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Psychology experiments can run the gamut from simple to complex. Students are often expected to design—and sometimes perform—their own experiments, but finding great experiment ideas can be a little challenging. Fortunately, inspiration is all around if you know where to look—from your textbooks to the questions that you have about your own life.Always discuss your idea with your instructor before beginning your experiment—particularly if your research involves human participants. (Note: You’ll probably need to submit a proposal and get approval from your school’s institutional review board.)Verywell / JR BeeAt a GlanceIf you are looking for an idea for psychology experiments, start your search early and make sure you have the time you need. Doing background research, choosing an experimental design, and actually performing your experiment can be quite the process. Keep reading to find some great psychology experiment ideas that can serve as inspiration. You can then find ways to adapt these ideas for your own assignments.
Psychology experiments can run the gamut from simple to complex. Students are often expected to design—and sometimes perform—their own experiments, but finding great experiment ideas can be a little challenging. Fortunately, inspiration is all around if you know where to look—from your textbooks to the questions that you have about your own life.
Always discuss your idea with your instructor before beginning your experiment—particularly if your research involves human participants. (Note: You’ll probably need to submit a proposal and get approval from your school’s institutional review board.)
Verywell / JR Bee
At a GlanceIf you are looking for an idea for psychology experiments, start your search early and make sure you have the time you need. Doing background research, choosing an experimental design, and actually performing your experiment can be quite the process. Keep reading to find some great psychology experiment ideas that can serve as inspiration. You can then find ways to adapt these ideas for your own assignments.
At a Glance
If you are looking for an idea for psychology experiments, start your search early and make sure you have the time you need. Doing background research, choosing an experimental design, and actually performing your experiment can be quite the process. Keep reading to find some great psychology experiment ideas that can serve as inspiration. You can then find ways to adapt these ideas for your own assignments.
15 Ideas for Psychology Experiments
Most of these experiments can be performed easily at home or at school. That said, you will need to find out if you have to get approval from your teacher or from an institutional review board before getting started.
The following are some questions you could attempt to answer as part of a psychological experiment:
Once you have an idea, the next step is to learn more abouthow to conduct a psychology experiment.
Psychology Experiments on Your Interests
If none of the ideas in the list above grabbed your attention, there are other ways to find inspiration for your psychology experiments.
How do you come up with good psychology experiments? One of the most effective approaches is to look at the various problems, situations, and questions that you are facing in your own life.
From there, make a list of questions you have related to the topic. Any of these questions could potentially serve as an experiment idea.
Use Textbooks for Inspiration for Psychology Experiments
Yourpsychology textbooksare another excellent source you can turn to for experiment ideas. Choose the chapters or sections that you find particularly interesting—perhaps it’s a chapter onsocial psychologyor a section on child development.
Discuss Psychology Experiments with Other StudentsIt can be helpful to brainstorm with your classmates to gather outside ideas and perspectives. Get together with a group of students and make a list of interesting ideas, subjects, or questions you have.The information from your brainstorming session can serve as a basis for your experiment topic. It’s also a great way to get feedback on your own ideas and to determine if they are worth exploring in greater depth.
Discuss Psychology Experiments with Other Students
It can be helpful to brainstorm with your classmates to gather outside ideas and perspectives. Get together with a group of students and make a list of interesting ideas, subjects, or questions you have.
The information from your brainstorming session can serve as a basis for your experiment topic. It’s also a great way to get feedback on your own ideas and to determine if they are worth exploring in greater depth.
Study Classic Psychology ExperimentsTaking a closer look at a classic psychology experiment can be an excellent way to trigger some unique and thoughtful ideas of your own. To start, you could try conducting your own version of a famous experiment or even updating a classic experiment to assess a slightly different question.Famous Psychology ExperimentsExamples of famous psychology experiments that might be a source of further questions you’d like to explore include:Marshmallow test experimentsLittle AlbertexperimentHawthorne effectexperimentsBystander effectexperimentsRobbers Cave experimentsHalo effectexperimentsPiano stairs experimentCognitive dissonanceexperimentsFalse memoryexperimentsYou might not be able toreplicatean experiment exactly (lots of classic psychology experiments have ethical issues that would preclude conducting them today), but you can use well-known studies as a basis for inspiration.
Study Classic Psychology Experiments
Taking a closer look at a classic psychology experiment can be an excellent way to trigger some unique and thoughtful ideas of your own. To start, you could try conducting your own version of a famous experiment or even updating a classic experiment to assess a slightly different question.
