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137-439: In January 2009, Gowers chose to start a social experiment on his blog by choosing an important unsolved mathematical problem and issuing an invitation for other people to help solve it collaboratively in the comments section of his blog. Along with the math problem itself, Gowers asked a question which was included in the title of his blog post, "is massively collaborative mathematics possible?" This post led to his creation of

274-555: A Black lens and dedicated her career to focusing on the anxiety of African American women. She founded the organization Rise Sally Rise which helps Black women cope with anxiety. She published her work Soothe Your Nerves: The Black Woman's Guide to Understanding and Overcoming Anxiety, Panic and Fear in 2003. In 2002 Dr. Teresa LaFromboise, former president of the Society of Indian Psychologists, received

411-402: A biologically potent stimulus (e.g., food that elicits salivation) is paired with a previously neutral stimulus (e.g., a bell) over several learning trials, the neutral stimulus by itself can come to elicit the response the biologically potent stimulus elicits. Ivan Pavlov —known best for inducing dogs to salivate in the presence of a stimulus previously linked with food—became a leading figure in

548-569: A child should be recognized as their own person with their own right and have each session catered to the child's specific needs. She encouraged drawing, moving freely, and expressing themselves in any way. This helped build a strong therapeutic alliance with child patients, which allows psychologists to observe their normal behavior. She continued her research on the impact of children after family separation, children with socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and all stages of child development from infancy to adolescence. Functional periodicity ,

685-712: A complete solution to the problem. Thus, Polymath5 ended up making a significant contribution to the solution. The Polymath8 project was proposed to improve the bounds for small gaps between primes . It has two components: Both components of the Polymath8 project produced papers, one of which was published under the pseudonym D. H. J. Polymath. Social experiment 1800s: Martineau · Tocqueville  ·  Marx ·  Spencer · Le Bon · Ward · Pareto ·  Tönnies · Veblen ·  Simmel · Durkheim ·  Addams ·  Mead · Weber ·  Du Bois ·  Mannheim · Elias A social experiment

822-547: A concept of "recognition" ( pinyin : jen-shih ) which referred to the interface between individual perceptions and the socially accepted worldview; failure to correspond with party doctrine was "incorrect recognition." Psychology education was centralized under the Chinese Academy of Sciences , supervised by the State Council . In 1951, the academy created a Psychology Research Office, which in 1956 became

959-635: A degree of liberalization during the Khrushchev Thaw . The topics of cybernetics, linguistics, and genetics became acceptable again. The new field of engineering psychology emerged. The field involved the study of the mental aspects of complex jobs (such as pilot and cosmonaut). Interdisciplinary studies became popular and scholars such as Georgy Shchedrovitsky developed systems theory approaches to human behavior. Twentieth-century Chinese psychology originally modeled itself on U.S. psychology, with translations from American authors like William James,

1096-622: A greater connection to physiology, emerged in South America, under the leadership of Horacio G. Piñero at the University of Buenos Aires . In Russia, too, researchers placed greater emphasis on the biological basis for psychology, beginning with Ivan Sechenov 's 1873 essay, "Who Is to Develop Psychology and How?" Sechenov advanced the idea of brain reflexes and aggressively promoted a deterministic view of human behavior. The Russian-Soviet physiologist Ivan Pavlov discovered in dogs

1233-780: A hiatus for World War I, the Seventh Congress met in Oxford, with substantially greater participation from the war-victorious Anglo-Americans. In 1929, the Congress took place at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, attended by hundreds of members of the APA. Tokyo Imperial University led the way in bringing new psychology to the East. New ideas about psychology diffused from Japan into China. American psychology gained status upon

1370-764: A job than adults who did not attend preschool. The RAND Health Insurance Experiment was an experimental study of health care costs, utilization, and outcomes in the United States which assigned people randomly to different kinds of plans and followed their behavior from 1974 to 1982. As a result, it provided stronger evidence than studies that examine people afterward who were not randomly assigned. It concluded that cost-sharing reduced "inappropriate or unnecessary" medical care (over-utilization), but also reduced "appropriate or needed" medical care. It did not have enough statistical power to tell whether people who got less appropriate or needed care were more likely to die as

1507-435: A laboratory procedure meant to study attachment style by separating and uniting a child with their mother several different times under different circumstances. These field studies are also where she developed her attachment theory and the order of attachment styles , which was a landmark for developmental psychology . Because of her work, Ainsworth became one of the most cited psychologists of all time. Mamie Phipps Clark

