Experience Psychology! A Laboratory Guide to Psychological Science (2 Revised edition)

The first laboratory textbook for Introductory Psychology!

Isn't it about time Psychology joins the other sciences and gives students laboratory research experience at the introductory level?Experience Psychology! offers a personally meaningful context for introductory students to explore the philosophy and practice of science and build scientific reasoning skills like research design, data collection, data handling, and null hypothesis testing, without expensive equipment and without assuming any background knowledge in core scientific principles. The 2nd edition combines over a decade of "Intro Psych Lab" teaching experience into eight modules covering basic concepts in 1) the philosophy of science and exploratory research; 2) descriptive research, conceptual variables and operational definitions; 3) summarizing descriptive data and generating hypotheses; 4) correlational research and probabilistic testing of relationships; 5) experimental design and testing causal relationships; 6) quasi-experimental research; 7) experimental designs that increase power; and 8) the interpretation and communication of scientific ideas.

Every module includes multiple options for laboratory research experiences that directly apply those concepts, with objectives, descriptions, procedures, and lab record worksheets. The overarching design principle is flexibility. Any number of modules may be covered, and in any order.

When necessary, content that builds on other modules is clearly cross-referenced and indexed.

Tabbed glossaries with comprehensive definitions and multiple examples make it easy for students to quickly catch up on (or review) the meaning of terms from other modules. With a direct, engaging writing style, this book introduces the concepts behind quantitative psychology and probabilistic reasoning with only conceptual references to mathematical formulae.

One goal is to better prepare psychology majors for future courses in statistics and research design, but students of all majors who take psychology as a core science course should leave with a high level of scientific reasoning skills, on par with or exceeding the best introductory science courses in other disciplines.