The 40 Studies Thaty Changed Psychology Summaries

BIOLOGY AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR ONE BRAIN OR TWO? In 1967, M.S. Gazzaniga studied the split brain in man. Gazzaniga wanted to study how the two halves of the brain functioned independently. Since it a little unethical to snip the peoples corpus callosums just for fun, it wasn‘t until doctors discovered that cutting the corpus callosum could actually cure severe epileptic seizures that it was possible for Gazzaniga and Sperry to study them. They found that the test subjects’ intelligence, personality, and emotions had not changed. We use each half of our brains for specific skills. Three different tests were designed to check mental capabilities. It was found that the left-brain is better at speaking, writing, reading, and math, and the right brain is better at recognizing faces, understanding spatial relationships, symbolic reasoning, and art. The importance of this study was that it discovered what the different hemispheres of the brain do MORE EXPERIENCE=BIGGER BRAIN In 1972, M. R. Rosenzweig, E. L. Bennett, and M. C. Diamond studied how brains change in response to the experience they’ve had. To study this they used lab rats, each were put in to one of three different environments. The rats were either sent to a normal cage with friends, a luxury cage with friends, or the slums cage all alone. The rats lived there for a couple weeks then they were kelled so their brains could be examined. The rats in the luxury cage had thicker cortexes, larger neurons and more brain activity than the lonely slummy rats. The importance of this study was that it showed that experience does affect the size of parts of the brain

WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED In 1962, C. M. Turnbull the experiences and behavior of BaMbuti Pygmies. Turnbull watched the BaMbuti Pygmies who lived in an extremely thick jungle and didn‘t know of anything other that their environment. He took one of them out to a clearing unlike any place he‘d ever been before and then mountains. The man was unable to describe any of it because there were no words in his language to since they had not know such things existed. He thought that distant buffalo were insects. Because they looked small from so far away, He thought they were small. Turnbull drove him over bison. He thought some magic had grown them from tiny to huge. The importance of this study is that it shows some concepts, like size constancy, are not inborn.

WATCH OUT FOR THE VISUAL CLIFF! In 1960, E. J. Gibson and R. D. Walk studied to find at what point people can perceive depth, using the visual cliff. They made a visual cliff, it looks like a drop off but really theres a clear countertop there so no one would actually get hurt, to tested infants at different ages to see when the babies would stop “walking off the cliff” and perceive that this part was further away. The importance of this study is that it dicover that depth perceotion is an inborn trait but when it is apparent is different for different species, some animals can perceive it right away but human infants can‘t until at least six months.. it at all.

CONSCIOUSNESS TO SLEEP, NO DOUBT TO DREAM In 1953, E. Aserinsky and N. Kleitman studied basic phenomenon about sleeping and dreaming. By observing sleepers, then waking them up to interrogate them in different stages of sleep(but they didn‘t know that is what they were yet). Aserinsky and Kleitman discovered REM sleep. Dement studied the effect of dream deprivation. His tst subjects were hooked up to a sleep measuring maching and whenever they indicated the person had started dreaming they were woken up and made to sit up and prove they were full awake. By then last night of dream deprivation they had to be waken up nearly twice as much to keep them from dreaming. If people are prevented from dreaming one night they will try and get extra dreams in the next night to make up for it. This studies are important because they show when we dream and that we need to dream. WHEN YOU WISH UPON A DREAM… In 1974, R.D. Catwright studied the influence of conscious wishes on dreams. Cartwright thought that if efore sleep you wished about something that pertains to you it would be more likely to occur in your dreams.. Before going to sleep test subjects were asked to repeat “”I wish I were not so____” each time they entered rem sleep they would be woken up and had to describe their dream.most of them dreamed about their target word. This study is important because it shows us we can think (or wish) something into our dreams.

UNROMANCING THE DREAM In 1977, J. A. Hobson and R. W. McCarley studied an activation synthesis hypothesis of the dream process. Hobson and McCarley studied the sleep patterns of mammals. They discovered you are paralyzed(except muscles and nerves controlling eyes) while dreaming, they believe it is to protect sleep. REM happens regularly, and all mammals cycle between REM and non-REM sleep. They found that the bigger the animal the slower the cycle. The importance of this study is that it shows dreaming is not purely psychological, our bodies start the dreaming process, dreaming may just be used as a way to organize our mind and synthesize our thoughts. ACTING AS IF YOU ARE HYPNOTIZED In 1982, N. P. Spanos Studied hypnotic behavior from a social, psychological and cognitive perspective. Spanos concluded that hypnosis is not an altered state of mind but it is actually just the result of motivated and goal oriented social behavior. If we hadn’t learned what is ‘supposed’ to happen with hypnotizing then we wouldn’t be hypnotizable, but since we know and in trying to believfe we make ourselves follow it we make it seem like a true altered state. The importance of this study is that it cleared up confusion of how hypnosis works and makes it understandable, also it proved that it is not an altered state.

