The most famous psychological experiments on people

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Scientists began conducting various psychological experiments in the middle of the 19th century. Those who are convinced that the role of guinea pigs in such studies is assigned exclusively to animals are mistaken. People often become participants, and sometimes victims of experiments. Which of the experiments became known to millions, went down in history forever? Consider the list of the most notorious.

Psychological experiments: Albert and the rat

One of the most scandalous experiments of the last century was conducted by John Watson in 1920. This professor is credited with founding the behavioral direction in psychology, he devoted a lot of time to studying the nature of phobias. The psychological experiments that Watson conducted, for the most part, involved observing the emotions of babies.

Once, an orphan boy Albert, who at the time of the experiment began, became a participant in his study.only 9 months. Using his example, the professor tried to prove that many phobias appear in people at an early age. His goal was to make Albert feel fear at the sight of a white rat, which the kid enjoyed playing with.

Like many psychological experiments, working with Albert took a long time. For two months, the child was shown a white rat, and then they were shown objects visually similar to it (cotton wool, a white rabbit, an artificial beard). The infant was then allowed to return to his games with the rat. Initially, Albert did not feel fear, calmly interacted with her. The situation changed when Watson, during his games with the animal, began to hit a metal product with a hammer, causing a loud knock behind the orphan's back.

As a result, Albert became afraid to touch the rat, the fear did not disappear even after he was separated from the animal for a week. When the old friend was again shown to him, he burst into tears. The child showed a similar reaction when he saw objects that looked like animals. Watson managed to prove his theory, but the phobia remained with Albert for life.

Fight against racism

Of course, Albert is not the only child subjected to cruel psychological experiments. Examples (with children) are easy to cite, say, an experiment conducted in 1970 by Jane Elliott, called "Blue and Brown Eyes." A schoolteacher, under the influence of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., decided to demonstrate to her wards the horrors of racial discrimination onpractice. Her test subjects were third-grade students.

She divided the class into groups based on the color of their eyes (brown, blue, green), after which she suggested treating brown-eyed children as members of an inferior race who did not deserve respect. Of course, the experiment cost the teacher her job, the public was outraged. In angry letters addressed to the former teacher, people asked how she could treat white children so ruthlessly.

Artificial prison

It is curious that not all known cruel psychological experiments on people were originally conceived as such. Among them, a special place is occupied by a study by Stanford University employees, which received the name "artificial prison". Scientists did not even imagine how destructive for the psyche of the subjects would be an "innocent" experiment, staged in 1971, authored by Philip Zimbardo.

The psychologist intended through his research to understand the social norms of people who have lost their freedom. To do this, he selected a group of student volunteers, consisting of 24 participants, then locked them in the basement of the psychological faculty, which was supposed to serve as a kind of prison. Half of the volunteers took on the role of prisoners, the rest acted as guards.

Strikingly, it didn't take long for the "prisoners" tofeel like real prisoners. The same participants in the experiment, who got the role of guards, began to demonstrate real sadistic inclinations, inventing more and more bullying over their wards. The experiment had to be interrupted ahead of schedule in order to avoid psychological trauma. In total, people stayed in the “prison” for just over a week.

Boy or girl

Psychological experiments on people often end tragically. Proof of this is the sad story of a boy named David Reimer. Even in infancy, he underwent an unsuccessful circumcision operation, as a result of which the child almost lost his penis. This was taken advantage of by psychologist John Money, who dreamed of proving that children are not born boys and girls, but become such as a result of upbringing. He persuaded the parents to consent to the child's gender reassignment surgery and then treat him like a daughter.

Little David was given the name Brenda, until the age of 14 he was not informed that he was a male. In adolescence, the boy was given estrogen to drink, the hormone was supposed to activate breast growth. After learning the truth, he took the name Bruce, refused to act like a girl. Already in adulthood, Bruce underwent several operations, the purpose of which was to restore the physical signs of sex.

