Ethics, morals, and legalities do appear to get in the way of a good psychological experiment these days. Instead, they appear to have been replaced by other experiments exploring bizarre extremes, such as Candid Camera, The Jerry Springer Show, and Tony Blair. Briefly described here are a few of the classic and great psychological experiments of times past. To learn more about these, follow the links provided, they will all open in a separate window.
The “Little Albert” Experiment
The experiment was a landmark in psychology experimentation and the evolution of psychological research ethics.
History here (Wikipedia)
Stanford Prison Experiment (1973)
Philip Zimbardo
Legend has it that it was Philip Zimbardo’s girlfriend who stopped this experiment after just six days of the possible two weeks. Arriving on the scene on day five, Christina Maslach witnessed the depraved scenes raw rather than filtered through days of desensitisation. Zimbardo and Maslach later married.
Zimbardo constructed a mock prison in the basement of Stanford University. Twenty-four carefully screened volunteers were randomly assigned the roles of “prisoners” or “guards”. Within two days, four prisoners were released due to severe emotional distress, rage, depression, crying, and anxiety, and a fifth developed a psychosomatic rash.
Most guards appeared to enjoy their roles and showed no inclination to stop. Prisoners were offered “parole” in exchange for forfeiting payment; only two refused. Although participants were free to leave at any time, none simply quit, instead, they applied for parole, demonstrating the power of social roles and obedience.
“None of the guards ever failed to come to work on time… some went far beyond their roles to engage in creative cruelty and harassment.”
Philip Zimbardo – Official Website
Barlow & Durand’s Sexual Anxiety Experiment
Described in Abnormal Psychology, this experiment explored sexual performance anxiety using pornography and electric shocks. Participants were divided into three groups: one relaxed and watched the film, one faced a 60% chance of shock regardless of arousal, and the third faced a 60% chance of shock if they failed to reach an average level of arousal.
The third group, under performance pressure, achieved the highest arousal levels.
I leave it to the NLP practitioner to draw the conclusions.
Rosenhan’s Fake Psychiatric Patient Study
“On Being Sane in Insane Places”
In 1973, David Rosenhan sent eight healthy volunteers into psychiatric hospitals, claiming to hear voices saying “empty”, “hollow”, and “thud”. Once admitted, they behaved normally and waited to be released.
The average hospital stay was nineteen days. None of the pseudo-patients were identified as sane; all were discharged with a diagnosis of “schizophrenia in remission”. Normal behaviours were routinely interpreted as pathological.
A follow-up study saw psychiatrists falsely identify dozens of real patients as impostors, despite no pseudo-patients being admitted.
The Stanford Prison Experiment – Still powerful after all these years
Milgram’s Obedience Experiments
“The experiment must continue,” the researcher told the nervous subject.
Beginning in 1961, Stanley Milgram demonstrated how ordinary people could be persuaded to administer what they believed were severe or fatal electric shocks to others, simply because an authority figure instructed them to continue.
Approximately two-thirds of participants delivered the maximum shock level, despite visible distress. Variations showed that obedience increased when authority was physically present and when victims were distant.
Stanley Milgram – The man, his passions and motivations