LEARNING AND CONDITIONING IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT SALIVATING DOGS! In 1927, I. P. Pavlov studied classically conditioned behaviors. Pavlov’s study with salivating dogs introduced classical conditioning. Classical conditioning takes an unconditioned stimuli that yeilds and unconditioned response and adds a conditioned stimuli that is learned to trigger the conditioned response even when the unconditioned stimuli is no present. Pavlov’s study was to: feed your dog, dog salivates, ring a bell before feeding dog, dog will soon start salivating at bthe sound of the bell ringing , even if food isn‘t accompanying it. The importance of this study is that it taught classical conditioning, one of the fundamental theories of modern psychology.

LITTLE EMOTIONAL ALBERT In 1920 J. B. Watson and R. Rayner studied the classical conditioning of emotional responses. Little albert was allowed to play with a white rat and had lots of fun. Later on whenever Little Albert touched the rat the scientist made a big scary noise. Little Albert learned to associate the big scary noise with his former friend the white rat.now little Albert is afraid of the rat and becomes upset whenever the rat is near. The importance of this study is that it showed us that classical conditioning not only controls behaviors but emotions, as well. KNOCK WOOD! In 1948, B. F. Skinner studied operantly conditioned behaviors. Skinner’s Idea siad that for every situation we have a behavior and there is a consequence for that behavior , either good or bad. Positive reinforcement adds something good, negative punishmane takes away something bad, both strengthening the behavior. Positive punishement adds something bad, and negative reinforcement takes away something good both diminishing the behavior.the Skinner box was used to operantly condition test subjects. The animals thought that maybe because they had turned around 5 times that’s why the food came out even if it would have come out that peck regardless so he ended up with superstitious pigeons just like we have superstitious people who always wear green underwear on game days just because one time they played in green underwear they won the game. The importance of this study is that it showed how we may have come up with ridiculously stupid superstitions through operant conditioning.

SEE AGGRESSION…DO AGGRESSION In 1961, A. Bandurra, D. Ross, and S. A. Ross studied the acting out of aggressiveness being the imitation of aggressive models. Bandura thought that behavior is taught by example, monkey see, monkey do so that’s what he was testing. He was looking to see if children who observe angry parents are more likely to be angry. They found in testing that the children would imitate the violence they had observed. The importance of this study is it showed how dramtically children could obtain a behavior and led to research on the effect of violent games/movies on children.

Intelligence, thoughts, and memory WHAT YOU EXPECT IS WHAT YOU GET In 1966, R. Rosenthal and L. Jacobson studied how expectations affected the results. Classes were given an I.Q. test and the teachers were given the names of students who scored in the top 20% the teachers, but really these were just randomly picked students. The teachers thought these kids would boom and become great minds so they started treating them that way at the end of the year they were retested. The kids identified as bloomers generally did much better the second time around, but it was strongest shown in younger children. Their study gave us the idea of the selffulfilling prophecy. Self fulfilling prophecy being the idea that: you hear expectations, you believe them, you act and fulfill the prophecy your self. When teachers expected the students to perform better, the students did. . The importance of this study is that it gave us the idea of the self-fulfilling prophecy, and we realize we can change things just by believing them so.

MAKING A GOOD IMPRESSION In 1946 S. E. Asch studied how first impressions are formed and what is taken into account. Groups A and B were given descriptions of two different people that were exactly the same except for one word. It was found that the one word would change someone’s entire perception of that person. It was found that some qualities of people are used a central qualities and affect the perspective someone is seen from, while others are just peripheral. The importance of this study is that it showed how differently traits function in our cognitive process of impression formation.

MAPS IN YOUR MIND In 1948, E. C. Tolman studied cognitive maps in men and rats. Tolman used 3 groups of rats and a complex maze. One group received a reward at the end, one received a delayed reward, and the last received no reward. They ran through the maze once a day. The rats receiving the rewards got better and better. They were creating a cognitive map because they wanted the reward. From this it was concluded that comprehensive maps of our social environments are helpful to humans but narrow maps occur when mapper is over motivated or over frustrated. Thie importance of this study is that it showed psychologists used to ignore the role of our thoughts, but Tolman used a few experiments with rats to show that thoughts AND environmental consequences will affect behavior.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES! In 1975, E. F. Loftus studied guiding questions effecting /creating memories

Loftus conducted several experiments and gather that by asking questions that wereauiding, and deceiving we could create memories in people, that they will genuinely start believing. The importance of this study is that it showed memories are not just recalled, but they can be made and manipulated.

