Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T18:51:08.108Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

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
Get access

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramson, L. Y., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1977). Modeling Psychopathology in the Laboratory: History and Rationale. In Maser, J. P. & Seligman, M. E. P. (Eds.), Psychopathology: Experimental Models (pp. 1–26). San Francisco: Freeman.Google Scholar
Berner, E. S., & Graber, M. L. (2008). Overconfidence as a Cause of Diagnostic Error in Medicine. American Journal of Medicine, 121(Suppl. 5), s2‒s23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bickhard, M. H., & Campbell, D. T. (2000). Emergence. In Andersen, P. B., Emmeche, C., Finnemann, N. O., & Christiansen, P. V. (Eds.), Downward Causation: Minds, Body, Matter (pp. 322–348). Ǻrhus: Ǻrhus University Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, J. (1994). The Earth is Round (p < 0.05). American Psychologist, 49, 997–1003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forsyth, J. P., & Zvolensky, M. J. (2002). Experimental Psychopathology, Clinical Science, and Practice: An Irrelevant or Indispensable Alliance? Applied and Preventive Psychology: Current Scientific Perspectives, 10, 243–264.Google Scholar
Gottesman, I. I., & Gould, T. D. (2003). The Endophenotype Concept in Psychiatry: Etymology and Strategic Intentions. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 636–645.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoch, P. H. & Zubin, J. (Eds.) (1957). Experimental Psychopathology. New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Imbens, G. W., & Rubin, D. B. (2010). Causal Inference in Statistics and the Medical and Social Sciences. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kernberg, O. F. (1984). Severe Personality Disorders. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Kimmel, H. D. (1971). Introduction. In Kimmel, H. D. (Ed.), Experimental Psychopathology: Recent Research and Theory (pp. 1–10). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Kivelson, S., & Kivelson, S. A. (2016). Defining Emergence in Physics. NPJ Quantum Materials, 1, 1–2.Google Scholar
Korolenko, C. P., Volkov, P. P., Evceeva, T. A., & Shmatko, N. S. (1966). Experimental Psychopathology and Its Significance for the Clinical Study of Exogenous Psychoses. L' Evolution psychiatrique, 31, 777–785.Google ScholarPubMed
Kosslyn, S. M., & Rosenberg, R. S. (2005). The Brain and Your Students: How to Explain Why Neuroscience Is Relevant to Psychology. In Perlman, B., McCann, L. I., & Buskist, W. (Eds.), Voices of Experience: Memorable Talks from the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology Volume One (pp. 71–82). Washington, DC: American Psychological Society.Google Scholar
Lenzenweger, M. F. (2004). Consideration of the Challenges, Complications, and Pitfalls of Taxometric Analysis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 113, 10–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lenzenweger, M. F. (2010). Schizotypy and Schizophrenia: The View from Experimental Psychopathology. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Lenzenweger, M. F. (2013). Thinking Clearly about the Endophenotype vs. Intermediate Phenotype vs. Biomarker Distinctions in Developmental Psychopathology Research. Invited Essay for 25th Anniversary Issue. Development & Psychopathology, 25, 1347–1357.Google Scholar
Lenzenweger, M. F., & Depue, R. A. (2016). Toward a Developmental Psychopathology of Personality Disturbance: A Neurobehavioral Dimensional Model Incorporating Genetic, Environmental, and Epigenetic Factors (pp. 1079–1110). In Cicchetti, D. (Ed.), Developmental Psychopathology, Volume 3, Maladaptation and Psychopathology (3rd edn.). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Lenzenweger, M. F., & Hooley, J. M. (Eds.) (2003). Principles of Experimental Psychopathology: Essays in Honor of Brendan A. Maher. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lenzenweger, M. F., Jensen, S., & Rubin, D. B. (2003). Finding the “Genuine” Schizotype: A Model and Method for Resolving Heterogeneity in Performance on Laboratory Measures in Experimental Psychopathology Research. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112, 457–468.Google Scholar
