Ten Most Revealing Psychology Experiments!
Read all these instructions carefully before beginning!
Go to this link about the Ten Most Revealing Psychology Experiments and read through the summaries of all ten of them.
Select one of the experiments that you think is interesting. Click on the link in the summary to start your research about that experiment. (the link to #3 is broken, but you can use this link to get started.) Read through the information and seek out other information online. There may be good YouTube videos or other sources you should investigate. You can also look up some of the experiments or the experimenters in your textbook.
In your comment to THIS BLOG POST please do the following to complete the assignment:
1. Summarize the experiment. Include who did it, when they did it, where they did it, and what they did.
2. Explain the importance of the experiment to our understanding of human behavior. Why do you think the experiment is considered a valuable insight into the way people think and/or act?
3. Give one example of how the experiment can be applied to everyday life. You can use yourself or someone you know in the example, or make up an example that you think the experiment might apply to in normal life.
4. At the end of your post include all sources (full URLs, please) and sign the post with your first name and just the initial letter of your last name (for example: Phillip D.)
5. To send your comment please click the "Name/URL" option and put your first name and last initial in the "Name" box. Don't fill in the URL box.
I suggest that you write your comment in Word or other program first so you can check your spelling etc. and then just paste it into the comments at the end of this post.
Your post should be 3 to 5 paragraphs long and should demonstrate some original thinking on your part. Do not cut-and-paste or copy any text directly.
Your comment will not show up on the blog until close to the due-date, as I want everyone to approach the project without being biased by seeing the posted work of others in the class. If you aren't sure if your comment went through you may e-mail me and I'll let you know. Please don't keep re-sending it over and over.
If you have any questions please e-mail me. I usually reply to e-mails within a day or two. Before sending me an e-mail, please read my "How to email a teacher" post from my biology blog ... really. http://cantorsbiologyblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-send-e-mail-to-teacher-really.html
Keep working on the rest of your summer assignment from the Bernstein Textbook and the Phineas Gage book.
23 comments:
The Asch Conformity Experiment was an experiment conducted by Solomon Asch throughout the 1950’s. The point of this experiment was to observe the effect that peer pressure by a group of people could have on one person. This experiment consisted of 8 people, 8 young males to be precise, who were asked a series of questions about visual discrimination. 7 of these men were confederates, who were given what answers to say beforehand in order to pressure the one real participant into giving a wrong answer. The subjects were seated around a table, shown two sets of lines, and told to match up the correct lines with each other. Even though the real participant knew the correct answer, he changed his answer to conform to the groups answers 33% of the time.
Why is this? Because, as humans, we don't like to not fit in. We don't want to be the odd one out in the group. This experiment gives us insight into the human mind and why it is that we do the things we do when it comes to peer pressure. It is also a clear example of conformity, which is changing your beliefs to match others. Sometimes we know the right thing to do, but we don't do it because we don't want to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves. Also, sometimes we have a fear of our answer being wrong, so we just agree with everyone else just in case.
This is displayed in common everyday situations. For example, suppose there was a business meeting at your job where you are brainstorming ideas for a new marketing campaign, or something of the sort. One of your colleagues comes up with a brilliant idea, and everyone is ready to agree and accept his idea as the new campaign. However, you see a very crucial flaw in this idea; What will you do? Some people would bring up this flaw, but most people would just let it go because everyone else thinks the idea is great and you don't want to go against what everyone else thinks. This demonstrates the whole point of Asch’s experiment: Peer pressure, intentional or not, affects our actions and thoughts.
Sources
Explorable- http://explorable.com/asch-experiment
Simply Psychology- http://www.simplypsychology.org/asch-conformity.html
Psycho Hawks- http://psychohawks.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/real-studies-asch/
Psychologist George Miller pointed out in 1956, the theory of the “magic number 7” as the amount our brains can hold in our short term memory; plus or minus two. In an article, he pointed out seven being the limitation of working memory.
I believe that this experiment connect us with knowing how much we can actually remember. Sometimes humans think there is an issue with their memory because they can remember certain words, actions, events, sentences, etc. When Miller examined short term memory tasks, he came to a conclusion that a human brain can hold about seven chunks in the short term memory. If items are stored into groups or chunks, does the memory actually hold more even if it’s only seven? The answer is yes, George Miller implicated that the more items you have the harder it is to remember them especially if it exceeds seven; yet the more groups you put them in the easier it is to remember and you’ll be able to remember all of it.
For example;
Try remembering ten individual numbers like this; 9514560123.
A little too difficult? That’s because since our brain can only store up to seven items in our short term memory and there are ten numbers, that’s an extra three that will not make it into your memory.
If you break them into three chunks like this; (951)(456)(0123) it’ll be easier to remember if you group them together and this is the experiment that Miller did to show how you can have more seven items but by grouping them together it makes it easier to remember.
