2 psychological experiments that shocked the world

Psychology is a very broad field to study because it consists of many small specific areas. Countless psychological experiments are conducted in each of them, designed to prove or disprove theories and hypotheses that excite the minds of psychologists around the world.

Among the many studies, there are those that have had a strong influence on the psychological community for decades. They serve as beacons for many psychologists.

Author: Jane Elliott. When: 1968, Iowa, USA

Details of the experiment: the author's research was prompted by the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the unusual life he led.

Third grade teacher Jane Elliott developed an exercise that was supposed to help her students understand the consequences of racism and national prejudice.

Elliott divided the class into two groups: students with blue eyes and students with brown eyes. On the first day, she designated the blue-eyed group as the highest, and from that moment on, children with blue eyes had additional privileges.

She did not allow groups to interact and constantly emphasized the negative characteristics of brown-eyed children.

The experiment showed that the behavior of children changed almost instantly. Children with blue eyes not only achieved great results in their studies during the experiment, but, in addition, they began to mock their brown-eyed classmates.

The brown-eyed group showed low self-confidence and worse academic performance.

At the next stage, Elliott changed the roles of the two groups, and the situation repeated exactly the opposite.

At the end of the experiment, the children were very excited, they cried and hugged each other. They unconditionally agreed that people should not be judged by their appearance.

This experiment has been repeated many times with similar results, it is considered one of the best psychological experiments in history.

Author: Dr. Solomon Ash. When: 1951, Pennsylvania, USA.

Details of the experiment:

Solomon Ash conducted a groundbreaking study designed to prove that a person will meet the standard when there is a need. No one had conducted such psychological experiments before him.

A group of participants were shown photos with lines of different lengths, and then asked a simple question: which line is the longest?

The trick of the study was that in each group only one person was a real participant. The rest were actors, fake ducks with a scenario of behavior.

Most of the actors were instructed to give the wrong answer. Oddly enough, the real participant almost always agreed with the majority, although he knew that he was answering incorrectly.

The results of this study are important when studying social interactions between people in groups. This study is an example of how people try to meet the standards of society, forgetting about themselves.

People care more about being the same as others than about being right.