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9 - Conceptual Foundations of Experimental Psychopathology

Historical Context, Scientific Posture, and Reflections on Substantive and Method Matters

from Part III - Experimental and Biological Approaches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

By
Mark F. Lenzenweger
Edited by
Aidan G. C. Wright  and
Michael N. Hallquist
Aidan G. C. Wright
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Michael N. Hallquist
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
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Summary

Experimental psychopathology is the psychological science discipline that uses the methods of the experimental psychology laboratory in conjunction with quantitative analytic approaches to gain leverage on the etiology and pathogenesis of psychopathology, within a brain-based (genomic, endophenotype, neurobiological) diathesis-stressor matrix. Laboratory methods provide precision in measurement not attainable through clinical rating approaches and experimental design options allow the investigator to better identify potentially causal as well as maintaining processes in psychopathology. The chapter provides both a historical context within which experimental psychopathology can be placed and identifies conceptual and methodological features of the approach. A number of issues are addressed: (a) the value of clinical observation; (b) context of discovery; (c) counting vs. rating in data collection; (d) the falsity of the null hypothesis in statistical testing; (e) levels of analysis; (f) how predictors are conceived of in many instances; (g) the importance of embracing heterogeneity in empirical data; (h) specific etiology and genetics; (i) emergence; and (j) causality in a correlational framework. This overview is intended to convey defining features of the experimental psychopathology approach.

Keywords

experimental psychopathologyresearch designdiscoveryjustificationlevels of analysisheterogeneity
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Research Methods in Clinical Psychology , pp. 93 - 104
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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