The 4 most interesting psychological experiments

The advancement of psychology as a science has largely depended on different scientific studies and research. These procedures have allowed us to better understand the functioning of the human psyche and provide solutions to various problems and pathologies. However, the methodology has not always fallen within the limits that we consider acceptable. This is precisely what happened in some of the most interesting psychological experiments carried out throughout history.

The acquisition of phobias, group behavior or obedience to authority are some of the central themes of the most well-known and relevant experiments of recent times. Several of them would be impossible to replicate today due to the moral dilemmas posed by the possible harm to the participants.. Even so, the results obtained then continue to have relevance and application today.

Some of the most interesting psychological experiments

Perception and social influence

To what extent do you think others influence your opinions, decisions and beliefs? If you feel relatively free of these conditionings, the following experiment may change your mind.

It was carried out in 1951 by psychologist Solomon Asch. In it, several participants (all of them actors except one) observed pairs of pictures that they had to compare. A single line was shown on the first card, and three appeared on the next; Participants had to identify which of these three lines was identical in length to the first.

As the test progressed, the actor participants unanimously offered incorrect answers; this in order to check what the reaction of the real volunteer was. The surprising thing was to discover how, progressively, He began to respond against his own perception to accommodate group opinion..

The origin of phobias

If you suffer from a phobia, you may have wondered how these irrational fears originate.. Well, one of the oldest and most famous experiments carried out provided us with interesting information in this regard. This is the case of little Albert.

In 1920, psychologist John Broadus Watson tested Pavlov’s classical conditioning in humans for the first time. For it, took an 11-month-old baby who was presented with a white rat while being exposed to an aversive or unpleasant stimulus (the sound of a hammer on a metal bar).

The results showed that the fear response elicited by the noise was associated with the animal; In this way, the mere presence of the rat generated that fear response. Furthermore, this was generalized to other similar elements, such as dogs or rabbits.

Obedience to authority

People We have proven capable of committing true atrocities when we renounce our own judgment in order to obey an authority superior. This is the justification offered by several people involved in the Nuremberg Trials after the Second World War and it is the hypothesis that is tested in Stanley Milgram’s study in 1961, one of the most interesting psychological experiments.

The dynamic was as follows: the participants were assigned to the role of “teachers” or “students” and the former had to read a list of 40 pairs of words to memorize to the latter. These would then have to be able to remember the second word of each pair; and, If they failed, the teacher would give them an electric shock of increasingly greater power..

The teachers did not observe the students while they responded, but listened to their screams (in reality, they were recordings, since the supposed students were accomplices in the study). Alarmingly, it was found that 65% of the teachers applied the maximum shock, despite perceiving the suffering of the counterpart and feel visibly disturbed by it.

Social categorization and discrimination

To understand the dynamics between social groups and the origin of discrimination, Jane Elliott’s famous study called “a class divided” was carried out in 1968.

The children in the classroom were divided based on the color of their eyes. Those with blue eyes were considered superior by the teacher, who openly praised their greater intelligence and allowed them to obtain rewards that their brown-eyed peers could not receive.

The conflicts between both groups did not wait. Children who had always lived in harmony and even shared strong bonds of friendship were facing each other. who they now perceived as different.

The legacy of the most interesting psychological experiments

These psychological experiments and many others carried out over the years have gone down in history. for the surprising nature of its findings and its practical implications. Thanks to them, human thinking, our emotional reactions and our social behavior become less mysterious.

Nevertheless, If all these studies have taught us anything, it is the importance of ethics and critical thinking., both in the laboratory and in daily life. Being aware of why we act in a certain way will help us to have greater control and responsibility over our actions and to direct ourselves day to day in a more appropriate way.

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