Psychological Experiments facts

While investigating facts about Psychological Experiments, I found out little known, but curios details like:

In the 60s, the CIA sponsored a Harvard study where an undergraduate student was humiliated and subjected to "brutalizing psychological experiments". The student who had the worse reaction to the experiment was Ted Kaczynski who later became the Unabomber.

In 2012 Facebook ran psychological experiments on users to study "emotional contagion" without consent of users or pre-approval from ethics boards. Facebook was able to prove that it could alter the moods of users by changing algorithms of users news feeds.

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about Psychological Experiments I managed to collect.

1. Impostor syndrome (also known as impostor phenomenon, impostorism, fraud syndrome or the impostor experience) is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a "fraud".

2. In a psychology experiment women were found to be more aggressive than men, but only if their gender was hidden

3. "Paris Syndome" is a psychological disorder whereby Japanese tourists visiting Paris for the first time experience such severe culture shock that they become ill

4. Veterinary doctors have a high suicide rate and experience psychological distress at a rate nearly double that of the general public

5. There exists a psychological phenomenon in which perfectly sane people, with no desire to die, find themselves faced with a steep cliff and experience a strong desire to leap. This phenomenon is so common, in fact, that the French have a term for it: L’appel du Vide – Call of the Void.

6. In a housing experiment that involved moving families from poor neighborhoods to wealthier neighborhoods, boys experienced PTSD rates comparable to those of combat soldiers. Psychological well-being improved for girls.

7. King Psamtik I, who conducted the first recorded experiment in psychology. He sought to prove that the innate language was Egyptian. He sent two infants to live secluded in care w/out ever hearing words. The conclusion: Phrygian. One babys first word was "becos," Phrygia's word for bread.

8. 'rat park', a psychology experiment in which rats were offered drugs, and that proved that the opposite of addiction isn't sobriety, but connection.

9. The Stanford Prison Experiment, the infamous experiment that many psychological works reference, was actually mostly a fraud and that many of the participants were faking.

10. Facebook secretly conducted a huge psychological experiment on its users to see if it could alter their emotional state.

What is true about psychological experiments?

You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.

Studies showed that economic insecurity causes people to experience a lack of control, which activates psychological processes associated with anxiety and fear. This causes people to be more vulnerable to feeling physical pain, and makes them more likely to rely on painkillers.

While attending Harvard in 1959, the "Unibomber" Ted Kaczynksi participated in a study where he was subjected to a "purposely brutalizing psychological experiment," which some lawyers attribute some of his future emotional instability and dislike of mind control. - source

"Third Man Factor", a psychological phenomenon that can occur during traumatic experiences. People report an unseen presence like a guardian angel that provides comfort or support - source

36 men volunteered to starve for a year in an experiment, known as the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, to study the psychological and physiological effects of starvation

Facebook did a massive psychological experiment on 689,003 users, manipulating their news feeds to assess the effects on their emotions - source

Both Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) and DMT experiences leave people with similar long-term positive changes in psychological well-being: greater concern for others, reduced fear of dying, increased appreciation for nature, reduced interest in social status and possessions, increased self-worth.

Bruce Bridgeman, a professor of psychology, lived 67 years stereoblind - unable to perceive depth. However, watching a 3D movie caused some changes in brain's vision centre that enabled to experience stereoscopic three dimensional vision.

The unibomber was a child prodigy who went to Harvard at 16 and was subject to psychological experiments while there.

Facebook conducted secret psychological experiments on users by tweaking with the content of their news feeds. The 'government-sponsored' study resulted in 'emotional contagion' across the social network.

During World War II the Nazis abused people in psychological and other experiments, which led to the development of the Nuremberg Code after the war ended. The Nuremberg Code is a set of ethical standards that must be followed during human experimentation.

Scientists replicated 100 recent psychology experiments. More than half of them failed.