Sources
http://www.intropsych.com/ch06_memory/magical_number_seven.html
In the Robbers Cave experiment, researched by Muzafer Sherif, a total of three experiments were conducted in order to prove the theory of social identity; Something similar to the famous book by William Golding “Lord of the Flies”. This experiment took place in the University of Oklahoma. A total of 24 boys around the age of 12 were taken into the Boy Scouts of America camp which was surrounded by the Robbers Cave state park. This experiment was perform in order to show how one very selective group’s identity is adopted and how that affects them into being prejudice and harsh towards outsiders.
This experiment was broken down into three parts: the first one was the groups against a common enemy, the second was the groups ganged up on the researchers and the third the groups turn on each other. This experiment would also help us figure out how ones attitude can contribute to a group acting a certain way. How certain status of hierarchies can mock the other group into striving for the best. And in that strive being willing to do whatever it takes. While at the camp the researchers made individual games that each member could win without the group with prizes such as trophies and badges. This made the kids turn against each other. This experiment can help us with understanding how the mind works in competitions and in the antagonism for being better than others.
I been to camp before and we were divided into three groups the blue, the red, and the green group. It was said the red group had never lost, so you were lucky if you were put in the red group, but I go the blue group. Throughout the camp weeks the red group always thought of themselves as better but when they saw that the blue and green groups weren’t as weak as the past groups they started messing with us. Threading us and taking our stuff, cheating and doing anything with very strong attitudes. You can say that the human mind is set out to always look at competition as a test show yourself how good you are. You will always find your true capacity and your true strength when the time is right when you have to prove a certain attitude to society or more important yourself.
J.M
In the 1950s Solomon Asch conducted the Asch Conformity Experiment. This experiment was conducted to see effects of peer pressure on a person. In the experiment eight people were asked a series of questions on visual perception. Seven of the eight participants were confederates, actors if you will. These confederates were told to give the wrong answer to see if the actual participant were to conform. The results showed that 1/3 of the actual participants conformed and said the wrong answer.
This happens because us humans are very social people. we want to be liked. We wouldn't want to do anything that would cause people to look at us weird or to ridicule us. Humans do anything and everything possible to fit in, even if it goes against what we know is right.
This happens in everyday life. for example. For example on the play ground you and your friend are bullying this kid. You know it's not right but you're there doing it anyway. Why? Because you want to fit in. You don't want your friends to make fun of you or look at you weird. So you do what everybody else does. this proves Asch's experiment correct peer pressure affects the way you think and act.
-Alexandria V.
Sources:
http://explorable.com/asch-experiment
http://www.simplypsychology.org/asch-conformity.html
http://vimeo.com/46254784
The Stanford Prison Experiment was an experiment conducted by Psychologist Philip Zimbardo in California in August 1970's. The experiment took place in the basement of the Stanford’s Psychology Department. The reason for the experiment was to show how a regular person that has never had any felonies could change the way they behave, and think if given too much power or being humiliated, and tortured for a few days. The experiment consisted of 24 regular college students with good health and no past crime history. The students were split into two groups that were determined by flipping a coin. Half of the students became guards and the other half became prisoners. The experiment was meant to last 2 weeks but had to be called off because it was getting too violent. The prisoners started to believe that they were actual prisoners and started to have bad behaviors on the second day. Some became psychologically ill. They were given numbers and more than half actually thought that they were that number and would identify themselves by it. The guards started torturing the prisoners by making them do push-ups for long a period of time. They would put prisoners in a dark room for several hours. Made the prisoners go against each other. It got to the point where the guards would do pornographic acts to the inmates at night when they thought no one was watching them. It was like an actual prison because it was the same torture that actual guards would do to real prisoners. Even Dr. Zimbardo got into the role of being the superintendent. 2 prisoners were released because they became ill.
How can 24 regular non-violent college students become into violent people? It is because they got confused of what went on and got traumatized. If you give power to someone that has no idea how to use it then he/she will take advantage of it. The guards never had training on how to treat the prisoners or how to behave themselves, so how did they end up torturing the inmates just like if they were in a real prison. So many times the inmates were told that they were their number that they started believing it themselves. Once the prisoners started to listen to the guards the guards started to get bored and tried to have action. They violated the prisoners when they thought that no one would be watching the cameras and would punish the prisoners at any time of day or night they wanted. If you would take away all the rights away from a normal human and start treating them like an animal how would you expect to turn out? Not so normal right? The prisoners were suffering from emotional stress. This experiment shows how even a regular human would be capable of doing awful actions if they were placed in a place where there is always violence and would be treated like an animal. They would no longer be good but evil. Yes, prisoners need to learn a lesson but by torturing them will not help in anything, on the contrary it will make it worse.
