Research
All Classic Psychology Research
Read classic psychology studies organized by methodology, findings, and significance.
John B. Watson · 1920
Little Albert Experiment
· Johns Hopkins University
A shocking experiment that infused fear into a 9-month-old baby. Albert, who liked rats, came to fear anything furry.
Philip Zimbardo · 1971
Stanford Prison Experiment
Social Psychology · Stanford University
An infamous experiment stopped in 6 days. Ordinary students became sadistic monsters when assigned the role of "guards".
Harry Harlow · 1958
Harlow's Monkey Experiment
Developmental Psychology · University of Wisconsin
Proved "love" matters more than food using monkeys. famous for its cruelty but showed importance of contact comfort.
Simons & Chabris · 1999
The Invisible Gorilla
Cognitive Psychology · Harvard University
A gorilla walks through the screen and half the people miss it! Shows how easily our brains are fooled.
Roger Sperry · 1960
Split-Brain Experiment
Neuroscience · Caltech
Two minds in one body? Patients with severed corpus callosum revealed left and right brains have different "wills".
Stanley Milgram · 1961
Milgram Obedience Experiment
Social Psychology · Yale University
"I was just following orders." Can normal people torture others? 65% administered "fatal" shocks.
Ivan Pavlov · 1897
Pavlov's Dog
Learning Psychology · Military Medical Academy
Discovered that dogs "predict" food. Bells making dogs salivate won him a Nobel Prize.
Solomon Asch · 1951
Asch Conformity Experiment
Social Psychology · Swarthmore College
Would you ignore your own eyes to agree with the group? 75% did at least once.
Albert Bandura · 1961
Bobo Doll Experiment
Learning Psychology · Stanford University
Children see, children do. Kids who watched adults beat a doll did the same, often more creatively.
Martin Seligman · 1967
Learned Helplessness
Clinical Psychology · University of Pennsylvania
Dogs taught "it's hopeless" gave up even when they could escape. A breakthrough in understanding depression.
David Rosenhan · 1973
Rosenhan Experiment
Clinical Psychology · Stanford University
Can healthy people get into a mental hospital? 8 faked it, got in, and couldn't get out for 19 days.
Walter Mischel · 1972
Marshmallow Test
Developmental Psychology · Stanford University
One marshmallow now, or two later? A simple test for 4-year-olds that predicted their future success.
Darley & Latané · 1968
Bystander Effect
Social Psychology · Columbia University
38 witnesses watched a murder? The study triggered by Kitty Genovese showed more people = less help.
Leon Festinger · 1959
Cognitive Dissonance Exp
Social Psychology · Stanford University
Paid $1 vs $20 to lie. Who believed their own lie? The $1 group. The brain tricks itself to match actions.