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1644-714: A learning process that was later termed " classical conditioning " and applied the process to human beings. One of the earliest psychology societies was La Société de Psychologie Physiologique in France, which lasted from 1885 to 1893. The first meeting of the International Congress of Psychology sponsored by the International Union of Psychological Science took place in Paris, in August 1889, amidst

1781-517: A new applied psychology organization called the International Congress of Psychotechnics Applied to Vocational Guidance, later called the International Congress of Psychotechnics and then the International Association of Applied Psychology . The IAAP is considered the oldest international psychology association. Today, at least 65 international groups deal with specialized aspects of psychology. In response to male predominance in

1918-509: A professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University and the co-founder of Psychological Review , was the first professor of psychology in the United States . The German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus , a researcher at the University of Berlin , was a 19th-century contributor to the field. He pioneered the experimental study of memory and developed quantitative models of learning and forgetting. In

2055-697: A psychologist and political activist has applied a black, feminist, and class lens to all her psychological studies. Aiding progressive and women's issues, she has been the executive director for many NGOs. In 2007 she became the Senior Director of the Women's Programs Office of the American Psychological Association. Therefore, she was one of the creators of the APA's "Women in Psychology Timeline" which features

2192-407: A reassessment of both the field of social psychology and the conducted experiments. While experimental methods were still employed, other methods gained popularity. Social experimentation has raised many ethical concerns, due to its manipulation of large population groups, often without the consent or knowledge of the subjects. In some instances, social experimentation has been staged unknowingly to

2329-522: A religion established by Russian-American philosopher Helena Blavatsky , drew inspiration from these doctrines during her time in British India . Psychology was of interest to Enlightenment thinkers in Europe. In Germany, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) applied his principles of calculus to the mind, arguing that mental activity took place on an indivisible continuum. He suggested that

2466-570: A result. Oportunidades is a government social assistance (welfare) program in Mexico founded in 2002, based on a previous program called Progresa created in 1997. It is designed to target poverty by providing cash payments to families in exchange for regular school attendance, health clinic visits, and nutrition support. Oportunidades is credited with decreasing poverty and improving health and educational attainment in regions where it has been deployed. Moving to Opportunity for Fair Housing

2603-434: A sea change of opinion, away from mentalism and towards "behavioralism." In 1913, John B. Watson coined the term behaviorism for this school of thought. Watson's famous Little Albert experiment in 1920 was at first thought to demonstrate that repeated use of upsetting loud noises could instill phobias (aversions to other stimuli) in an infant human, although such a conclusion was likely an exaggeration. Karl Lashley ,

2740-409: A significant effect on the subjects even after the study was concluded. The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a study conducted by psychologist Walter Mischel on delayed gratification in the early 1970s. During the three studies, a child was offered a choice between one small reward provided immediately or two small rewards if they waited for a short period, approximately 15 minutes, during which

2877-666: A significant influence on psychology in China. Chancellor T'sai Yuan-p'ei introduced him at Peking University as a greater thinker than Confucius. Kuo Zing-yang who received a PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, became President of Zhejiang University and popularized behaviorism . After the Chinese Communist Party gained control of the country, the Stalinist Soviet Union became

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3014-678: A time at Imperial University in Japan, with publications such as Clairvoyance and Thoughtography by Tomokichi Fukurai, but it was mostly shunned by 1913. As a discipline, psychology has long sought to fend off accusations that it is a "soft" science . Philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn 's 1962 critique implied psychology overall was in a pre-paradigm state, lacking agreement on the type of overarching theory found in mature hard sciences such as chemistry and physics. Because some areas of psychology rely on research methods such as self-reports in surveys and questionnaires, critics asserted that psychology

3151-450: A total of 100,000 individual members. At least 30 other international organizations represent psychologists in different regions. In some places, governments legally regulate who can provide psychological services or represent themselves as a "psychologist." The APA defines a psychologist as someone with a doctoral degree in psychology. Early practitioners of experimental psychology distinguished themselves from parapsychology , which in

3288-446: A wide range of topics related to mental processes and behavior. Typically the latter group of psychologists work in academic settings (e.g., universities, medical schools, or hospitals). Another group of psychologists is employed in industrial and organizational settings. Yet others are involved in work on human development , aging, sports , health, forensic science , education , and the media . The word psychology derives from

3425-480: A wider audience and conduct experiments in open and diverse environments. In 2024, YouTuber Nicholas Perry, known as Nikocado Avacado revealed his weight gain was all part of a social experiment. Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior . Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both conscious and unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts , feelings , and motives . Psychology

