Chapter 2: Questions, Patterns, and Explanations, Not Hypothesis Testing, Is The Core of Psychology as of Any Science

Experimental psychology in general and cognitive experimental psychology in particular can be said to have begun in the late 19^th century with the works of, among others, Hermann Ebbinghaus, Gustav T. Fechner and Edward L. Thorndike, so it is now a century and half old. There has been progress. The research articles of today do a better job of developing the rationale and the background for the studies reported, the hypotheses being investigated are typically stated more stringently, research reports are more disciplined in format, and researchers employ more sophisticated statistical techniques than a century ago. Experimental psychology articles published in major journals look like products of a highly successful, rigorous and well-organized scientific enterprise.