Chapter 2 - Experimental Research

Summary

On the surface and on the basis of twenty-first-century criteria, Galileo and Shakespeare live in different worlds: One is in science and the other is in art. But at a deeper level, Galileo and Shakespeare have a foundational similarity: They both rely heavily on thought experiments. Besides, in their era science and art were not separated in the unhealthy way they are today. Thought experiments have been essential and central to the development of both science and art. Contemporary psychology has focused exclusively on experimentally discovering the “causes” of behavior, even though much of a person’s behavior is normatively regulated rather than causally determined. Closer ties with literature and a fuller appreciation of thought experiments will enable psychology to better understand normatively regulated behavior.