This experiment has revealed the reason of why there are riots in prisons against the guards and family members having their own riots outside in the streets. It would be because their friends, or family members are being treated horrible with no rights of any sort. They are being tortured and that causes stress and anxiety and could even cause death. For example, suppose there is a regular innocent student around the age of 16. He is put into a jail for days, weeks, months, or even years for something he didn’t do. All of what is going on inside that jail will influence him. That innocent teen that has never done anything wrong will turn into a troublemaker. He will get into fights, and disrespect anyone. He will become violent and he will not be the same person when he gets out of jail as the person that went into the jail the first day. He will no longer be a good kid. He will get beaten and come out evil.
http://www.prisonexp.org/psychology/
http://www.apa.org/research/action/prison.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZwfNs1pqG0
Indyra R.
War of the Worlds Giovanni G
In the radio drama War of the world’s broadcast left many Americans thinking that actual life forms from mercury were attacking America. Writers Howard Knoch and Anne Froelick were mainly responsive for the panic spread in west Windsor Township, New Jersey over a radio broadcast. The broadcast was announced at late night in October 30, 1938 (Halloween) a perfect night for a fright. Strange lights in the sky, aliens coming from mercury and attacking America, left many Americans in New Jersey to believe everything they just heard was all real.
The experiment showed just how well the human mind reacts to certain situations. The broadcast was heard over the radio just after War War 2 the aftermath of that war still left many Americans frighten and in fear that another disaster like that can occur again. Reports on the panic showed that some who panic thought that Germans were the ones attacking instead of the aliens. Robert E. Bartholomew says that “the action that people took was based on their fear scant and anecdotal” I believe this to be true. Seeing people panic over what they hear over the radio and knowing that it was fictional, still made them panic and have outburst over the town. The fear that they had already build in their minds lead them to believe that the invasion was very real.
An experiment like this can be applied to those who have come back from wars and to people who have had bad experiences. For example fireworks being shoot up to the skies can make a veteran think that its shootings from the war. Having certain condescend already to them are like a reflex that is learned and done unconcisely by the human mind. Many people today have conditions that are already set in their minds to believe. Like when their taking a shower and hear the toilet flush they back up cause they know cold water will come out. This experiment shows that the human mind takes situations that happened and have you believe that hearing things or seeing something will make that situation happen again.
This assignment has made me go more in depth in this panic caused by a broadcast in October 30, 1938 It has showed me how exactly the human mind could work when it comes to situations that are already put in our minds to believe. Like the fact how people believed that German soldiers were attacking America instead of the supposed aliens from mercury. I found this assignment interesting to do research on.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio)
http://history1900s.about.com/od/1930s/a/warofworlds.htm
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/0617_050617_warworlds.html
Giovanni G.
The Stanford prison experiment that took place on August 14, 1972 at Stanford in the basement of the psychology building done by, psychologist Dr. Philip Zimbardo was studied with a group of 24 college individuals whom had no differences and were split randomly into 2 groups by a flip of a coin. Half were guards, and the other half prisoners. This experiment measured the levels of evil that any normal individual can absorb, under the right conditions.
Many may wonder, why do such an experiment? My answer to this question is thinking about all the different sorts of human behaviors a prisoner has to face. For example the prisoners that were used in this case, they became numb upon their own personality, they forgot the person they were after they were daily remarked upon by a simple number they were given. These 9 prisoners became someone they didn’t even know. In the beginning of this experiment it was said how the men where given smocks with their prison ID number in the front and back, a chain placed on their right ankle that was to be worn at all times, and a stocking cap they had to wear. They minimized individuality, due to the fact that many may express it by their hairstyle or length. The moment they had this sudden change of clothes, and environment they began to act differently, from the way they walked, sat and even the way they carried themselves, As if they were women.
What about the guards, were they not just as innocent? Indeed, the guards had no specific rulings regarding to their role, although they did take it quite serious after feeling the over empowerment with the prisoners. It proves how a simple label of either being a “prisoner” or a “guard” can manipulate yourself into thinking your either better or less than the rest. In this case in particular two prisoners became ill and quit the experiment, but when it came to the guards none of them either quit or gave up. They obviously enjoyed their role of power. This is when things began to come out of hand, and they began to severely punish the prisoners, put them inside the dark room for several hours and even make them go against each other. The guards came to a point where they forgot this was all an experiment; the level in which they had taken their role to was unbelievably high. These 24 innocent individuals were becoming tremendously ill and the violence was becoming worst, causing this experiment to end at a six-day point instead of the 2 weeks.