3562-478: Is a cognitive error based on one's inclinations, beliefs, and social perception.   The halo effect is a well-documented social psychology discovery. It is the concept that a person's overall evaluations (e.g., she is pleasant) bleed over into judgments regarding their characteristics (e.g. she is intelligent). It's also known as the "beauty is good" notion or the "physical attractiveness" stereotype. The Milgram experiment, conducted by psychologist Stanley Milgram in

3699-512: Is a cross-disciplinary, holistic model that concerns the ways in which interrelationships of biological, psychological, and socio-environmental factors affect health and behavior. Evolutionary psychology approaches thought and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. This perspective suggests that psychological adaptations evolved to solve recurrent problems in human ancestral environments. Evolutionary psychologists attempt to find out how human psychological traits are evolved adaptations,

3836-459: Is a method of psychological or sociological research that observes people's reactions to certain situations or events. The experiment depends on a particular social approach where the main source of information is the participants' point of view and knowledge. To carry out a social experiment, specialists usually split participants into two groups — active participants (people who take action in particular events) and respondents (people who react to

3973-408: Is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between the natural and social sciences . Biological psychologists seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, linking the discipline to neuroscience . As social scientists, psychologists aim to understand the behavior of individuals and groups. A professional practitioner or researcher involved in the discipline

4110-704: Is called a psychologist . Some psychologists can also be classified as behavioral or cognitive scientists . Some psychologists attempt to understand the role of mental functions in individual and social behavior . Others explore the physiological and neurobiological processes that underlie cognitive functions and behaviors. Psychologists are involved in research on perception , cognition , attention , emotion , intelligence , subjective experiences , motivation , brain functioning , and personality . Psychologists' interests extend to interpersonal relationships , psychological resilience , family resilience , and other areas within social psychology . They also consider

4247-406: Is done in a controlled environment such as a laboratory. An example of this is Stanley Milgram's obedience experiment in 1963. Social experiments began in the United States as a test of the negative income tax concept in the late 1960s and since then have been conducted on all the populated continents. During the 1970s, criticism of the ethics and accusations of gender and racial bias led to

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4384-513: Is important, and differs from the sum of its parts. Psychologists in Germany, Denmark, Austria, England, and the United States soon followed Wundt in setting up laboratories. G. Stanley Hall , an American who studied with Wundt, founded a psychology lab that became internationally influential. The lab was located at Johns Hopkins University . Hall, in turn, trained Yujiro Motora , who brought experimental psychology, emphasizing psychophysics, to

4521-413: Is not an objective science. Skeptics have suggested that personality, thinking, and emotion cannot be directly measured and are often inferred from subjective self-reports, which may be problematic. Experimental psychologists have devised a variety of ways to indirectly measure these elusive phenomenological entities. Divisions still exist within the field, with some psychologists more oriented towards

4658-506: Is that a large part of both human and lower-animal behavior is learned. A principle associated with behavioral research is that the mechanisms involved in learning apply to humans and non-human animals. Behavioral researchers have developed a treatment known as behavior modification , which is used to help individuals replace undesirable behaviors with desirable ones. Early behavioral researchers studied stimulus–response pairings, now known as classical conditioning . They demonstrated that when

4795-480: Is the short length of time that MTO families typically spent in lower-poverty neighborhoods; the positive effects of longer-term exposure to low-poverty neighborhoods appear more promising. The Stanford prison experiment was a study of the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. The experiment was conducted at Stanford University on 14–20 August 1971, by a team of researchers led by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo using college students. It

4932-529: The Gemeinschaft ." Psychologists were to provide Seelenführung [lit., soul guidance], the leadership of the mind, to integrate people into the new vision of a German community. Harald Schultz-Hencke melded psychology with the Nazi theory of biology and racial origins, criticizing psychoanalysis as a study of the weak and deformed. Johannes Heinrich Schultz , a German psychologist recognized for developing

5069-475: The Upanishads and other Vedic texts that formed the foundations of Hinduism was the distinction between a person's transient mundane self and their eternal, unchanging soul . Divergent Hindu doctrines and Buddhism have challenged this hierarchy of selves, but have all emphasized the importance of reaching higher awareness. Yoga encompasses a range of techniques used in pursuit of this goal. Theosophy ,

