what is a controlled experiment in psychology

A controlled experiment in psychology is a research study in which participants are randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. In a controlled experiment, all extraneous variables are held constant so that they cant influence the results. Controlled experiments require a control group that receives a standard treatment, a fake treatment, or no treatment, and random assignment of participants to ensure the groups are comparable. The control group serves as a comparison group to the experimental group, which does receive the treatment or manipulation. The researcher can operationalize the studied variables so they can be objectively measured, and the quantitative data can be analyzed to see if there is a difference between the experimental and control groups. Controlled experiments are important because they allow for precise control of extraneous and independent variables, which allows a cause-and-effect relationship to be established. However, controlled experiments have disadvantages when it comes to external validity, which is the extent to which the results can be generalized to broad populations and settings.