This particular experiment can be applied to everyday life in my opinion. For example in schools; we are all expected to minimize our individualism by wearing the school uniform, to all the security guards we are just “students” we are all viewed as a group all together, and we are expected to be a group. But that isn’t the case; there are bad students and good students in the school. Obviously the environment of the school makes it appear as if we all are bad but those are just misinterpreted judgments. “It isn’t just the bad apples that cause evil, but a bad barrel.” Everyone is a good person, its just a matter on how influenced you become with what surrounds you.
sources:
http://www.prisonexp.org/psychology/18
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2007/04/11/problem-evil-why-do-ldquogoodrdquo-people-do-bad-things/
The Stanford Prison Experiment, which was researched by psychologist Philip Zimbardo, had a deep affect to all who were a part of it. Zimbardo started off by dividing 24 participants into two groups, “prisoners” and “guards.” The candidates answered an ad in the newspaper explaining the experiment and were interviewed and given personality test to eliminate people with psychological problems, medical disabilities, or a history of crime or drug abuse. The “prisoners” were then taken from their homes on Sunday, August 14 1971 and underwent the process of an actual arrest from being searched and handcuffed, to getting formally booked and thrown into the mock-up jail in a fake prison under Stanford University. The Guards, which were given clubs, then had to handle the prisoners and keep them under control until the two weeks for this experiment were up. On the second day, the prisoners rebelled and the guards reacted with brutality. After a few days, the prisoners were depressed and obeyed on command, while the guards were embracing the power as they abused and mocked the others. The experiment was cut short on the 6th day due to the increasing level of abuse.
This experiment is important to our understanding of human behavior because as humans, when given a role, we try to embrace it, yet most when given a role of authority get corrupted by the power that comes with it. With this experiment both groups lost track of who they were before the experiment and the roles they played. The experiment is valuable insight to the way humans think because the role penetrates your heart, body, and soul in a way you can learn to connect to it fully, and as this happens the capacity of understanding that role increases to an amount that it makes you feel like we are that person. The prisoners embraced the role so much that they presented themselves as “prisoner #___” instead of their own names. The guards took the power so far to their heads that they would humiliate and threaten the prisoners anyway possible.
This is portrayed in everyday life mostly at a young age when playing a normal game such as cops and robbers. Children assign themselves roles that they could emphasize until the game ends. This game is played mostly by boys, the boy that takes the role of the cop enforces his own law and imitate police officers they’ve seen in life or on television. They believe in body, soul, and mind that they are an authority figure while playing this game. While the other boy wanted to take the role of the thief because of the thrill of being rebellious. The boy cop gets corrupted by the power given to him by the role and begins to twist the game rules in his favor allowing him to win. The experiment reaches this part of life by showing the change in people in order to “win” in life. A boy cop or a guard can do as they want to make sure the robber boy or prisoner doesn’t get power in anyway.
Sources: http://www.prisonexp.org/psychology/33
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment
Gema M.
The experiment that caught my attention was The Robbers Cave experiment. This study was carried out by Muzafer and Carolyn Sherif. It took place a boys scout camp, surrounded by Robbers Cave State Park Oklahoma, in the summer of 1954. The purpose of this experiment was to study how prejudice and conflict build up between two groups. The two hypothesis of this experiment were: Hypotheses 1: When strangers are put together or come together to work as a team or group; they have/set common goals. Each person plays a role in the group or they rank each other, for example choosing someone as their leader. Hypothesis 2: if two groups are formed and are out in a competition, they will become rivals. Their attitude and actions amongst each other will change.
This experiment consisted of 22 boys within the age of 11 or 12. They were chosen from similar backgrounds. They were to be adjusted in a psychologically, normal physical development and the same year of schooling. The boys were divided into two groups; in a way that both groups where balanced in physical, mental and social talents. There were three stages in the experiment: Stage 1: Within a few days of the experiment both groups come up with a name for their group; without being aware of the others team’s existence. Stage 2: as both groups have an encounter they become distance and verbal abuse is noticed. The tension, frustration, and attitude grew. Stage 3: was to try to bring them together, to interact without any tension.
This experiment just shows how we as humans develop prejudice, tension, awareness against others naturally. These boys weren’t told to dislike the other group nor were they told rumors of the other group for them to grow tension and attitude. We as humans label people and want to be better than others that surround them.
As I read the experiment I was reminded of how in school we, students, are separated into groups in many of our classes most of the time; whether it’s just for a fun activity a presentation, a project or even a sport. Most of the time we do go through all the stages, we come up with a group name, there’s a rise of tension and attitude towards each other sometimes because we don’t like the other group or because we want to be the best of the best. And yes in the end we are still class mates and continue been friends. It’s also the same for people outside of school, small businesses, big companies, chains of companies, even the government.
http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/psychology/social/sherif_robbers_cave_experiment.html
http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/09/war-peace-and-role-of-power-in-sherifs.php
-Gema M.
American Social psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted the Obedience to Authority experiment in the United States in 1961. Questioning the human behavior as to how far will someone go even if it goes against their own morals and beliefs. If an authority figure orders them to do cruel things such as: Kill and torture. In that time many were aware of what the Germans did to the Jews. But not many thought as how Milgram did, he wanted to figure out how did Hitler get so many followers to do the cruel things that were done to the Jews. If we think critically all those followers weren't people that had already criminal records. They were normal citizens from Germany with morals and values like us.
