The Society of Experimentalists was founded by Edward Bradford Titchener in 1904. Titchener's design for his "Experimentalists" was that it be an ongoing workshop, with "members visiting labs, studying apparatus, and hearing and commenting on reports of ongoing research."

The Society has continued to meet annually in the years since, except for the war year 1918 and the COVID pandemic years 2020 and 2021. Upon Titchener's death in 1927 the club was reorganized into The Society of Experimental Psychologists. The Society typically holds meetings in the spring, scheduled and organized by a member, who serves on the Executive Committee of the Society for that year. The meetings are open to all members of the Society, and to students and faculty from the host university as invited by the organizer.

The meetings are plenary and involve papers from various members of the society. The society currently admits at least 6 new members annually from among the leading experimentalists in North America. It has a current membership of 281 individuals, about 5 - 10% of the practicing experimental psychologists. The mission of the society is "To advance psychology by arranging informal conferences on experimental psychology."