Why We do Dumb or Irrational Things: 10 Brilliant Social Psychology Studies
"I have been primarily interested in how and why ordinary people do unusual things, things that seem alien to their natures. Why do good people sometimes act evil? Why do smart people sometimes do dumb or irrational things?" --Philip Zimbardo
Like eminent social psychologist Professor Philip Zimbardo, I'm also obsessed with why we do dumb or irrational things. The answer quite often is because of other people - something social psychologists have comprehensively shown.
Over the past few months I've been describing 10 of the most influential social psychology studies. Each one tells a unique, insightful story relevant to all our lives, every day.
The 'halo effect' is a classic finding in social psychology. It is the idea that global evaluations about a person (e.g. she is likeable) bleed over into judgements about their specific traits (e.g. she is intelligent). Hollywood stars demonstrate the halo effect perfectly. Because they are often attractive and likeable we naturally assume they are also intelligent, friendly, display good judgement and so on.
» Read on about the halo effect -»
The ground-breaking social psychological experiment of Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) provides a central insight into the stories we tell ourselves about why we think and behave the way we do. The experiment is filled with ingenious deception so the best way to understand it is to imagine you are taking part. So sit back, relax and travel back. The time is 1959 and you are an undergraduate student at Stanford University...
» Read on about cognitive dissonance -»
The Robbers Cave experiment, a classic study of prejudice and conflict, has at least one hidden story. The well-known story emerged in the decades following the experiment as textbook writers adopted a particular retelling. With repetition people soon accepted this story as reality, forgetting it is just one version of events, one interpretation of a complex series of studies.
» Read on about Sherif's Robbers Cave experiment -»
The famous 'Stanford Prison Experiment' argues a strong case for the power of the situation in determining human behaviour. Not only that but this experiment has also inspired a novel, two films, countless TV programs, re-enactments and even a band.
» Read on about Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment -»
What psychological experiment could be so powerful that simply taking part might change your view of yourself and human nature? What experimental procedure could provoke some people to profuse sweating and trembling, leaving 10% extremely upset, while others broke into unexplained hysterical laughter?
» Read on about Milgram's obedience studies -»
Many people quite naturally believe they are good 'intuitive psychologists', thinking it is relatively easy to predict other people's attitudes and behaviours. We each have information built up from countless previous experiences involving both ourselves and others so surely we should have solid insights? No such luck.
» Read on about the false consensus bias -»
People's behaviour in groups is fascinating and frequently disturbing. As soon as humans are bunched together in groups we start to do odd things: copy other members of our group, favour members of own group over others, look for a leader to worship and fight other groups.
» Read on about why groups and prejudices form so easily -»
Bargaining is one of those activities we often engage in without quite realising it. It doesn't just happen in the boardroom, or when we ask our boss for a raise or down at the market, it happens every time we want to reach an agreement with someone. This agreement could be as simple as choosing a restaurant with a friend, or deciding which TV channel to watch. At the other end of the scale, bargaining can affect the fate of nations.
» Read on about how communication and threats affect bargaining -»
In social psychology the 'bystander effect' is the surprising finding that the mere presence of other people inhibits our own helping behaviours in an emergency. John Darley and Bibb Latane were inspired to investigate emergency helping behaviours after the murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964.
» Read on about bystander apathy -»
We all know that humans are natural born conformers - we copy each other's dress sense, ways of talking and attitudes, often without a second thought. But exactly how far does this conformity go? Do you think it is possible you would deny unambiguous information from your own senses just to conform with other people?
» Read on about Asch's classic conformity study -»
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Hello! I am loving your posts ... and am wondering what you think of a couple of studies, which may not have made the "brilliant" or "most elegant" list ... but are still pretty captivating ... I guess i would put them on a list of the ten most methodologically clever? ...
Darley & Bateson (1973)... some seminarians giving a talk on none other than the good samaritan :0 in a hurry, on time, or late, and given the opportunity to help...as i remember (need to check the actual results from the paper) being in a hurry trumps even carrying the idea of good samaritan in one's priestly head.
Suzanne
Hi Suzanne, thanks, I know the one you mean, great study!
Loved the post. Thanks for bringing the experiments together in such an easy to understand manner.
Thank you for putting this all together. This is a very interesting post. I'm pretty young still (sophomore in high school) but I am fascinated by psychology and love opening my mind to new aspects of it. This has definitely helped me learn a lot.
I agree with everyone here, thereby drawing comfort in conforming to the norm.
I, too, enjoyed this series of articles and learned from them. Here's my question: What does research say about outliers? That is, is there a certain kind of person who tends to be the exception in one or more of these experimental situations?
I found it interesting that in the article on #5, the Obedience to Authority experiment, we were told by the author that this was a classic and brilliant experiment. Since the readers were told to choose the most brilliant experiment of all time, I am wondering if this remark had anything to do with the Obedience to Authority experiment receiving the largest number of votes?
I believe that #2, #4 and #5 are harvesting all the votes because they are well-known experiments, and they are simply more popular for that reason alone. People are voting for whats familiar to them. I could do a social psychology experiment to prove that claim if you'd like. ;)
bystander apathy.I see that everyday,all the time.Many,many times I have and will always stop and help someone in distress,but I see that most people wouldn't.Is it fear of some kind of repercussion in the negative?Has the media so desensitized us that we fear of helping one another?It is truly sad that we have abandoned our positive social graces.Tv,radio,video games and the internet has broken us from our skills of physical communication.we don't physically communicate with one another any more with our five senses.We have abandoned our three most important senses:smell,touch,taste.Sight and sound are the only two we use with our current communication systems.Thank you for reminding me of this with this study.
Thanks for synchronizing so many facts under one ground.
Just stumbled your post. :P
Wow! Enjoyed reading each study. Another good title would be, "10 Studies Why You'll Mess Up In Relationships" ;o) Keep up the great posts on Twitter. Aloha, Q.
Good Information.