20 of the Most Fascinating Studies in the History of Psychology

‘The self-fulfilling prophecy studies are very important to social psychology’
20 of the Most Fascinating Studies in the History of Psychology

It’s one of God’s greatest practical jokes that, when it comes down to it, the only tool we have for studying the brain is itself. (Other contenders include sexual reproduction and platypuses.) We’ll probably never fully unravel the mysteries of the brain, and depending on your perspective, we probably never should have tried. Those things are scary, confusing and they look sticky. Are they sticky? Don’t answer that.

For better or worse, however, the field of psychology has been unearthing new horrors practically on the daily for hundreds of years. Wanna know how your memory messes with you? How your thoughts aren’t your own? What happens when you put a bunch of guys who think they’re Jesus in the same room? Look no further than those monsters. 

That’s why one Reddit user asked r/AskReddit, “What are some psychology experiments with interesting results?”

mhssotr13 6y ago Not entirely sure it fits into the category but the Rosenhan Experiment. 13 people feigned mental illnesses to get into mental hospitals and all were admitted with different diagnoses. They then assumed their normal personalities but to be released they all had to admit that they were mentally ill. There was a second part where a hospital challenged Rosenhan to send multiple fake patients to the hospital and they would rate their patients on a scale of whether they think they were faking. They identified many possible fakers, but Rosenhan in fact hadn't sent anyone.
EnormousChord 6y ago The Car Crash Experiment. It demonstrated that the way investigators word a question has an immediate effect on the subject's memory of an event. It was part of a suite of studies by Elizabeth Loftus (with various other со- researchers) that began to call in to question the veracity of eyewitness accounts.
OnesPerspective 6y ago Edited 6y ago The Holdsdinger Effect. A study on the brain's growing receptivity to sodium intake in our era has shown we have an ever increasing sensitivity to salty foods from our evolving diet. So much in fact, that the brain can trick our tongue receptors into recreating the taste of salt by simply closing one's eyes and pretending to shake a salt shaker onto one's tongue.
laynealexander 6y ago The Pratfall Effect. In essence, if you are considered highly competent, you become more likable after a small mistake. The classic example (and what happened in the initial experiment) involved people spilling coffee during an interview to be a contestant on a show. If someone demonstrated themselves to be intelligent and competent, they became more likeable after spilling coffee on themselves. Anyone previously seen as average or less-than-ideal actually suffered from the blunder.
melon_cubes 6y ago Hurricanes with female names are deadlier than those with male names. A paper published in PNAS by Jung et al. (2014) used six decades of death rates from US hurricanes and lab experiments and found that feminine-named hurricanes cause significantly more deaths than do masculine-named hurricanes. This is because hurricane names lead to gender-based expectations about intensity and severity which in turn guides people's intentions to take protective action. A stunning finding on the effects of gender stereotypes.
6y ago Our psych class repeated an experiment where half the class held a pencil in between their teeth, and the other half balanced on their top lips. We then rated how funny we thought a comic strip was. Turns out using face muscles associated with smiling (pencil between teeth) made the comic strip subjectively funnier then those associated with frowning (pencil balanced on top lips). Choosing to smile or frown can change how you feel and perceive life.
Sunny_Roller 6y ago If people have the upper hand they will put others down to keep it. An experiment told a class of kids that having blue eyes meant you were smarter, achieved more etc. All of a sudden kids with blue eyes formed their own groups. Things like bullying and exclusion of other eye colours started too. They repeated the experiment with different eye colours in different classes, all with the same results.
there_ARE_watches 6y ago Subjects were tested for introvert versus extrovert personality types. Prediction was that when placed in a sensory deprivation chamber the introverts would be able to handle it easily while the extroverts would not. Exactly the reverse was found. Introverts became agitated quickly and performed all manners of self- stimulation. Extroverts quickly went to sleep. What the finding showed was that it's introverts who are the sensation seekers, needing stimulation from the outside world. Extroverts create their own internal sensation and project that out to the world.
SuperBeastNoobSlayer 6y ago Edited 6y ago In his book on morality, I believe, Sam Harris cites an experiment done with patients who had a corpus calloscotomy (a surgical treatment where the communicating nervs of the two hemispheres of the brain are cut in order to stop sever epileptic seizures). A sheet is placed between the eyes of a patient and on the side that isn't conscious there will be a text reading Stand up and leave the room. The patient proceeds to stand up and walk away, at which point he/she is asked why they are leaving. The patient will