To study this Milgram took different subjects man or women and a actor. The way it was set up was so that one would be the “Teacher” and the other would be the “Learner” (being the actor). The teacher would ask questions to the learner and if the learner answered incorrect then they were told to give the actor a shock. The shocks went from fifteen to four hundred and fifty volts. No one was hurt in the experiments because there were recordings of the actor screaming out in pain at a certain point. Which is when it gets interesting because we get to see the teachers reaction whether they continue, stop or refer to the main authority in the room (the experimenter). As a result all referred to the experimenter worried and questioning whether they should continue. Of course the experimenter lets them know its apart of the experiment they need to continue. Many continue while only you can estimate 3% leave the lab room. After the experiment is done they interview the “teacher” as to why they continued or why they left. Many said “I'm doing my part, that's what I had to do.”
What's interesting about this experiment is because not only in the 1960s were there cases of people doing many cruel things. We have recent cases such as the Boston Marathon. As they managed to investigate who were the minds behind the bombing. They go to find out that these guys were normal adults. They went to school, were in clubs, friends of theirs couldn't believe they were behind this because to them they were nothing but regular students/people. If we look in the case of Milgrams he would say that someone with the authority influenced for them to act this way. So the younger brother was somehow influenced by the older brother. Not only that, but how was the brother influenced by this? Well from information gathered they have records of the older brother going to Russia and in a Muslim Russian group. That influenced things against the american ways such as fourth of July Independence day. Making that be his higher authority and so on. Milgrams experiment can be used in so many different cases such as these.
"The Milgram Experiment - YouTube."YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2013. .
website : http://nature.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/7article/article35.htm
"Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph?" Is the question psychologist Philip Zimbardo was trying to answer when he planned a two week experiment that only lasted six days. This experiment is the Stanford Prison experiment; held at Stanford University during the summer of 1971; with the help of 24 guys. These guys had no difference in personalities nor in health issues. They were then divided in half to be guards or prisoners based on the flip of a coin. The prisoners met with a former prisoner of 17 years to get a feel for what to expect. Once everyone knew there place within the experiment; which was nine guards and nine prisoners, three prisoners per cell and three guards at a time working eight hour shifts. Moments later the experiment began with minimizing one's individuality: prisoners were stripped naked for search, smocks with no clothes underneath, right ankle with a chain and bolted on, rubber sandals and it was bald or wear a stocking cap.
The importance of this experiment was to see if you can place good people in a bad atmosphere. Through this experiment every person fail to continue to overcome the evil that was standing in front of them. On the second day the rebellion started and the guards ended it by using fire extinguishers to demand the prisoners to move back, they then took the clothes, bed, and all other privileges away. The guards then came up with a better idea; those who really weren't involved in the rebellion will be place in the privileged cell and were able to get back everything. As days went on the abuse started to get worst, but not only from the guards now, but from other prisoners because they put "privilege" prisoners with the "bad" prisoners. Their use of a restroom was a bucket in their cell and the guards were the ones who decided if it should be empty. Later on with prisoners starting to self destruct things started to fall apart for everyone. The roles of the guards and prisoners started to become a reality and no longer just an experiment. Some prisoners lost all self esteem and felt they really were bad and the ID # was no longer just a number; it was them now. While guards started to eat themselves alive for the brutal behavior they have done to these people. This experiment was ended early because the good in every individual was no longer there.
In today's everyday life this happens all the time and even in prisons still today. There's only so much a good person can take before they become just as evil as the person or thing that got them that way. The most common example I see today is the privilege aspect of the experiment. To get people to behave a certain way they use the privilege card. Like many parents use the privilege card how to act instead of force. For example all these kids can be playing outside but since you didn't listen when your mother said to be quiet while she was taking an important call; you can't go outside and play with those kids. So now you are trying to be on your best behavior so your mother can change her mind and let you go outside. After some time has pass and you still aren't outside, the evil in you comes out because you already know you aren't going to get your way. That's what happen in this experiment they took good prisoners and gave them their stuff bad, other prisoners started acting right and got their stuff back too and some didn't seem to care to make it that far and continued to be bad. The power of evil is greater than most.
http://www.prisonexp.org/psychology/2
-Salena C.
The Asch Conformity Experiment was a lab experiment that attempted to demonstrate how humans’ opinions are affected and influenced by the popular or general opinion around them. This experiment was done by Solomon Asch in the United States. In 1951, fifty young males were subject to a line judgment task, which consisted of determining which of three choices was closer to the control line. Individually, the men were put in a room along with 7 confederates; however, the confederates’ answers had been previously set. The participants were to give their answers after all the confederates had provided a, most likely, wrong answer. This led to solid results to confirm the theory of the experiment.
After the experiment was done, 75% of the participants had conformed with the confederates’ answer at least once, and only 25% of them never conformed. It was concluded that the participants changed their opinions because they wanted to fit in or because they believed the group was more informed. With this experiment, it was proven that the pressure to be conformed can change human beings’ opinions. This experiment, however, was proven to lack validity because all of the participants were young males; therefore, with more mature or female participants, the results would have been different. Also, the experiment took place during the 1950s, which was a decade of conformity, making the experiment lack reliability.