Like many other famous psychological experiments, this one had dire consequences. For some time, Bruce tried to improve his life, even got married and adopted his wife's children. However, psychological trauma comes fromchildhood has not gone unnoticed. After several unsuccessful suicide attempts, the man still managed to lay hands on himself, he died at the age of 38. The life of his parents, who suffered from what is happening in the family, turned out to be destroyed. Father turned alcoholic, mother also committed suicide.

The nature of stuttering

The list of psychological experiments in which children became participants is worth continuing. In 1939, Professor Johnson, with the support of a graduate student, Maria, decided to conduct an interesting study. The scientist set himself the goal of proving that parents who "convince" their children that they are stutterers are primarily to blame for stuttering in children.

To conduct the study, Johnson assembled a group of more than twenty children from orphanages. The participants in the experiment were told that they had problems with speech that were absent in reality. As a result, almost all the guys withdrew into themselves, began to avoid communication with others, they really began to stutter. Of course, after the end of the study, children were helped to get rid of speech problems.

Many years later, some of the members of the group most affected by Professor Johnson's actions received a large cash settlement from the State of Iowa. The brutal experiment was proven to be a source of severe psychological trauma for them.

Milgram Experience

Other interesting psychological experiments were carried out onpeople. The list can not be enriched with the famous study, which was carried out in the last century by Stanley Milgram. A Yale University psychologist tried to study the functioning of the mechanism of submission to authority. The scientist tried to understand whether a person is really capable of doing things that are unusual for him, if the person who is his boss insists on this.

The participants in the experiment Milgram made his own students who treated him with respect. One of the group members (the student) must answer the questions of the others, who alternately act as teachers. If the student was wrong, the teacher had to give him an electric shock, this continued until the questions ended. At the same time, an actor acted as a student, only playing the suffering from receiving current discharges, which was not told to other participants in the experiment.

Like the other human psychological experiments listed in this article, the experience produced amazing results. The study involved 40 students. Only 16 of them succumbed to the pleas of the actor, who asked to stop shocking him for mistakes, the rest successfully continued to discharge discharges, obeying Milgram's order. When they were asked what caused them to inflict pain on a stranger, not suspecting that he was not really in pain, the students did not find what to answer. In fact, the experiment showed the dark side of human nature.

Landis Research

Held and similaron Milgram's experience of psychological experiments on humans. Examples of such studies are quite numerous, but the most famous was the work of Carney Landis, dating back to 1924. The psychologist was interested in human emotions, he set up a series of experiments, trying to identify common features in the expression of certain emotions in different people.

Voluntary participants in the experiment were mostly students whose faces were painted with black lines, allowing you to better see the movement of the facial muscles. Students were shown pornographic materials, forced to sniff substances endowed with a repulsive odor, and put their hands into a vessel filled with frogs.

The most difficult part of the experiment was killing the rats, which the participants were ordered to decapitate with their own hands. The experience gave amazing results, like many other psychological experiments on people, examples of which you are now reading. Approximately half of the volunteers flatly refused to carry out the professor's order, while the rest coped with the task. Ordinary people, who had never before shown a craving for torturing animals, obeying the order of the teacher, cut off the heads of living rats. The study did not allow us to determine the universal facial movements inherent in all people, but it demonstrated the dark side of human nature.

Fight against homosexuality

The list of the most famous psychological experiments would not be complete without a cruel experiment staged in 1966. Popular in the 60sacquired the fight against homosexuality, it's no secret that people in those days were treated forcibly from interest in members of the same sex.

The 1966 experiment was set up on a group of people who were suspected of having homosexual inclinations. Participants in the experiment were forced to view homosexual pornography while being punished for it with electric shocks. It was assumed that such actions should develop in people an aversion to intimate contact with persons of the same sex. Of course, all members of the group received psychological trauma, one of them even died, unable to withstand numerous electric shocks. It was not possible to find out whether the experience was reflected in the orientation of homosexuals.