Famous Psychology ExperimentsExamples of famous psychology experiments that might be a source of further questions you’d like to explore include:Marshmallow test experimentsLittle AlbertexperimentHawthorne effectexperimentsBystander effectexperimentsRobbers Cave experimentsHalo effectexperimentsPiano stairs experimentCognitive dissonanceexperimentsFalse memoryexperiments
Famous Psychology Experiments
Examples of famous psychology experiments that might be a source of further questions you’d like to explore include:Marshmallow test experimentsLittle AlbertexperimentHawthorne effectexperimentsBystander effectexperimentsRobbers Cave experimentsHalo effectexperimentsPiano stairs experimentCognitive dissonanceexperimentsFalse memoryexperiments
Examples of famous psychology experiments that might be a source of further questions you’d like to explore include:
You might not be able toreplicatean experiment exactly (lots of classic psychology experiments have ethical issues that would preclude conducting them today), but you can use well-known studies as a basis for inspiration.
Review the Literature on Psychology ExperimentsIf you have a general idea about what topic you’d like to experiment, you might want to spend a little time doing a brief literature review before you start designing. In other words, do your homeworkbeforeyou invest too much time on an idea.Visit your university library and find some of the best books and articles that cover the particular topic you are interested in. What research has already been done in this area? Are there any major questions that still need to be answered? What were the findings of previous psychology experiments?Tackling this step early will make the later process ofwriting the introductionto yourlab reportor research paper much easier.
Review the Literature on Psychology Experiments
If you have a general idea about what topic you’d like to experiment, you might want to spend a little time doing a brief literature review before you start designing. In other words, do your homeworkbeforeyou invest too much time on an idea.
Visit your university library and find some of the best books and articles that cover the particular topic you are interested in. What research has already been done in this area? Are there any major questions that still need to be answered? What were the findings of previous psychology experiments?
Tackling this step early will make the later process ofwriting the introductionto yourlab reportor research paper much easier.
Ask Your Instructor About Ideas for Psychology ExperimentsIf you have made a good effort to come up with an idea on your own but you’re still feeling stumped, it might help to talk to your instructor. Ask for pointers on finding a good experiment topic for the specific assignment. You can also ask them to suggest some other ways you could generate ideas or inspiration.While it can feel intimidating to ask for help, your instructor should be more than happy to provide some guidance. Plus, they might offer insights that you wouldn’t have gathered on your own. Your instructor probably has lots of ideas for psychology experiments that would be worth exploring.
Ask Your Instructor About Ideas for Psychology Experiments
If you have made a good effort to come up with an idea on your own but you’re still feeling stumped, it might help to talk to your instructor. Ask for pointers on finding a good experiment topic for the specific assignment. You can also ask them to suggest some other ways you could generate ideas or inspiration.
While it can feel intimidating to ask for help, your instructor should be more than happy to provide some guidance. Plus, they might offer insights that you wouldn’t have gathered on your own. Your instructor probably has lots of ideas for psychology experiments that would be worth exploring.
Takeaways
If you need to design or conduct psychology experiments, there are plenty of great ideas (both old and new) for you to explore. Consider an idea from the list above or turn some of your own questions about the human mind and behavior into an experiment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Learn More:50 Psychology Research Paper Topics
Three of the most classic social psychology experiments are:The Asch Conformity Experiment: This experiment involved seeing if people would conform to group pressure when rating the length of a line.The Milgram Obedience Experiment: This experiment involved ordering participants to deliver what they thought was a painful shock to another person.The Stanford Prison Experiment: This experiment involved students replicating a prison environment to see how it would affect participant behavior.Learn More:Classic Social Psychology Experiments
Three of the most classic social psychology experiments are:The Asch Conformity Experiment: This experiment involved seeing if people would conform to group pressure when rating the length of a line.The Milgram Obedience Experiment: This experiment involved ordering participants to deliver what they thought was a painful shock to another person.The Stanford Prison Experiment: This experiment involved students replicating a prison environment to see how it would affect participant behavior.
Three of the most classic social psychology experiments are:
Learn More:Classic Social Psychology Experiments
4 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Greenberg DM, et al.Musical preferences are linked to cognitive styles.PLoS One.2015;10(7). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0131151
Kurt S, Osueke KK.The effects of color on the moods of college students.Sage.2014;4(1). doi:10.1177/2158244014525423
Hartline-Grafton H, Levin M.Breakfast and School-Related Outcomes in Children and Adolescents in the US: A Literature Review and its Implications for School Nutrition Policy.Curr Nutr Rep. 2022;11(4):653-664. doi:10.1007/s13668-022-00434-z
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