'Discuss the contribution of psychological research conducted in the laboratory to our understanding of how humans behave and respond in the real world, drawing on examples from Chapters 2, 4 and 9 of Investigating Psychology.'
In the world of psychology, it's questionable as to how accurate research conducted in the laboratory can be to our understanding of how humans behave in the real world. The brain is the most complex organ in the human body and with it comes a multiplex of emotions and behaviour which makes it difficult to interpret. This essay will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of famous psychological studies by Milgram, Skinner and Loftus and Palmer which were all conducted in the laboratory …show more content…
Despite this, the most frequent issue is the lack of reality that can be fabricated in the laboratory, when making connections to everyday situations, the problem as to how different both situations are. In Milgram's original study it was questionable as to how generalisable the findings were since all participants were men, but for the original purpose of the study, the findings were applicable to make successful comparisons to the Nazi soldiers of World War Two. Similarly, the behaviour displayed shows that despite continuing to administer shocks, it was due to the immense pressure to continue and was, therefore, obedience and not a free choice. In the same manner the Loftus and Palmer experiment found that our memories can be prone to suggestion and has influenced courtroom practices and police questioning, leading questions are allowed in the courtroom but under 'The Youth Justice and Criminal Act of 1999' which has recognised that some witnesses especially children are more vulnerable to memory distortion (Pike and Brace, 2012). In my opinion, the laboratory fails to capture the complexities of the real life world as all three studies mentioned lacked ecological validity as they were simplified to enable behaviour to be monitored. The artificiality makes it complicated when referring to real world behaviour but does provide us with a great foundation for further