MarmosetSweat 6y ago Split brain studies. One example: by providing differing information to each hemisphere of the brain in split brain individuals (those with a severed corpus callosum, meaning there's no communication between the two hemispheres) they found that people would actually physically grab their own hand with their other hand if they saw it making a mistake. Basically each side of the brain controls one side of your body, and in split brain people you can actually make both sides display a disagreement with the other... which is insane, if you think about it.
gerik_sinovercos 6y ago Edited 6y ago Solomon Asch's experiment on conformity. Не set up a test wherein he would show 3 lines of different lengths to 5 or 6 individuals (I forgot the exact number) who had to state which line was the longest of the 3. The thing is, only the last individual is the participant and the others are actors paid to answer in a specific manner. For the first few questions, they choose the correct answer, but later on they start choosing the wrong one. The participants are conflicted as to whether they will say the correct
Extrasherman 6y ago One time I participated in a paid research experiment. | was basically tricked into thinking I was drunk. I was placed in a room with 2 other people and we were instructed to drink vodka with cranberry juice over a period of time while we socialized. After we drank I was placed in a room where I had to read some flashing words on a computer. I felt pretty drunk at this point. When the researcher came back into the room he gave me my car keys and said I was never actually given alcohol. Не briefly
EH ehbacon23 6y ago I'm late but nobody has said it yet. The self-fulfilling prophecy studies are very important to social psychology and their findings have many real world applications. Basically they brought together a group of kids and formed a class with a real teacher. They gave the kids a test for overall academic skill at the start of the course, but didnt really use the scores. Instead they told the teachers that a few students, picked at random, were very brilliant and scores very highly. They then observed the class for a long period of time and noticed
EverydayBro23 6y ago It's more neurological, but I was doing some research on the paranormal and stumbled upon a study done by a famous neurologist known as Michael Persinger. His study was known as the God Helmet, wherein he constructed a helmet that would stimulate the right temporoparietal junction of the brain (...I believe?) with very specific electromagnetic frequencies. Subjects reported feeling a divine or evil presence, some felt depressed, some were anxious; the results were extremely varied, but no one was told that such results would occur, making it an absolutely fascinating piece of evidence against the existence of
hateboresme 6y ago The Three Christs of Ypsilanti Psychologist forces three people who believe that they are Jesus Christ to live together. It does not go well. The psychologist, Milton Rokeach, had heard of a case where two women who believed that they were Mary, mother of Christ, were forced to live together and one of them broke free from their delusion. So he figured, three Christs...what would happen. They were angry at each other. Often had physical fights. They eventually started getting along by avoiding the topic. Не would ask them about the others and each would say that
6y ago Edited 6y ago Mice were put on two sides of a wall with a door in. Only the right mouse could open the door. Slowly, they filled the left mouse's room with water and eventually when right mouse saw them in danger, they opened the door. However, mice that had previously been on he left side and were now on the right (mice who had previously been wetted) opened the door considerably faster because they knew how unpleasant it was to be in the other scenario. Basically mice have empathy
Ginger_Underlord 6y ago White rats and black rats were raised separately without seeing each other. When a black rat was placed in the white rats cage, the other rats ostracized him. When white and black rats are raised together and a new black rat is placed in a cage, the white rats accept him. So basically rats are racist, unless raised to accept differences.
Buniny 6y ago The monster experiment! Although it is horrible how they left the children with mental health issues at the end, this experiment gave very good insight to how to parent a child. On this experiment, they took groups of orphaned children and separated them into 3 groups. One was the control, the second were told they has a lips and were doing bad, and the third was told that their speech was perfect. As the experiment went on, group 2 began developing lisps after being berated constantly. They became shy and reserved. They were scared to speak because
MegosAlpha 6y ago I'm a huge fan of Milgram's Small World Experiment. It is more sociology than psychology, but I still think it is really cool. Milgram sends out 160 letters containing the name and address of a stockbroker in Boston to people in Omaha, Nebraska. They had to send it to someone they thought would get the letter closer, but they couldn't mail it directly to the stockbroker. Interestingly, most people that sent on the letter sent it on to the same group of people on the 5th degree. It only took 6 people (hence the six degrees of
6y ago Edited 6y ago Aron and Dutton (1974) - Misattribution of arousal. Men who had just walked across bridge (either steady or unsteady) were approached by a female psychology student, posing to do a project on the effects of exposure to scenic attractions on creative expression. The men had to complete a questionnaire and write a short dramatic story about a picture she provided and she gave them her phone number if they had more questions. Men who walked across the shaky bridge were more likely to call her up because they misattributed the arousal from the bridge to the

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