5206-530: The Ebers Papyrus mentioned depression and thought disorders. Historians note that Greek philosophers, including Thales , Plato , and Aristotle (especially in his De Anima treatise), addressed the workings of the mind. As early as the 4th century BC, the Greek physician Hippocrates theorized that mental disorders had physical rather than supernatural causes. In 387 BCE, Plato suggested that

5343-524: The Imperial University of Tokyo . Wundt's assistant, Hugo Münsterberg , taught psychology at Harvard to students such as Narendra Nath Sen Gupta —who, in 1905, founded a psychology department and laboratory at the University of Calcutta . Wundt's students Walter Dill Scott , Lightner Witmer , and James McKeen Cattell worked on developing tests of mental ability. Cattell, who also studied with eugenicist Francis Galton , went on to found

5480-584: The International Journal of Psychology . IAAP and IUPsyS agreed in 1976 each to hold a congress every four years, on a staggered basis. IUPsyS recognizes 66 national psychology associations and at least 15 others exist. The American Psychological Association is the oldest and largest. Its membership has increased from 5,000 in 1945 to 100,000 in the present day. The APA includes 54 divisions , which since 1960 have steadily proliferated to include more specialties. Some of these divisions, such as

5617-629: The Psychological Corporation . Witmer focused on the mental testing of children; Scott, on employee selection. Another student of Wundt, the Englishman Edward Titchener , created the psychology program at Cornell University and advanced " structuralist " psychology. The idea behind structuralism was to analyze and classify different aspects of the mind, primarily through the method of introspection . William James, John Dewey , and Harvey Carr advanced

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5754-804: The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues and the American Psychology–Law Society , began as autonomous groups. The Interamerican Psychological Society , founded in 1951, aspires to promote psychology across the Western Hemisphere. It holds the Interamerican Congress of Psychology and had 1,000 members in year 2000. The European Federation of Professional Psychology Associations, founded in 1981, represents 30 national associations with

5891-582: The Weber–Fechner law . Fechner's 1860 Elements of Psychophysics challenged Kant's negative view with regard to conducting quantitative research on the mind. Fechner's achievement was to show that "mental processes could not only be given numerical magnitudes, but also that these could be measured by experimental methods." In Heidelberg, Hermann von Helmholtz conducted parallel research on sensory perception, and trained physiologist Wilhelm Wundt . Wundt, in turn, came to Leipzig University, where he established

6028-424: The murder of Kitty Genovese outside her home, The New York Times stated that there were 38 witnesses who either saw or heard the fatal stabbing take place, and not a single person came to her aid. Although this number was proven to be exaggerated, this murder was coined "bystander apathy" by social psychologists Bibb Latané and John Darley in 1968. For their experiment, Latané and Darley tried to replicate

6165-479: The social networking website Reddit created by Josh Wardle , who went by powerlanguage , on 1 April 2015 ( April Fools' Day ) as an April Fools' prank. The experiment involved an online button and a 60-second countdown timer that would reset every time the button was pressed. Reddit users who created their account before 1 April had only one chance to press the button. During the experiment, Reddit users would split by colored circles based on when they pressed

6302-434: The societal norms and roles they are assigned. As she states in her article, "Variability as related to sex differences in achievement: A Critique", the largest problem women have is the social order that was built due to the assumption women have less interests and abilities than men. To further prove her point, she completed another experiment with infants who have not been influenced by the environment of social norms, like

6439-509: The 1870s, when in France Paul Broca traced production of speech to the left frontal gyrus, thereby also demonstrating hemispheric lateralization of brain function. Soon after, Carl Wernicke identified a related area necessary for the understanding of speech. The contemporary field of behavioral neuroscience focuses on the physical basis of behavior. Behaviorial neuroscientists use animal models, often relying on rats, to study

6576-634: The 1910s and 1920s, eugenics became a standard topic in psychology classes. In contrast to the US, in the UK psychology was met with antagonism by the scientific and medical establishments, and up until 1939, there were only six psychology chairs in universities in England. During World War II and the Cold War, the U.S. military and intelligence agencies established themselves as leading funders of psychology by way of

6713-469: The 1940s. These tests, called the doll tests , asked young children to choose between identical dolls whose only difference was race, and they found that the majority of the children preferred the white dolls and attributed positive traits to them. Repeated over and over again, these tests helped to determine the negative effects of racial discrimination and segregation on black children's self-image and development. In 1954, this research would help decide

