Experimental psychology is a separate field of science, the research of which has always attracted a lot of attention. At the beginning of the 20th century, its unprecedented rise was observed. She studied the true, maybe even hidden motives of people's behavior, their condition, taught them to understand their real intentions.
We have compiled a list of the most famous psychological experiments, which can clearly show that a person does not know everything about himself. New borders are opening, many understand that visible control is self-deception, in fact a person is not able to control himself as well as he is sure. Take a closer look at the list, perhaps you will discover something new.
1. "Discriminatory" experiment.
Jane Elliot, a teacher in Iowa, raised the issue of discrimination in her class after Martin Luther King was murdered. In this case, the students of her class in ordinary life did not communicate with the minorities living in their locality. The essence of the experiment is that the class was divided according to the color of the eyes - blue and brown. One day she preferred blue-eyed pupils, the second - brown-eyed. The experiment showed that the conditionally "oppressed" group behaves passively. There is no initiative, no desire to show oneself. The group of favorites in any case manifests itself, although yesterday could not cope with the tests given by the tasks.
2. Rainbow piano.
At the initiative of Volkswagen, an experiment was conducted demonstrating that if you make everyday things attractive, life will not be so boring. A study was conducted in Stockholm, Sweden. Steps of the metro stairs were turned into a musical piano. The purpose of the experiment is to find out whether such a musical ladder will motivate to abandon the escalator. The results showed that 66% of people chose a musical ladder every day, turning into a couple of minutes into children. Such things can make life more fun, more saturated, and people are healthier.
3. "Fiddler in the subway."
In 2007, on January 12, passengers and subway visitors had the opportunity to listen to violin virtuoso Joshua Bell. He played for 45 minutes in the transition one of the most difficult plays, performing it on a hand violin. Of the passing people, only 6 people listened to him, 20 gave them money, the others walked by, the parents pulled children off when they stopped listening to music. No one was interested in the status of a violinist. His instrument and work. When Joshua Bella finished playing, there was no applause. The experiment showed that beauty is not perceived in an uncomfortable place and at the wrong time. At the same time for concerts of the violinist in the symphony hall tickets were sold out in advance, their cost was $ 100.
4. Smoky experiment.
The experiment was that people were interrogated in a room that was gradually filled with smoke emanating from under the door. At 2 minutes of the poll, 75% of people said that smoke enters the room. When a couple of actors were added to the room who also worked on the questionnaire, but pretended that there was no smoke, 9 out of 10 people adopted their passive position, suffering from inconveniences. The aim of the research is to show that many adjust to the majority, adopting a passive attitude is wrong. It is necessary to be the one who acts actively.
5. Social experiment in Karlsberg at the brewery.
Essence of the experiment: the couple entered the filled hall of the cinema, where there were 2 empty seats in the center. The rest of the visitors were brutal bikers. Some left, but if the couple took the right place, it received a rumble of approval and a beer mug as a bonus. The purpose of the experiment is to show that people can not be judged by appearance.
6. Experiment of the cave robber.
The essence of the experiment is to show how, due to competition between groups, the relations between the participants deteriorate. Boys 11 and 12 years were divided into 2 groups and lived in a camp in the forest, autonomously, not knowing about the existence of competitors. A week later they were introduced, and the negative intensified because of the created competition. A week later they jointly solved an important common problem - they extracted water, which was cut off by vandals under conditions. The common cause rallied, showed that such work removes the negative, promotes friendly relations.
7. Experiment with sweets.
Children aged 4 to 6 years fell into a room where sweets stood on the table (marshmallows, pretzels, cookies). They were told that they could eat, but if they could wait 15 minutes, they would receive a reward. Out of 600 children only a small part at once ate a treat from the table, the rest patiently waited for the reward, without touching the sweetness. The experiment showed that this part of the children later had more successful indicators in life than those children who could not restrain themselves.
8. Experiment of Milgram.
The experiment was conducted in 1961 by psychologist Stanley Milgram. Its purpose is to show that a person will follow authoritative instructions, even if they harm others. Subjects were in the role of teachers who could control the electric chair on which the student was sitting. He had to answer questions if they were wrong, got a discharge. As a result, it turned out that 65% of people carried out a firing order, managing the current, which could easily deprive a person of life. Obedience, which is brought up from childhood, is not a positive feature. The experiment clearly showed this.
9. Experiment with a car accident.
During the 1974 experiment, participants were asked to consider a car crash. The goal is to show that people's conclusions differ depending on how the questions are posed. Participants were divided into 2 groups, they were asked about the same things, but the formulations and verbs were different. As a result, it turned out that the perception of an outsider depends on how the question was asked. Not always such statements are reliable.