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT DISCOVERING LOVE In 1958, Harry Harlow studied the nature of love using monkeys. In his study baby monkeys were given one of two surrogate mothers. One of the moms had a smooth, soft sponge rubber and terry cloth body, a breast providing milk, and inside was a light bulb to give off warmth. The second mom was the same except, instead of a nice comforting body it had a wire mesh body, she was still able to nurse and warm the baby though. One mother could provide contact comfort; the other could not. The importance of this study is that it showed biological needs are not our only priority. Monkeys, even one fed by the wire mother, ended up spending as much time as they could with the soft mother because she provided comfort.

OUT OF SIGHT, BUT NOT OUT OF MIND In 1954, Piaget studied the stages of cognitive development. Piaget studied children of various ages taking a questioning test, what struck him wasn’t the children who got the wrong answer but that children of the same age seemed to use the same process to decide on their wrong answer. Piaget realized that we could not just learn all of our mental abilities, some of them we acquire with age. Piaget get came up with the four stages of cognitive development: Sensori-motor, ages 0-2, Pre-operational, ages 2-7, concrete operational, ages 7-11, and formal operations, age 11 and up. The importance of this study is that it set the stages of cognitive development and we realized there are some things you just are not capable of for a while, as no matter how much you want that six year old to think abstractly he is not yet capable of it. BORN FIRST, BORN SMARTER?

In 1975, R. B. Zajonc and G. B. Markus studied the effect of birth order on intellectual development. First-born children seem to have some similar characteristics, more verbally active, less impulsive, more active, better in school. Another consistent finding was that first-born children tended to do better on aptitude tests. Zujonc suggested that as family size increases the average intellectual climate of the family decreases. However, that would mean an only child would have the highest intelligence and that was not found to be true. The importance of this study is that it showed that the size of a family does affect the intelligence level but they also noted that birth order is not the only thing that determines intelligence, there are many other factors.

IN CONTROL AND GLAD OF IT! In 1976, E. J. Langer and J. Rodin studied the effects of choice and better selfresponsibility in old people. Langer and Rolin found that patients in a nursing home who were given increased responsibility were significantly happier and more active than those in the control group. The importance of this study is we saw how some sense of control over your situation, and self-responsibility over your own life makes you happier.

EMOTION AND MOTIVATION A SEXUAL MOTIVATION… In 1966, W. H> Masters and V. E. Johnson studied sexual responses. Masters and Johnson studied thousands of people having sex in their labs. Now that’s research! They reported that (a) sexual response happens in four stages: excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution. (b) Average penis size is 3″ flaccid and 6″ erect. (c) Flaccid size does not predict erect size. (d) Penis size is a minor factor in sexually stimulating a woman. (e) After orgasm men cannot orgasm again for some time. Women can orgasm again right away. I CAN SEE IT ALL OVER YOUR FACE In 1971, P. Ekman and W. V. Friesen studied facial and emotional intercultural constants. Researchers studied a remote tribe that had never seen movies or pictures or worked with Westerners. Researchers told an emotional story and then asked subjects to point to a photo that showed the right emotion. They found that certain facial expressions are associated with certain emotions across all cultures. LIFE, CHANGE, AND STRESS In 1967, T. H. Hoplmes and R. H. Rahe studied the rate of social readjustment for different life changing events, creating, in the end, the Social Readjustment Scale Researchers found the clear link between stress and illness so well known today. They also ranked the most stressful events. At the top of the list? Death of spouse, divorce, marital separation, jail term, and death of close family member.

THOUGHTS OUT OF TUNE In 1959, L. Festinger and J. M. Carlsmith studied the cognitive consequences of forced agreements. Festinger found that if you do or say something contrary to your attitude, you will tend to change your opinion to make it fit with what you said or did. This is an attempt to resolve “cognitive dissonance.”24

Personality ARE YOU THE MASTER OF YOUR FATE? In 1966, J. B. Rotter studied the internal expectancies for vs. the external control of fate. HOW MORAL ARE YOU? In 1963, L. Kholberg studied development of moral order, and created the six stages of moral development. Kohlberg says that we acquire morality in the different stages of developmet. During premorality, punishment works. During role-conformity, we do what pleases others and keeps order. In self-morality, we take on our culture’s values and form our own. LEARNING TO BE DEPRESSED In 1967, M. E. P. Seligman and S. F. Maier studied learned depression with the failure to escape traumatic shock.

RACING AGAINST YOUR HEART In 1959, M. Friedman and R. H. Rosenman studied the correlation of specific overt behvior patterns with cardiovascular monitoring. It was found that personality traits affect behavior but can also effect our physical health. Someone who is constantly rushed, edgy, and competitive person is more likely to have heart problems. The importance of this is it showed a direct correlation between personality traits and health.