Nevertheless, this experiment played an important role in the theories of conformity. Regardless of its minor errors, Asch proved a theory that continues happening, especially within young people. The experiment was highly controlled, so it provided consistent results. In the experiment, it was also figured out why people conformed, not just that they did. There was reasoning behind the results, which gave it proper importance. Because of the experiment, more experiments were done to prove this theory. Until today, it’s seen every day that people conform because of the same reasons shown in the Asch Experiment.
Today, an example of conformity would be the behavior of teenagers. Teenagers everywhere get involved in considerably bad things, such as drugs, gangs, etc. It happens because they don't want to be the only one not doing what the rest of the crowd is doing. Regardless of moral values, many teenagers do what their peers are doing. If they don't, they think they will not fit in, they won't be looked at the same, and they wouldn’t be a part of the crowd. Somehow, all of us try at some point to just go with the crowd because of normative influence. The theory proven in the Asch experiment still relates to today. Therefore, it was an effective, argument-developing experiment that still holds true today.
Sources:
http://www.simplypsychology.org/asch-conformity.html
http://explorable.com/asch-experiment
http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/psychology/social/asch_conformity.html
-Karla L.-
The expression “tangled in a web of lies” is basically saying you lie once you must lie again in order not to reveal the first lie. After a while of lying so much you might begin to believe your own lie. This is called Cognitive Dissonance-(is a discomfort felt when he/she has two or more conflicting ideas and in result tries to change them). In 1959 Psychologists created and experiment with level on level of deceit, to test how much a person would lie to themselves and even convince another person of this lie in which they believe is the truth. In many other experiments cognitive dissonance has been confirmed as a capacity in which we are willing to alter our own beliefs in order to fit in with society or a certain group. Maybe one day we can learn to ignore our own lies instead of the truth.
• -Who: Aronson, E. & Mills, J., Festinger, L. & Carlsmith, J.M.
• -When: 1959
• -What: tested cognitive dissonance with woman and sexual content. Also with forced compliance.
This experiment has valuable insight to the way we as people think because the fact that we are able to alter the truth and believe it, as well as convince others is remarkable. Once something is in our heads we consider it truth but when someone is trying their hardest and Is giving you more to believe in, wouldn’t you believe it to?
This experiment can in fact be applied in everyday life. Let’s say I was in trouble and I covered up with a lie. I needed to convince everyone I haven’t done anything. After going along with the same story I began to believe it myself and have to add to the lie. In the end I couldn’t tell the truth from my lie. With this experiment I believe it would depend on the situation, in order to see how people react with the truth and the deception.
SOURCES-
• http://brainz.org/ten-most-revealing-psych-experiments/
• http://www.psychwiki.com/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance_theory
• http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Cognitive_dissonance_is_a_term_that_refers_to
• And never forget http://www.google.com/
-Precious A.
Now the topic I choose to write upon was the Stanford prison experiment. This took place on August 14, 1972. It was taken and done in the basement of the psychology building. This was done by Dr. Philip Zimbardo; he was a psychologist. The way he arranged for this was by having 24 individuals split into 2 groups by flipping a coin. The individual’s chosen were half prisoners and the rest guards. The experiment was to base it on how much evil anybody can take within them selves at a good condition.
The start of this experiment was that it said men were given smocks with their ID from prison. (Front & back) they had to wear a chain on ankles and hat they wore. Basically a prison uniform. During this experiment they gave the prisoners a change of their own routine by providing them with new clothing. Once they have done this prisoners behaviors changed drastically their mood and way of thinking. You could say they sort of cleaned up pretty tight when a new change took place.
What about the guards? Oh the guards had a role in it too. During the experiment they still had their role as guards but they took it a bit to far forgetting this was just a project to be tested. They would take their power into a whole new level of power. Their mentality was that since they are the bigger men they have the right to do whatever they want. They would abuse their power for wrong and abused the prisoners. For example make them go into dark rooms for hours, and make them fight ne another. This experiment was getting out of hand too much violence and abuse and more was happening then usually does. It was too bad that it ended 6 days instead of the full 2 weeks they had it planned out for.
For me this was a good type of experiment to do because everyone every human being has different ways to responding in their behaviors. Especially in this case they were taking behaviors from prisoners. In my opinion what a better way to measure their behaviors when they go through so much in prison and have to face.
This could be taken into every day life because for example when a parent leaves to work late and has children and leaves the oldest one in charge and whatever he says “goes” no that’s wrong. The reason why is because the older one enforces that into his mind and thinks he has more power then the younger ones. So he will use the power he has to make everything work “smooth” and “better”. So this was a good experiment on the changes of the human behavior and the ways our mind enforces things at a certain level.
-Anfernee I.