10. False Consensus Experiment.
The university students were asked if they agreed for half an hour to walk around the campus as a live advertisement - with a large board with the inscription "Eat with Joe." Those who agreed were confident that most of the group would also agree. Similarly, those who refused to participate in the experiment thought. The study clearly showed that a person used to believe that his opinion coincides with the opinion of the majority.
11. Invisible experiment of the Gorilla.
The interviewees watched the video, where 3 people in white shirts and 3 people in black shirts played basketball. They needed to watch the players in white shirts. In the middle of the video on the court appeared a gorilla, and in total stayed there for 9 seconds. As a result, it turned out that some of her did not see at all, absorbed in watching the players. The experiment showed that many do not notice anything around them and that some do not understand that they live bored.
12. Research "Monster".
This experiment today is considered dangerous and is no longer being conducted. In the 30's, his goal was to prove that stuttering is not a genetic deviation, but an organic one. 22 orphans were divided into 2 groups. Dr. Johnson tried to prove that if you label one group as stuttering children, then their speech will only get worse. Two groups came forward. The group, called normal, gave a lecture and received a positive evaluation. The second group cautiously, with caution, conducted a lecture, unsure of its abilities. In the end, even those children who did not initially stutter, acquired this pathology. Only 1 child has not acquired violations. Children who have already stuttered, aggravated the condition. In the second group, only 1 child had problems with speech. In the future, the acquired stuttering remained with children for life, the experiment proved to be potentially dangerous.
13. Experiment with the effect of Hawthorne.
Experiment with the Hawthorne effect was carried out in 1955. He pursued the goal of showing that working conditions affect productivity. As a result, it turned out that no improvements (better lighting, breaks, shorter working hours) do not affect the final result. People worked better, realizing that the owner of the enterprise cares about them. They were pleased to feel their importance, and productivity was growing.
14. Experiment with the halo effect.
Its purpose is to show that the first positive impression about a person influences how, in the future, his qualities are perceived. Edward Thorndike, who is a pedagogue and psychologist, asked two commanders to assess the soldier on certain physical parameters. The goal was to prove that a person who had previously received a positive evaluation of a soldier, in the future, in advance, gave him a good description of the rest. If initially there was criticism, the commander gave a rather negative assessment of the soldier. This proved that the first impression plays a crucial role in further communication.
15. The case of Kitty Genovese.
Kitti's assassination was not planned as an experiment, but it provoked the discovery of a study called "Bidentar." The effect of the observer appears, if a person is not prevented from interfering in an emergency situation by his presence. Genovese was killed in his own apartment, and the witnesses who watched this did not dare to help her or call the police. Outcome: the observers decide not to interfere with what is happening if there are other witnesses, since they do not feel responsible.
16. Experiment with the Bobo doll.
The experiment proves that human behavior is studied with the help of social imitations, copying and is not a hereditary factor.
Albert Bandura used the Bobo doll to prove that children copy the behavior of adults. He divided the participants into several groups:
- one child began to repeat aggressive behavior towards the doll, copying adults;
- the second simply played with the doll, imitating a passive adult;
- in the third group were children who were not exposed to adults.
As a result of the experiment, the scientist found out that children quite often used an aggressive model of behavior, especially boys.
17. Experiment on the conformity of Asch (Ash).
The experiment of Ash proved that people try to correspond to social group situations. A man came into the room with the test subjects, holding in his hand a picture with three lines. He asked everyone to say which of the lines is the longest. Most people specially made wrong answers. To them, new people were placed in the room, who tried to match the wrongly answered majority. As a result, it was proved that in group situations, people tend to act like the rest, despite the evidence of a correct decision.
18. Good Samaritan experiment.
In the course of the experiment it is proved that the situational factor largely influences the manifestation of kindness. A group of students from the Princeton theological seminary filled in 1973 a questionnaire on religious education and professions. After they had to go to another building. Students got different settings about the speed of movement and started the transition. On the street, the actor imitated a state of helplessness (he hunched up, showing a bad state of health). Depending on the speed of the participants' walk, it depended on how many students helped a person. 10% of people hurrying to another building, helped him; those who went without haste responded to his problem to a greater degree. 63% of participants helped. Haste has become a personal factor, which prevented a good deed.
19. Franz's camera.
Franz in 1961 proved that a person is already born with a preference to consider people's faces. The baby was laid, a board was erected over it, where there were 2 images - the face of a man and the eyes of a bull. Franz looked from above, and concluded that the baby peers into the human face. This fact is explained in this way - a person's face carries important information for the child's later life.
