Basic psychology experiments. Milgram Experiment: Summary, Strength & Weaknesses 2022-10-27

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Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior, and it has been an important field for centuries. One way that psychologists have learned about the mind and behavior is through experiments, which allow them to test hypotheses and understand the factors that influence human behavior. There have been many different psychology experiments conducted over the years, but some stand out as particularly influential or interesting.

One classic psychology experiment is the Stanford prison experiment, conducted in the 1970s by Philip Zimbardo. In this experiment, Zimbardo recruited a group of college students to participate in a simulated prison environment. The students were randomly assigned to be either guards or prisoners, and the experiment was intended to last two weeks. However, the experiment had to be terminated after just six days because the behavior of the guards became increasingly abusive and the prisoners became distressed and depressed. This experiment demonstrated the power of social roles and the influence of the situation on behavior.

Another influential psychology experiment is the Asch conformity experiments, conducted by Solomon Asch in the 1950s. In these experiments, Asch presented participants with a series of lines of different lengths and asked them to identify which line was the same length as a standard line. However, the majority of the other participants (who were confederates of the experimenter) gave the wrong answer on purpose, and the real participant was asked to give their answer last. The results showed that many of the real participants conformed to the incorrect answer given by the majority, even when it was clearly wrong. This experiment demonstrated the power of social influence and the tendency for people to conform to the beliefs of others.

Another well-known psychology experiment is the Milgram obedience experiment, conducted by Stanley Milgram in the 1960s. In this experiment, participants were asked to administer electric shocks to another person (who was actually an actor) when they answered a question incorrectly. The shocks were progressively increased in intensity, and the participant was told by the experimenter to continue administering the shocks, even when the actor appeared to be in pain. The results of this experiment showed that many participants were willing to administer potentially harmful shocks to the actor, simply because they were told to do so by an authority figure. This experiment highlighted the power of authority and the willingness of people to obey authority figures, even when their actions may be harmful.

These are just a few examples of the many influential psychology experiments that have been conducted over the years. While these experiments may have their limitations and may not be directly applicable to real-world situations, they have helped psychologists to better understand the factors that influence human behavior and have contributed to our understanding of the mind and behavior.

28 Psychological Experiments That Revealed Incredible And Uncomfortable Truths About Ourselves

basic psychology experiments

Children in groups A-C were told that if they were unable to wait fifteen minutes before eating, they would only be able to eat their less preferred treat between the pretzel and the marshmallow. Find a published study that you find intriguing, and then come up with some questions that require further exploration. How does the attractiveness of the person in the photo correlate to how participants rate other qualities? He convinced the students to attend a rally where he claimed the announcement of a Third Wave presidential candidate would be televised. But every time Little Albert would see the white rat, the researchers would play a scary sound of hammer and steel. The participants in the study were then asked to explain why they had chosen this particular picture and why they found the woman attractive. Those in less of a hurry offered more help, as many as 63% of the subjects in the low hurry condition stopped to offer assistance.


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Milgram Experiment: Summary, Strength & Weaknesses

basic psychology experiments

. For one participant the experiment had to be cut short because they had started having a seizure. Magical Number Seven Study Conducted by: George A. Case studies often fall into this group. One of the most important implications this finding has is that adult fears are often connected to early childhood experiences. Nisbett and Wilson found that on physical appearance alone, 70 percent of the subjects rated the teacher as appealing when he was being respectful and irritating when he was cold. Imagine, for example, that a group of researchers is interested in how shoppers in large grocery stores are affected by whether breakfast cereal is packaged in yellow or purple boxes.

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Great Psychology Experiment Ideas to Explore

basic psychology experiments

Obedience to authority is simply ingrained in us all, from the way we are brought up as children. Journal of Applied Psychology, 4, 25-29. While psychology has always been around, it has evolved just as we have. The results of the study highlight how children learn behaviors from observing others. This experiment had people alone in a room filling out a questionnaire, when smoke starts coming from under the door. While the wire mother provided food, the cloth mother provided only softness and comfort.

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Basic Psychology: Definition, Theories & Principles, Examples

basic psychology experiments

Source: upvotes 5 years ago Created by potrace 1.  In one building, they completed a questionnaire, then they were instructed to go to another building to give either a talk on jobs, or a talk on the story of the Good Samaritan. For more information click here 8. The issue we are confronting is that of external validity. One of the surrogate mothers was made purely of wire. Social psychologists Bibb Latané and John Darley popularized the concept following the infamous 1964 murder in New York City.

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6.1 Experiment Basics

basic psychology experiments

For their contributions to psychology, Watson, Bandura, Nisbett and Zimbardo were all awarded. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. Singer Study Conducted in 1962 at Columbia University Experiment Details: In 1962 Schachter and Singer conducted a ground breaking experiment to prove their theory of emotion. Even though conditions were strictly controlled, the laboratory experiment is an artificial situation and this might factor into how the participants behaved. Control of Extraneous Variables An extraneous variable is anything that varies in the context of a study other than the independent and dependent variables. In the study, 21 out of 22 nurses 95% were heading to give the drug to the patient before being intercepted by the researchers.

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Experimental Method in Psychology

basic psychology experiments

To try and prove that children would copy an adult role model's behaviour, he separated participants into groups. Experimental research is a scientific method of gathering data whereby the one conducting the research is able to manipulate the independent variable. It pays to be open to new evidence. Participants are randomly allocated to each independent variable group. Examples include psychoanalysis, behaviourism, humanism, cognitivism, and functionalism.

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Controversial and Unethical Psychology Experiments

basic psychology experiments

Perhaps most importantly, some of these controversial experiments led directly to the formation of rules and guidelines for performing psychology studies. Published studies are a great source of unanswered research questions. Two groups of workers in the Hawthorne factory were used as guinea pigs. Quasi-experimental Research Design Quasi-experimental research design is when subjects are not randomly assigned to the experimental or control group. Reliability and validity Reliability measures the consistency, verifiability, or repeatability of a study. On the other hand, validity measures the relative precision or accuracy of the conclusions drawn from a study. Ask for pointers on finding a good experiment topic for the specific assignment.

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The 25 Most Influential Psychological Experiments in History

basic psychology experiments

The results showed that high ratings of a particular quality influences the ratings of other qualities, producing a halo effect of overall high ratings. He understood the fundamental factor that if there is something of interest near humans, they generally look at it. This is essentially and most effectively , done through the medium of conducting experiments. It is still recognized as one of the most influential psychological experiments for understanding human behavior. Assess how each model was rated and how weight bias may have influenced how they were described by participants. Further, the study showed that individuals would continue with their roles to the point that they would exert physical punishments on others.

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