Evaluation of the experimental method in psychology

There is no doubt that the experimental method is a powerful empirical strategy. Unlike the other approaches considered, the experimental method allows researchers not only to control and predict certain phenomena, but also to give them an explanation. That, in essence, is all that can be said about the experimental method. Wherever it is used, this method makes it possible to obtain information that cannot be obtained using other methods. And, nevertheless, the experimental method has its limitations, at least in the field of personality psychology.

First, it is simply unethical to study some problems experimentally, although it would be very easy to implement. For example, psychologists cannot intentionally simulate conditions that present a potential risk to subjects, threatening or fraught with the possibility of receiving any kind of damage. Imagine a researcher interested in studying the effects of chronic loneliness on self-esteem and the development of depression in children. Undoubtedly, this is an empirically important question, but obvious ethical considerations make it difficult to collect hundreds of ten-year-old children, randomly select fifty of them and place them in such experimental conditions in which they would not have the opportunity to closely communicate with others.
Another ethical question is related to deception and cunning - it often happens that the subject is either misled about the true purpose of the experiment, or is not fully informed. Recall the study of anxiety at Shakhtar and imagine how you would feel if you took part in it and were in a “highly disturbing” group. An impressive man in a white coat tells you that after a short delay you will receive a series of painful electric shocks. Then you fill out a questionnaire, where you report your preference to join or not join others, and then return it to the researcher, who, in turn, immediately tells you that it turns out you will not be shocked - it was just a joke. There is no doubt that you will feel in a foolish position, even if all this is done for the sake of science.