Famous Psychological Experiments
Experiment↕ | Researcher↕ | Year↕ | Finding↕ | Ethical Status↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Classical Conditioning | Ivan Pavlov | 1897 | Animals can be conditioned to associate a neutral stimulus with an automatic response | Acceptable for era | Pavlov's dogs salivating at the sound of a bell |
Little Albert Experiment | John B. Watson | 1920 | Emotional responses can be conditioned in humans | Unethical by modern standards | Conditioning a baby to fear a white rat |
Milgram Obedience Study | Stanley Milgram | 1961 | 65% of participants delivered maximum shocks when instructed by an authority figure | Highly controversial | Demonstrating blind obedience to authority |
Stanford Prison Experiment | Philip Zimbardo | 1971 | Social roles and power structures can dramatically alter behavior in days | Unethical, terminated early | Guards becoming sadistic, prisoners becoming submissive |
Asch Conformity Experiments | Solomon Asch | 1951 | 75% of participants conformed to an obviously wrong group answer at least once | Mild deception | Showing the power of social conformity pressure |
Bobo Doll Experiment | Albert Bandura | 1961 | Children imitate aggressive behavior observed in adults | Acceptable | Foundation of social learning theory |
Marshmallow Test | Walter Mischel | 1972 | Children who delayed gratification had better life outcomes decades later | Acceptable | Testing delayed gratification in children with marshmallows |
Harlow's Monkey Experiments | Harry Harlow | 1958 | Infant monkeys preferred comfort over food, proving contact comfort is essential | Unethical by modern standards | Wire vs cloth surrogate mother experiments |
Robbers Cave Experiment | Muzafer Sherif | 1954 | Intergroup conflict arises from competition; cooperation reduces hostility | Ethically questionable | Boys' camp study on group conflict and prejudice |
Cognitive Dissonance | Leon Festinger | 1957 | People change attitudes to reduce discomfort from conflicting beliefs | Acceptable | The boring task paid $1 vs $20 study |
Learned Helplessness | Martin Seligman | 1967 | Repeated exposure to uncontrollable events leads to passive acceptance | Unethical for animals | Dogs that stopped trying to escape shocks |
Bystander Effect | Darley & Latane | 1968 | People are less likely to help when others are present | Mild deception | Inspired by the Kitty Genovese case |
Hawthorne Effect | Elton Mayo | 1924 | Workers' productivity increased simply because they were being observed | Acceptable | Showing that observation itself changes behavior |
Zimbardo's Time Perspective | Philip Zimbardo | 1999 | People's orientation toward past, present, or future shapes decisions | Acceptable | Time Perspective Inventory questionnaire |
Strange Situation | Mary Ainsworth | 1970 | Infants show secure, avoidant, or anxious attachment styles | Acceptable | Classifying infant attachment styles |
Invisible Gorilla | Simons & Chabris | 1999 | People miss obvious events when focused on something else | Acceptable | Inattentional blindness — missing a gorilla on screen |
Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes | Jane Elliott | 1968 | Arbitrary discrimination based on eye color created real prejudice in children | Controversial | Classroom exercise demonstrating racism |
Rosenhan Experiment | David Rosenhan | 1973 | Healthy people admitted to psychiatric hospitals were not detected as sane | Ethically complex | Questioning reliability of psychiatric diagnosis |
Split-Brain Experiments | Roger Sperry | 1960 | The two hemispheres of the brain have specialized functions | Acceptable (surgical patients) | Nobel Prize-winning work on brain lateralization |
The Good Samaritan | Darley & Batson | 1973 | Being in a hurry was the strongest predictor of not helping someone in need | Mild deception | Seminary students stepping over a person in distress |
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