Teenagers and Gadgets

Psychological experiments on people at home are often done, but only a few of these experiments become known. A study was published several years ago, in which ordinary teenagers became voluntary participants. Schoolchildren were asked to give up all modern gadgets for 8 hours, including a mobile phone, laptop, TV. At the same time, they were not forbidden to go for a walk, read, draw.

Other psychological experiments (at home) did not impress the public as much as this study. The results of the experiment showed that only three of its participants managed to withstand the 8-hour "torture". The remaining 65 "broke", they had thoughts of leaving life, theyexperienced panic attacks. The children also complained of symptoms such as dizziness, nausea.

The bystander effect

Interestingly, high-profile crimes can also be an incentive for scientists who conduct psychological experiments. It is easy to recall real examples, for example, the “Effect of the Witness” experiment, staged in 1968 by two professors. John and Bibb were amazed at the behavior of the numerous witnesses who watched the murder of the girl Kitty Genovese. The crime was committed in front of dozens of people, but no one made an attempt to stop the killer.

John and Bibb invited volunteers to spend some time in the Columbia University auditorium, claiming that their job was to fill out paperwork. A few minutes later, the room was filled with harmless smoke. Then the same experiment was carried out with a group of people gathered in the same room. Further, instead of smoke, records with cries for help were used.

Other psychological experiments, examples of which are given in the article, were much more cruel, but the experience of the "Effect of the witness" along with them went down in history. Scientists have found that a person who is alone is much faster to seek help or provide it than a group of people, even if there are only two or three people in it.

Be like everyone else

In our country, during the existence of the Soviet Union, curious psychological experiments were carried out on people. The USSR is a state in which for many years it was customary not to stand out fromcrowds. It is not surprising that many experiments of that time were devoted to the study of the desire of the average person to be like everyone else.

Children of different ages also became participants in fascinating psychological research. For example, a group of 5 children was asked to try rice porridge, which was positively treated by all members of the team. Four children were fed sweet porridge, then it was the turn of the fifth participant, who received a portion of the tasteless s alty porridge. When these guys were asked if they liked the dish, most of them gave an affirmative answer. This happened because before that all their comrades praised porridge, and the children wanted to be like everyone else.

Performed on children and other classic psychological experiments. For example, a group of several participants was asked to name a black pyramid white. Only one child was not warned in advance, he was the last to be asked about the color of the toy. After listening to the answers of their comrades, most of the unwarned kids assured that the black pyramid was white, thus following the crowd.

Experiments with animals

Of course, classical psychological experiments are not only performed on people. The list of high-profile studies that have gone down in history will not be complete without mentioning the experiment on monkeys conducted in 1960. The experiment was called "The Fountain of Despair" by Harry Harlow.

The scientist was interested in the problem of human social isolation, he was looking for ways to protect himself from it. In his research, Harlow did not use people, butmonkeys, or rather the young of these animals. Babies were taken away from their mothers, locked up alone in cages. The participants in the experiment were only animals whose emotional connection with their parents was beyond doubt.

Baby monkeys, at the behest of a cruel professor, spent a whole year in a cage without receiving the slightest "portion" of communication. As a result, most of these prisoners developed obvious mental disorders. The scientist was able to confirm his theory that even a happy childhood does not save from depression. At the moment, the results of the experiment are recognized as insignificant. In the 60s, the professor received many letters from animal advocates, unwittingly made the movement of fighters for the rights of our smaller brothers more popular.

Learned helplessness

Of course, other high-profile psychological experiments were carried out on animals. For example, in 1966, a scandalous experience was staged, called "Acquired Helplessness." Psychologists Mark and Steve used dogs in their research. Animals were locked in cages, then they were hurt by electric shocks, which they received suddenly. Gradually, the dogs developed symptoms of "acquired helplessness", which resulted in clinical depression. Even after they were moved to open cages, they did not flee from the continued shocks. Animals preferred to endure pain, convinced of its inevitability.

Scientists have found that the behavior of dogs is in many ways similar to the behavior of people who happened to fail several times in one or anotherdeed. They are also helpless, ready to accept their bad luck.