Mundane Realism in Lab Experiments

Mundane realism helps lab experiments feel like real life. It is used when researchers want a setting that matches how people normally behave. In some studies, the real world is the best place to observe behavior directly. For example, voting behavior is easier to study by watching people vote. But real-world research is not...

Conducting research in a realistic setting is optimal, but unfortunately, is not always ethical or even practical.

For example, researchers cannot simply march into a voting booth and observe what factors influence individuals? voting behaviors.

Instead, they can create realism in the laboratory by designing an authentic voting exper...