Psychology

Famous experiments and what they really showed.

6 rabbit holes

• New
  Famous studiesOne marshmallow now, or two later?A child sits alone with a marshmallow. Wait a few minutes and you get two. Follow-ups suggested the children who waited did better in life. The test became a parenting legend. Then a bigger study asked what else might explain the waiting.2 stages · 14 min
• New
  Famous studiesHow far would you go?Yale, 1961. Volunteers are told to give electric shocks to a man in the next room whenever he gets an answer wrong, up to 450 volts. He screams, then falls silent. In Stanley Milgram’s best-known version, about two thirds keep going to the end.3 stages · 27 min
• New
  MemoryMemories that never happenedDoes Pikachu have a black tip on its tail? Does the Monopoly man wear a monocle? Many people are certain. Both are wrong. And in the lab, psychologists have convinced people they were once lost in a shopping mall as children, which never happened.4 stages · 35 min
• New
  MemoryThe man who lived in the presentIn 1953 a surgeon removed parts of Henry Molaison’s brain to stop his epileptic seizures. It worked. But from that day on, Henry could not form a single new lasting memory. For 55 years he met the same researchers as strangers, and taught science how memory works.4 stages · 1 h 10 min
• New
  Famous studiesThe prison experiment that wasn’tAugust 1971. In a basement at Stanford, students are randomly made guards or prisoners. Within days the guards turn cruel and the experiment is stopped. For fifty years it was proof that ordinary people become monsters in the right role. Then the recordings came out.3 stages · 50 min
• New
  Famous studiesUniverse 25, the mouse utopia1968. A scientist builds a paradise for mice: unlimited food and water, no predators, no disease. The colony grows fast, then strange things happen. Mothers abandon their young, some males stop doing anything but groom themselves. Within a few years the colony dies out.3 stages · 28 min