6850-534: The 2017 experiment, it starts off as a blank 1000x1000 tile canvas with tiny white pixels , and Reddit users can place a colored tile once every five minutes. There were different types of artwork such as the Mona Lisa , band logos, video game logos, and multiple country flags, with the American flag being in the center. The experiment ended after 3 days with 16 million pixels and over a million users who edited

6987-637: The 20th century further diversified the field of psychology, with women of color reaching new milestones. In 1962, Martha Bernal became the first Latina woman to get a Ph.D. in psychology. In 1969, Marigold Linton , the first Native American woman to get a Ph.D. in psychology, founded the National Indian Education Association . She was also a founding member of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science . In 1971, The Network of Indian Psychologists

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7124-471: The APA's Distinguished Career Contribution to Research Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Culture Ethnicity, and Race for her research on suicide prevention . She was the first person to lead an intervention for Native American children and adolescents that utilized evidence-based suicide prevention. She has spent her career dedicated to aiding racial and ethnic minority youth cope with cultural adjustment and pressures. Dr. Shari Miles-Cohen,

7261-453: The Army's Project Camelot , the "Manhattan Project" of social science , an effort which enlisted psychologists and anthropologists to analyze the plans and policies of foreign countries for strategic purposes. In Germany after World War I, psychology held institutional power through the military, which was subsequently expanded along with the rest of the military during Nazi Germany . Under

7398-505: The Bobo doll, another group would observe an adult with non-aggressive behaviors, and the last group would not be exposed to any behavior models. The study found the preschoolers exposed to aggressive behavior had imitated aggressiveness towards the doll, regardless of gender. The other two groups showed significantly less hostility towards the doll. The study had shown aggressive and non-aggressive behaviors were learned by observing others and had

7535-462: The Genovese slaying by having participants aware of each other but unable to communicate directly. Each participant was in a cubicle in contact with the other via a microphone; however, only one voice was allowed to speak at a time. A taped recording was played of a participant having an epileptic seizure. When the participant believed themselves to be alone they invariably attempted to find help. When

7672-518: The Greek word psyche , for spirit or soul . The latter part of the word psychology derives from -λογία -logia , which means "study" or "research". The word psychology was first used in the Renaissance. In its Latin form psychiologia , it was first employed by the Croatian humanist and Latinist Marko Marulić in his book Psichiologia de ratione animae humanae ( Psychology, on

7809-548: The Institute of Psychology. Because most leading psychologists were educated in the United States, the first concern of the academy was the re-education of these psychologists in the Soviet doctrines. Child psychology and pedagogy for the purpose of a nationally cohesive education remained a central goal of the discipline. Women in the early 1900s started to make key findings within the world of psychology. In 1923, Anna Freud ,

7946-767: The Nature of the Human Soul ) in the decade 1510–1520 The earliest known reference to the word psychology in English was by Steven Blankaart in 1694 in The Physical Dictionary . The dictionary refers to " Anatomy , which treats the Body, and Psychology, which treats of the Soul." Ψ ( psi ) , the first letter of the Greek word psyche from which the term psychology is derived, is commonly associated with

8083-614: The Polymath Project. Since its inception, it has now sponsored a " Crowdmath " project in collaboration with MIT PRIMES program and the Art of Problem Solving . This project is built upon the same idea of the Polymath project that massive collaboration in mathematics is possible and possibly quite fruitful. However, this is specifically aimed at only high school and college students with a goal of creating "a specific opportunity for

8220-626: The Polymath community, was to find a new combinatorial proof to the density version of the Hales–Jewett theorem . As the project took form, two main threads of discourse emerged. The first thread, which was carried out in the comments of Gowers's blog, would continue with the original goal of finding a combinatorial proof. The second thread, which was carried out in the comments of Terence Tao 's blog, focused on calculating bounds on density of Hales–Jewett numbers and Moser numbers for low dimensions. After seven weeks, Gowers announced on his blog that

8357-469: The Prussian state established psychology as a mandatory discipline in its rapidly expanding and highly influential educational system . However, this discipline did not yet embrace experimentation. In England, early psychology involved phrenology and the response to social problems including alcoholism, violence, and the country's crowded "lunatic" asylums. Philosopher John Stuart Mill believed that

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8494-633: The Rockefeller Foundation, Mitscherlich established the first clinical psychosomatic medicine division at Heidelberg University. In 1970, psychology was integrated into the required studies of medical students. After the Russian Revolution , the Bolsheviks promoted psychology as a way to engineer the "New Man" of socialism. Consequently, university psychology departments trained large numbers of students in psychology. At