20. The third wave experiment.
Ron Johnson, a history teacher at a high school in California, showed why the Germans blindly accepted the Nazi regime. He spent several days in his class practicing exercises that were supposed to unite and discipline. The movement began to grow, the number of fans increased, he gathered the students at the rally and said that they would be told about the future presidential candidate on television. When the students arrived - they were met by an empty channel, and the teacher talked about how Nazi Germany operated and what is the secret of its propaganda.
21. Social experiment.
Experiment Facebook 2012 became resonant. The creators of the social network did not inform their users about it. Within 1 week, the priority attention of users was concentrated on negative or positive news. As a result, it was revealed that the mood passed to users in the social network, directly affects their real life. The results of this study are controversial, but everyone knows what impact today social networks have on people.
22. Experiment with surrogate motherhood.
In the 1950s-1960s Harry Harlow conducted a study, trying to find a connection between the mother's love and the healthy development of the child. Participants in the experiment were macaques. Immediately after birth, the cubs were placed in surrogates - special devices that could provide nutrition to the young. The first surrogate was wrapped with wire, the second with a soft cloth. As a result, it was revealed that the cubs were reaching for a soft surrogate. In moments of anxiety, they embraced him, finding comfort. Such cubs grew up with an emotional attachment to the surrogate. The cubs that grew up next to the surrogate wrapped in wire did not feel emotional intimacy, the grid was not convenient for them. They were restless, rushed to the floor.
23. Experiment on cognitive dissonance.
Psychologist Leon Festinger in 1959 assembled a group of subjects, inviting them to perform boring, laborious work - it was necessary to turn the pegs on the board for 1 hour. As a result, one part of the group was paid $ 1, the second $ 20. This was done to ensure that after leaving the room, the rest of the subjects reported that the activity was interesting. Participants who received $ 1 said they were expecting the task to be funny. Those who received $ 20 said that the task was not interesting. Conclusion - a person who convinces himself of lying, does not deceive, he believes in it.
24. The Stanford Prison Experiment.
The Stanford prison experiment was conducted by the professor of psychology Philip Zimbardo in 1971. The professor argued that ill-treatment in prison was provoked by a significant part of the identity of guards and prisoners. The students were divided into two groups - prisoners, guards. At the beginning of the experiment, the prisoners entered the "prison" without personal belongings, naked. They received a special form, bedding. The guards started to show aggression towards the prisoners a couple of hours after the beginning of the experiment. A week later, some began to show sadistic inclinations to prisoners. Students playing the role of "prisoners" were broken morally and physically. The experiment showed that a person adopts a stereotyped role, a model of behavior in society. Until the start of the experiment, none of those who were "protection", did not show sadistic inclinations.
25. Experiment "Lost in the Mall".
Gene Koan and psychology student Elizabeth Loftus showed the technology of memory implantation, based on the fact that false memories could be created on the basis of experimental suggestions. She took the student as a test subject in her family, gave false memories from her childhood about how they got lost in the shopping center. The stories were different. After a while, an extraneous person told her brother his false story, and his brother even made clarifications throughout the story. In the end he himself could not understand where the false memory, and where the present. With the course of time, it is increasingly difficult for a person to distinguish fictional memories from true ones.
26. Experiment on helplessness.
Martin Seligman conducted in 1965 a series of studies on negative reinforcement. In his experiment, dogs participated: after the bell sounded, instead of eating they received a small discharge of electricity. At the same time, they remained motionless in the harness. Later, the dogs were placed in a pen with a fence. Some said that after the call they would jump over it, but this did not happen. Dogs that did not pass the test, after a call and an attempt to shock them with electricity, immediately ran away. This proved that negative experience in the past makes a person helpless, he does not try to get out of the situation.
27. Little experiment of Albert.
Today, the experiment is considered unsuccessful, unethical. It was held in 1920 by John Watson and Rosalie Reiner at the Johns Hopkins University. The one-year-old baby Albert was put on the mattress in the middle of the room and a white rat was put in. After that, there were several loud sounds with a small periodicity, to which the baby reacted with weeping. After that, only the rat was shown to him, he considered it a source of irritation, connected with noise. In the future, such a reaction was to all small soft white toys. All that remotely resembled her, began to provoke a cry. The experiment is not conducted today due to the fact that it does not comply with the law, has many unethical moments.
28. Experiment of the dog Pavlov.
Pavlov conducted a lot of research, during which he found out that some things that are not related to reflexes can provoke his appearance. This was established when he rang the bell and gave the dog food. After a while, just this sound provoked salivation. This showed that a person learns to connect a stimulus to a reflex, a conditioned reflex is formed.