The utility of high-dosage experiments in everyday life to test theories in clinical science.

This viewpoint article discusses the utility of high-dosage experiments (HDEs) in everyday life to test theories in clinical science. HDEs involve experimental manipulations and assessments that occur over much longer periods of time than traditional experiments-generally days or even weeks. By nature, they also occur outside the lab, in the everyday environments of participants. Additionally, as with other experiments, the purpose of the study is concealed from participants. Experimental design is one of the most distinguishable characteristics of psychology that separates it from other behavioral sciences. Studies that rely on experiments are essential for theory testing and establishing the potential causal role of mechanisms that underlie psychopathology. Yet despite the value of experimental research, experimental studies are not currently given special prominence in clinical psychological science. For example, in the