8631-491: The Soviet Union and inspired followers to use his methods on humans. In the United States, Edward Lee Thorndike initiated " connectionist " studies by trapping animals in "puzzle boxes" and rewarding them for escaping. Thorndike wrote in 1911, "There can be no moral warrant for studying man's nature unless the study will enable us to control his acts." From 1910 to 1913 the American Psychological Association went through

8768-402: The Soviet Union. Stalinist purges took a heavy toll and instilled a climate of fear in the profession, as elsewhere in Soviet society. Following World War II, Jewish psychologists past and present, including Lev Vygotsky , A.R. Luria , and Aron Zalkind, were denounced; Ivan Pavlov (posthumously) and Stalin himself were celebrated as heroes of Soviet psychology. Soviet academics experienced

8905-614: The U.S.'s entry into World War I. A standing committee headed by Robert Yerkes administered mental tests (" Army Alpha " and " Army Beta ") to almost 1.8 million soldiers. Subsequently, the Rockefeller family , via the Social Science Research Council , began to provide funding for behavioral research. Rockefeller charities funded the National Committee on Mental Hygiene, which disseminated

9042-700: The World's Fair celebrating the centennial of the French Revolution. William James was one of three Americans among the 400 attendees. The American Psychological Association (APA) was founded soon after, in 1892. The International Congress continued to be held at different locations in Europe and with wide international participation. The Sixth Congress, held in Geneva in 1909, included presentations in Russian, Chinese, and Japanese, as well as Esperanto . After

9179-600: The accomplishments of women of color in psychology. She is well known for co-editing Eliminating Inequities for Women with Disabilities: An Agenda for Health and Wellness (published in 2016), her article published in the Women's Reproductive Health Journal about women of color's struggle with pregnancy and postpartum (Published in 2018), and co-authoring the "APA Handbook of the Psychology of Women" (published in 2019). In 1920, Édouard Claparède and Pierre Bovet created

9316-429: The action). Throughout the experiment, specialists monitor participants to identify the effects and differences resulting from the experiment. A conclusion is then created based on the results. Intentional communities are generally considered social experiments. Social psychology offers insight into how individuals act in groups and how behavior is affected by social burdens and pressures. In most social experiments,

9453-406: The adult male getting more opportunities than women. She found no difference between infants besides size. After this research proved the original hypothesis wrong, Hollingworth was able to show there is no difference between the physiological and psychological traits of men and women, and women are not impaired during menstruation . The first half of the 1900s was filled with new theories and it

9590-620: The application of biological principles to the study of physiological and genetic mechanisms underlying behavior in humans and other animals. The allied field of comparative psychology is the scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of non-human animals. A leading question in behavioral neuroscience has been whether and how mental functions are localized in the brain . From Phineas Gage to H.M. and Clive Wearing , individual people with mental deficits traceable to physical brain damage have inspired new discoveries in this area. Modern behavioral neuroscience could be said to originate in

9727-625: The armed forces and in the new Office of Strategic Services intelligence agency. University of Michigan psychologist Dorwin Cartwright reported that university researchers began large-scale propaganda research in 1939–1941. He observed that "the last few months of the war saw a social psychologist become chiefly responsible for determining the week-by-week-propaganda policy for the United States Government." Cartwright also wrote that psychologists had significant roles in managing

9864-706: The auto-kinetic movement demonstrated how mental evaluation norms were created by human beings. Sherif is equally famous for the Robbers Cave Experiments . This series of experiments, begun in Connecticut and concluded in Oklahoma, took boys from intact middle-class families, who were carefully screened to be psychologically normal, delivered them to a summer camp setting (with researchers doubling as counselors), and created social groups that came into conflict with each other. The Bobo doll experiment

10001-541: The belief women are mentally and physically impaired during menstruation , impacted women's rights because employers were less likely to hire them due to the belief they would be incapable of working for 1 week a month. Leta Stetter Hollingworth wanted to prove this hypothesis and Edward L. Thorndike's theory, that women have lesser psychological and physical traits than men and were simply mediocre, incorrect. Hollingworth worked to prove differences were not from male genetic superiority, but from culture. She also included

10138-573: The brain advanced during the Qing dynasty with the work of Western-educated Fang Yizhi (1611–1671), Liu Zhi (1660–1730), and Wang Qingren (1768–1831). Wang Qingren emphasized the importance of the brain as the center of the nervous system, linked mental disorder with brain diseases, investigated the causes of dreams and insomnia , and advanced a theory of hemispheric lateralization in brain function. Influenced by Hinduism , Indian philosophy explored distinctions in types of awareness. A central idea of

