Here are some interesting psychological experiments, which show us how strange and weak people can be…

The Asch Conformity Experiment (1953)

We all tend to laugh with the people even when we didn’t get the joke, or doubt when our opinion is unpopular among our group. But why?

Solomon Asch made researches to show the power of conformity. People were asked very simple question, what logically couldn’t be answered wrongly. The catch was, that everybody else, who was in the room were told to give wrong answers. Yet, 32 percent of subjects would answer incorrectly if they saw that three others in the classroom gave the same wrong answer. We really depend on each other.

(image credits:  guiguibu91)

Bystander Apathy Experiment (1968)

When a woman was murdered in 1964, newspapers printed that 38 people had heard and seen the attack, but did nothing. The fact is when people know, that someone else has the same possibility and responsibility to do something, they tend to do nothing.

To prove that fact, two psychologists invited people to take a part in a discussion. Ones were told, that it will be extremely personal conversation, others knew, that there are somebody else somewhere about. During the conversation, actor faked an epileptic seizure, which could be heard on the speakers. When subjects believed that they were the only person in the discussion, 85 percent left the room to help epileptic. Those, who believed other people can do this only 31 percent went to look for help.

(image credits: Tom@HK)

The Stanford Prison Experiment (1971)

I believe everyone had heard about this experiment, it really shows the dark side of human nature..

The essence of this experiment was that people can act really cruelly when they are allowed to do that. Psychologist Philip Zimbardo found volunteers with good health and high-quality mental stability, which were very important factors in deciding who goes to prison. These volunteers were all male college students who were then divided arbitrarily into 12 guards and 12 prisoners. It took about one day for every subject to suddenly go insane : on only the second day, prisoners staged a riot and some guards began forcing inmates to sleep naked, to do humiliating exercises and clean toilets with their bare hands.

In conclusion, remember, have you ever been harassed by a cop pushing you around for no reason? Science says that if the roles were reversed, you’d likely act the same way!

(image credits: andrewcparnell)

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