Sources ..
Sources: http://www.prisonexp.org/psychology/33
http://www.prisonexp.org/psychology/2
Now the topic I choose to write upon was the Stanford prison experiment. This took place on August 14, 1972. It was taken and done in the basement of the psychology building. This was done by Dr. Philip Zimbardo; he was a psychologist. The way he arranged for this was by having 24 individuals split into 2 groups by flipping a coin. The individual’s chosen were half prisoners and the rest guards. The experiment was to base it on how much evil anybody can take within them selves at a good condition.
The start of this experiment was that it said men were given smocks with their ID from prison. (Front & back) they had to wear a chain on ankles and hat they wore. Basically a prison uniform. During this experiment they gave the prisoners a change of their own routine by providing them with new clothing. Once they have done this prisoners behaviors changed drastically their mood and way of thinking. You could say they sort of cleaned up pretty tight when a new change took place.
What about the guards? Oh the guards had a role in it too. During the experiment they still had their role as guards but they took it a bit to far forgetting this was just a project to be tested. They would take their power into a whole new level of power. Their mentality was that since they are the bigger men they have the right to do whatever they want. They would abuse their power for wrong and abused the prisoners. For example make them go into dark rooms for hours, and make them fight ne another. This experiment was getting out of hand too much violence and abuse and more was happening then usually does. It was too bad that it ended 6 days instead of the full 2 weeks they had it planned out for.
For me this was a good type of experiment to do because everyone every human being has different ways to responding in their behaviors. Especially in this case they were taking behaviors from prisoners. In my opinion what a better way to measure their behaviors when they go through so much in prison and have to face.
This could be taken into every day life because for example when a parent leaves to work late and has children and leaves the oldest one in charge and whatever he says “goes” no that’s wrong. The reason why is because the older one enforces that into his mind and thinks he has more power then the younger ones. So he will use the power he has to make everything work “smooth” and “better”. So this was a good experiment on the changes of the human behavior and the ways our mind enforces things at a certain level.
-Anfernee I.
Sources ..
Sources: http://www.prisonexp.org/psychology/33
http://www.prisonexp.org/psychology/2
According to Leon Festinger, when we are asked to perform tasks against our prior feelings, beliefs or values cognitive dissonance is created. In 1959, psychologists, Leon Festinger and James Carlsmith put that to the test. Both male and female students were asked to do a boring task such as turning pegs. Each student was either paid one dollar or twenty dollars, to the upcoming participating student that the task was actually interesting and enjoyable. The majority of the participants agreed to lie to the next participant that the boring task would indeed be fun.
This type of behavior displayed through Festinger and Carlsmith experiment shows very valuable insight on human behavior. It shows how easily a person can tell a lie that is against their prior feelings and beliefs but manage to convince themselves that the same exact lie they told is the truth. It's impeccable and this was proven by the participants who were paid one dollar. They experienced dissonance by believing that the tasks were actually enjoyable and fun then those who were paid to lie for twenty dollars.
The Cognitive Dissonance experiment can easily be applied to everyday life because lying is simply apart of everyday life. So sad but very true. For example, suppose I bought a set of bracelets from Target and I would wear them frequently. Therefore, time after time people would ask me where did I get my bracelets from. Instead of me telling the truth and say Target, I tell everyone I got it from Coach. Now, as I tell the lie more and more it's going to seem to me that I really did buy my bracelets from Coach. As a result the more a lie is told eventually becomes to the truth to us even if it's far from it.
Sources:
http://www.psychwiki.com/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance_theory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=korGK0yGIDo
http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html
http://brainz.org/ten-most-revealing-psych-experiments/
Leon Festinger describes his theory on cognitive dissonance in 1956, in a book he created called, When Prophecy Fails. Leon Festinger says when we are asked to perform tasks against our prior feelings; beliefs or values cognitive dissonance is created. Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory says that we have liked an inner storage or space to hold all our attitudes and beliefs in peace and to avoid and dissonance. Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors. The procedure leads to a feeling of discomfort that leads to an alteration in one of our attitudes, beliefs or behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance. For example, when people smoke, an example of behavior and they know that smoking causes cancer for them. The attitude of someone may change depending of the factors within that person. The theory starts from an idea that we seek dishonesty in our beliefs and attitudes in any situation that we face and where two cognitions are inconsistent.
Cognitive Dissonance affects many people and the way they think because if one person lies to another person they are causing both their feelings and their beliefs to alternate each other causing the ie to become true to both people. Lying isn’t good but everyone does it and it affects everyone because one lie could lead to another then another and it may not stop because people are believing what you are saying and once you are realizing that you were doing wrong then you cannot be able to tell the actual truth because every believed that your first lie was actually the truth. Dissonance or also known as dishonesty makes people act different towards other because one lie could change the whole situation and then people start to act and are acting to make their lie seem like the truth and it would actually work and then that person is going to keep acting different just to cover the lie.
