Experiments as politics

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the political nature of laborato ry experiments. Such experiments can be construed as paradigms of power, op en to construction and debate, where different agents and interests are inv olved in a process of struggle over both (re)presentation and substance. Ex perimenters should take a reflexive perspective on their own role and power in producing results, and they should recognize that participants in exper iments take into account port er relations and accordingly modify behavior that is visible or accountable to powerful others (the "panopticon "). This argument is illustrated by recent research on intergroup behavior, which s uggests that biases often taken at face value reflect strategic responses t o the situation that balance social reality with social resistance.