Maher, B. A. (1966). Principles of Psychopathology: An Experimental Approach. Oxford: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Maher, B. A. (2003). Psychopathology and Delusions: Reflections on Methods and Models. In Lenzenweger, M. F. & Hooley, J. M. (Eds.), Principles of Experimental Psychopathology: Essays in Honor of Brendan A. Maher (pp. 9–28). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Meehl, P. E. (1967). (1967). Theory-Testing in Psychology and Physics: A Methodological Paradox Philosophy of Science, 34, 103–115.Google Scholar
Meehl, P. E. (1972). Specific Genetic Etiology, Psychodynamics and Therapeutic Nihilism. International Journal of Mental Health, 1, 10–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meehl, P. E. (1977). Specific Etiology and Other Forms of Strong Influence: Some Quantitative Meanings. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 2, 33–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meehl, P. E. (1978). Theoretical Risks and Tabular Asterisks: Sir Karl, Sir Ronald, and the Slow Progress of Soft Psychology. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46, 806–834.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meehl, P. E. (1986). Diagnostic Taxa as Open Concepts: Metatheoretical and Statistical Questions about Reliability and Construct Validity in the Grand Strategy of Nosological Revision. In Millon, T. & Klerman, G. L. (Eds.), In Contemporary Directions in Psychopathology (pp. 215–231). New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Meehl, P. E. (1990). Toward an Integrated Theory of Schizotaxia, Schizotypy, and Schizophrenia. Journal of Personality Disorders, 4, 1–99.Google Scholar
Meehl, P. E. (1998/2006). The Power of Quantitative Thinking. In Waller, N. G., Yonce, L. J., Grove, W. M., Faust, D., & Lenzenweger, M. F. (Eds.). A Paul Meehl Reader: Essays on the Practice of Scientific Psychology (pp. 433–444). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Meehl, P. E., & Sellars, W. (1956). The Concept of Emergence. In Feigl, H. & Scriven, M. (Eds.), Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science: Vol. I. The Foundations of Science and the Concepts of Psychology and Psychoanalysis (pp. 239–252). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Pearl, J. (2009). Causality: Models, Reasoning and Inference (2nd edn.). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reichenbach, H. (1938). Experience and Prediction. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Reichenbach, H. (1956). The Rise of Scientific Discovery. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Rumelhart, D. E. (1984). The Emergence of Cognitive Phenomena from Sub-Symbolic Processes. In Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society Colorado, 1984. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Shields, J., & Gottesman, I. I. (1973). Genetic Studies of Schizophrenia as Signposts to Biochemistry. In Iversen, L. L. & Rose, S. P. R. (Eds.), Biochemistry and Mental Illness (pp. 165–174). London: Biochemical Society.Google Scholar
Silverstein, S. M. (2008). Measuring Specific, rather than Generalized, Cognitive Deficits and Maximizing Between-Group Effect Size in Studies of Cognition and Cognitive Change. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 34(4), 645–655.Google Scholar
Wagenmakers, E.-J., Morey, R. D., & Lee, M. D. (2016). Bayesian Benefits for the Pragmatic Researcher. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 25, 169–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waller, N. G. (2008). Commingled Samples: A Neglected Source of Bias in Reliability Analysis. Applied Psychological Measurement, 32, 211–223.Google Scholar
Waller, N. G., Yonce, L. J., Grove, W. M., Faust, D. A., & Lenzenweger, M. F. (2006). A Paul Meehl Reader: Essays on the Practice of Scientific Psychology. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Weisberg, D. S., Keil, F. C., Goodstein, J., Rawson, E., & Gray, J. R. (2008). The Seductive Allure of Neuroscience Explanations. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20(3), 470–477.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilkinson, L., & The Task Force on Statistical Inference. (1999). Statistical Methods in Psychology Journals: Guidelines and Explanations. American Psychologist, 54, 594–604.Google Scholar
Zachar, P., Krueger, R. F., & Kendler, K. S. (2016). Personality Disorder in DSM-5: An Oral History. Psychological Medicine, 46, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zvolensky, M. J., Forsyth, J. P., & Johnson, K. (2013). Laboratory Methods in Experimental Psychopathology. In Comer, J. S. & Kendall, P. C. (Eds.), Oxford Library of Psychology: The Oxford Handbook of Research Strategies for Clinical Psychology (pp. 7–23). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×