10275-401: The brain is where mental processes take place, and in 335 BCE Aristotle suggested that it was the heart. In China, psychological understanding grew from the philosophical works of Laozi and Confucius , and later from the doctrines of Buddhism . This body of knowledge involves insights drawn from introspection and observation, as well as techniques for focused thinking and acting. It frames

10412-482: The button. If the button was pushed with 60 seconds on the timer, their circle would be purple, if it was pushed with 45 seconds, their circle would be blue, etc. If the user did not press the button, their circle would stay grey. These color-coded circles turned into factions as people of the same colored circles would come together and create their own subreddits, with the purple group being the largest group. This experiment went on for two months until 5 June 2015, when

10549-503: The canvas. In the 2022 experiment, it starts off with a blank 2000x2000 tile canvas and 16 new colors. There were turf wars during the experiment where people would change the logos. For example, changing the Genshin Impact logo to “Genshit.” The experiment ended after five days with nearly 72 million pixels and over 6 million users who edited the canvas. The use of digital platforms for social experiments has revolutionized

10686-401: The children receiving the program were much superior to the outcomes for the children not receiving the program. Many of the program effects were significant or approaching significance. At age 40, the participants were interviewed once more, and school, social services, and arrest records were pulled. The participants had higher-earning jobs, committed fewer crimes, and were more likely to hold

10823-549: The completion of training, positions were made available for those students at schools, workplaces, cultural institutions, and in the military. The Russian state emphasized pedology and the study of child development. Lev Vygotsky became prominent in the field of child development. The Bolsheviks also promoted free love and embraced the doctrine of psychoanalysis as an antidote to sexual repression. Although pedology and intelligence testing fell out of favor in 1936, psychology maintained its privileged position as an instrument of

10960-667: The concept of mental illness and lobbied for applying ideas from psychology to child rearing. Through the Bureau of Social Hygiene and later funding of Alfred Kinsey , Rockefeller foundations helped establish research on sexuality in the U.S. Under the influence of the Carnegie-funded Eugenics Record Office , the Draper-funded Pioneer Fund , and other institutions, the eugenics movement also influenced American psychology. In

11097-432: The concept of women's impairment during menstruation in her research. She recorded both women and men performances on tasks (cognitive, perceptual, and motor) for three months. No evidence was found of decreased performance due to a woman's menstrual cycle. She also challenged the belief intelligence is inherited and women here are intellectually inferior to men. She stated that women do not reach positions of power due to

11234-405: The daughter of Sigmund Freud , built on her father's work using different defense mechanisms (denial, repression, and suppression) to psychoanalyze children. She believed that once a child reached the latency period , child analysis could be used as a mode of therapy . She stated it is important focus on the child's environment, support their development, and prevent neurosis . She believed

11371-451: The difference between conscious and unconscious awareness is only a matter of degree. Christian Wolff identified psychology as its own science, writing Psychologia Empirica in 1732 and Psychologia Rationalis in 1734. Immanuel Kant advanced the idea of anthropology as a discipline, with psychology an important subdivision. Kant, however, explicitly rejected the idea of an experimental psychology , writing that "the empirical doctrine of

11508-692: The direction of Hermann Göring 's cousin Matthias Göring , the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute was renamed the Göring Institute. Freudian psychoanalysts were expelled and persecuted under the anti-Jewish policies of the Nazi Party , and all psychologists had to distance themselves from Freud and Adler , founders of psychoanalysis who were also Jewish. The Göring Institute was well-financed throughout

11645-596: The domestic economy. The Army rolled out its new General Classification Test to assess the ability of millions of soldiers. The Army also engaged in large-scale psychological research of troop morale and mental health . In the 1950s, the Rockefeller Foundation and Ford Foundation collaborated with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to fund research on psychological warfare . In 1965, public controversy called attention to

11782-540: The earliest known social experiments, in which he found out that cyclists managed to ride a bike faster when racing against another person rather than racing against the clock. Norman found similar results, through another experiment, where he asked children to turn fishing reels both alone and with other children present. Field social experiments had proved to be efficient as they reflect real life due to their natural setting. The social experiments commonly referred to today were conducted decades later, in which an experiment

