# Ecological Validity

This is the idea behind the concept of ecological validity. A study has high ecological validity if it is conducted in a situation that is similar to the participants' natural environments. Ecological validity tends to be low when participants are put in a bizarre or unfamiliar situation.

Low ecological validity can be a big problem in psychological research. If a study has low ecological validity then the participants' behaviour may bear little relation to how people actually behave in their real lives.

In the context of Miller's and Simon's research, the problem is that they were conducted in the laboratory. It is possible that this affected the results the researchers obtained.

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