The Cognitive Dissonance experiment can easily be applied to our everyday life because lying is simply a part of everyday life and even thou we all don’t try to do it, it would come out and unfortunately we all do it. For example, suppose one day I bought a 5 new jeans from Wal-Mart and I would wear a different one each day. Therefore, time after time people would ask me where did I get my jeans from and Instead of me telling the truth and telling them I bought it at Wal-Mart, I’ll tell everyone I got it from Express. Now, that I told a lie, more and more it's going to seem to me that I really did buy my jeans from Express. As a result the more a lie is told eventually becomes to the truth to us even if it's far from it. And even thou one day we are going to fill guilty about lying then it’s going to be hard for our to tell the truth because everyone isn’t going to believe you because u told them a lie which for them it was the truth.
Sources:
• http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html
• http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/cognitive_dissonance.htm
• http://www.ithaca.edu/faculty/stephens/cdback.html
Stanley Milgram did a research in 1974 about the effect of authority on obedience in New York. He had teachers and then “learners” which were actors. The teachers were told to ask the “learners” questions. If the “learners” got the question wrong then the teachers would have to shock them. The shock levels went from 15 to 450 volts. They were also labeled as “slight shock” to “danger”. The “learners” were asked to pretend they were getting shocked. They wanted to see how the teachers would react to this experiment.
During the experiment some teachers did not want to continue with the experiment which Milgram found that to be normal, but there were more teachers that continued with the experiment. Some of the teachers that continued felt bad for what they did. Some other teachers that continued blamed the experimenters. Then the teachers that did not finish the experiment felt they were accountable to a higher authority. This experiment was important because it shows us how most people would go through with something under presser and some would not do something they don’t want to under presser.
This experiment can be applied to everyday life because a lot of students are falling for peer presser. Most students do things because they think it will make they look cool or because they are trying to fit in. Not a lot of students will stand up for what they really believe in because they are concerned about what other people think instead of being you. You can find a lot of students going through this in middle school, high school, and even college. We should all stand for what we believe in and not have to worry about what someone else thinks.
sources:
http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/7article/article35.htm
-Yariel G.
The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted by Psychologist, Philip Zimbardo on August 1972 for a two week period. The experiment consisted of 24 healthy, intelligent, middle-class males. Zimbardo wanted to observe the psychological effects of prison life having no criminal record, disabilities, medical conditions, or drug abuse. These men were divided into two as prisoners and guards by a flip of a coin. Stanford University basement was turned into a “prison” where the prisoners were arrested, searched, shaved their head, wear smocks, heavy chain on their ankle, and other abuses giving them identical appearance. The guards were given clubs with unlimited power. These men had no experience on how a prison is run. On the second day the prisoners rebelled and the guards used violence. Prisoners removed their numbers placed on the smock, placed their bed against their cells barricading themselves. Having no experience in this situation they used violence to stop the riot. The guards successfully tamed the prisoners and were behaving according to their expectations. Guards were brutal to the inmates leaving them to starve, no time to use the restroom, keeping the locked in their “cell’, harass them and many abuses to intimidate them. The prisoners were broken and their personality began to change. Nobody knew who they were anymore. They saw themselves as a number. When interviewed by a catholic priest to evaluate how realistic the prison was, it was unexpected. Half of them introduced themselves as their number not name. They wanted a lawyer to help them get out of their situation. A prisoner had to be removed because it was too much. He began to cry hysterically and wanted medical help instead of talking to the priest. The brutality of this experiment caused psychologist Philip to end it after six days.
This experiment was a good way to show how these men personality change when being exposed in a different atmosphere and having to acquire a role. At first the guards used violence to protect themselves. They had no other way stop the riot just being brutal towards them and it worked. Once they knew they had the power they treated them how they pleased. Prisoners were powerless. They surrendered to the guards and be obedient towards them. A number is what they became. In prison their identity was gone leaving the guards to be powerful. The prisoners had to way to get the guards. Guards used their ‘weapons’ to keep them in line and keep their ‘prison’ running. Situations like these happen in real life. There are police officers who abuse their power and make the ‘delinquent’ look like they weren’t following the law. Some are accused of raping women and beating citizens making excuses to justify their actions. Power can lead people to change their personality for their personal gain.
http://www.prisonexp.org/psychology/1
Ivette T.
The Asch experiment conducted by Solomon Asch in 1951 in a test environment was designed to test how peer pressure to conform would influence the judgment of a test subject.
The importance of the experiment to our understanding of human behavior is to show how perfectly normal human beings can be pressured into unusual behavior by the consensus of opinion around them.
An example of how peer pressure would influence judgment to conform would be school. When you come to school you are your own person however , you would probably like to make friends so you might see kids acting or dressing a certain way in groups ,you may think their happy or that you have to be just like them or do the things they do. You don’t know it yet but you have probably assimalated to the kids around you just because it is what you see.
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