PSYCHOPATHOLOGY WHO’S CRAZY HERE, ANYWAY? In 1973 D. L. Rosenhan conducted studies on being sane in insane place. 8 normal people went to 12 psychological hospitals. They said they heard voices. Besdies that, they acted normally. All the subjects were admitted to all 12 hospitals. All but one was labeled schizophrenic. Rosenhan’s point was that diagnosis has as much to do with the environment of diagnosed as it does with their symptoms. After Rosenhan, diagnosis couldn’t be done in psychological hospitals. Now, people don’t label as quickly.29 YOU’RE GETTING DEFENSIVE AGAIN In 1946, A. Freud identified different defense mechanisms studied by her father. Many of Freud’s ideas have been abandoned. One exception is his idea of defense mechanisms. His daughter, Anne, summarized these theories in The Ego and Mechanisms of Defense. A defense mechanism is something our mind does to protect against anxiety. Anne named a few. With regression, one retreats into younger behavior. In projection, one projects one’s impulses onto other people. In reaction formation, one does the opposite of one’s “bad” impulses). There are others.30

PROJECTIONS OF WHO YOU ARE In 1942, H. Rorschach studied and implemented the use of the inkblot test. Rorschach showed subjects abstract shapes and asked them what the shapes were. Different types of people (depressed, schizophrenics, etc.) gave different types of responses.35 CROWDING INTO THE BEHAVIORAL SINK In 1962 J. B. Calhoun studied the effects of crowding on social pathology Calhoun studied the effects of crowding on lab rats. He found that crowding causes aggression in some, submissiveness in others, sexual deviance, and reproductive abnormalities. Later studies examined the relation between humans and crowding.

PSYCHOTHERAPY CHOOSING YOUR PSYCHOTHERAPIST In 1977, M. L. Smith and G. V. Glass analyzed the effects of counseling and psychotherapy, determined the magnitude of the effect and compare them. They summarized thousands therapy outcomes and found that: getting therapy is better than not getting therapy and, it seemed the type of therapy give didn‘t really matter. The study showed the importance of your expectations for therapy and whether or not your therapist actually cares greatly affect how much therapy helps you

RELAXING YOUR FEARS AWAY In 1961, J. Wolpe studied the systematic growing of tolerance in treatment of neuroses. Wolpes found that he could systematically desensitize you from your phobia. When presented with your phobia(like in picture) form you would also receive a positive stimulus and the photo would become less frightening. The importance of this study is it showed how that we can get rid of phobias through associating them with positive things. PICTURE THIS In 1938, H. A. Murray studied personality tryinjg to “reveal covert and unconscious complexes”. A CHEMICAL CALM In 1978, W. E. Whitehead, B. Blackwell, and A. Robinson studied the effects of diazepam on phobia’s.

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY NOT PRACTICING WHAT YOU PREACH In 1934, R. T. LaPierre studied attitudes and actions. LaPiere’s study questioned whether your attitude really predicted your behavior. LaPIerre traveled, with his Chiniese Friends , across the United States where there was currently much prejudice and discrimination towards anyone of Asian decent. When they traveled to over 251 hotels and restaurants and were only once denied service, but when LaPierre mailed questionnaires to the establishment they had visited asking if they would accept Chinese guests? 51% of the places returned the questionnaire. The importance of this study is it showed our beliefs aren’t always shown in the way we act. THE POWER OF CONFORMITY In 1955 S. E. Asch studied opinions and social pressure, conforming. The test subjects were shown a standard line and several comparison lines. Then, researched asked them to choose the comparison line that was the same length as the standard line. The subjects had been intentionally placed, 9 were confederates then the last person to go was actually being tested. All the other subjects choose the same wrong line. The volunteer was left to choose either what they knoew was right or the obviously wrong one everyone else chose. 75% of volunteers went along with the group atleast . The importance of this study is it shows that we will go along with an obviously wrong answer just because everyone else did, we will doubt our own perceptions so that we are the same as the group. TO HELP OR NOT TO HELP

In 1968 J. M. Darley and B. Latane studied the bystander effect, diffusion of responsibility. In 1964, Kitty Genovese was stabbed in front of her apartment building. There 38 people watched the attack, it went on for 35 minutes before someone called the police. By that point Kitty was dead. This shows the diffusion of responsibility, the were many people around so they all assumed someone else would help. According to the bystander effect if just one person had walked down the street and seen Kitty getting attacked the chances are they would have helped, but when that same one person is one of 30 they think someone else will. The importance of this study is that it revealed to us the bystander efect and diffusion of responsibility. OBEY AT ANY COST In 1963, S. Milgram studied the extremities of compliance when told by an authority figure, obedience. Researchers asked volunteers to electrically shock others ,in a teaching situation, when they answered a question wrongo. The people being “shocked”: had a script to follow they weren’t actually being hurt. 65% of volunteers obeyed the researchers suggestions to keep going with higher and higher levels until they had “killed” the student. The importance of this study s it showed what extreme lengths we will obey someone who is viewed as an authority figure, 65% of these random volunteers obeyed until to murder.