11919-500: The early 1960s, aimed to investigate obedience to authority figures. It involved three roles: the experimenter (the authority figure), the teacher (the participant), and the learner (an actor posing as a participant). The teacher was instructed to administer electric shocks to the learner for wrong answers, despite the learner's apparent distress. This experiment shed light on individuals' willingness to comply with authority, even when it contradicted their personal beliefs. The findings of

12056-465: The early 20th century, Wolfgang Kohler , Max Wertheimer , and Kurt Koffka co-founded the school of Gestalt psychology of Fritz Perls . The approach of Gestalt psychology is based upon the idea that individuals experience things as unified wholes. Rather than reducing thoughts and behavior into smaller component elements, as in structuralism, the Gestaltists maintained that whole of experience

12193-612: The establishment of university psychology departments and journals, and the establishment of groups including the Chinese Association of Psychological Testing (1930) and the Chinese Psychological Society (1937). Chinese psychologists were encouraged to focus on education and language learning. Chinese psychologists were drawn to the idea that education would enable modernization. John Dewey, who lectured to Chinese audiences between 1919 and 1921, had

12330-403: The experiment revealed that a significant portion of participants continued to administer shocks despite their discomfort, showcasing the power of authority in influencing human behavior. The Milgram experiment's ethical considerations and criticism centered on its psychological impact on participants. It raised concerns about the potential emotional stress inflicted on the individuals involved in

12467-406: The extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform. Asch took 50 people from the college to participate in a vision test. They were paired up with 7 other people who they believed to be random, but instead were part of a control group who would choose the same answers. The real participant would give his or her answers last. Out of the 18 trials, the group gave

12604-403: The field of psychology. In 1890, William James defined psychology as "the science of mental life, both of its phenomena and their conditions." This definition enjoyed widespread currency for decades. However, this meaning was contested, notably by radical behaviorists such as John B. Watson , who in 1913 asserted that the discipline is a natural science , the theoretical goal of which "is

12741-741: The field, female psychologists in the U.S. formed the National Council of Women Psychologists in 1941. This organization became the International Council of Women Psychologists after World War II and the International Council of Psychologists in 1959. Several associations including the Association of Black Psychologists and the Asian American Psychological Association have arisen to promote the inclusion of non-European racial groups in

12878-546: The group was right. The Hawthorne experiment took place in 1924 in the city of Chicago. Elton Mayo is widely known as the person behind the project. However, his involvement started in 1928 after he was invited by George Pennock, the assistant works manager for the Hawthorne plant of Western Electric. During the experiment, workers were separated into two groups to study the effects of different incentives on their productivity. Different variations were tested, such as changing

13015-406: The halo error, refers to a type of cognitive bias in which we perceive people as better due to their other related traits.  A typical halo effect example is the attractiveness stereotype, which refers to ascribing positive qualities to physically attractive people. Often, attractive individuals are believed to have lower mortality rates, better mental health, and higher intelligence. However, this

13152-503: The human mind was open to scientific investigation, even if the science is in some ways inexact. Mill proposed a "mental chemistry " in which elementary thoughts could combine into ideas of greater complexity. Gustav Fechner began conducting psychophysics research in Leipzig in the 1830s. He articulated the principle that human perception of a stimulus varies logarithmically according to its intensity. The principle became known as

13289-665: The idea of functionalism , an expansive approach to psychology that underlined the Darwinian idea of a behavior's usefulness to the individual. In 1890, James wrote an influential book, The Principles of Psychology , which expanded on the structuralism. He memorably described " stream of consciousness ." James's ideas interested many American students in the emerging discipline. Dewey integrated psychology with societal concerns, most notably by promoting progressive education , inculcating moral values in children, and assimilating immigrants. A different strain of experimentalism, with

13426-483: The landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, leading to the end of legal segregation across the nation. Clark went on to be an influential figure in psychology, her work continuing to focus on minority youth. As the field of psychology developed throughout the latter half of the 20th century, women in the field advocated for their voices to be heard and their perspectives to be valued. Second-wave feminism did not miss psychology. An outspoken feminist in psychology

13563-418: The late nineteenth century enjoyed popularity (including the interest of scholars such as William James). Some people considered parapsychology to be part of "psychology". Parapsychology, hypnotism , and psychism were major topics at the early International Congresses. But students of these fields were eventually ostracized, and more or less banished from the Congress in 1900–1905. Parapsychology persisted for

13700-506: The light levels in the rooms. Other, more obvious incentives, such as monetary incentives and rest pauses, were also tested and seemed to show positive results. Several conclusions were made after the experiments finished: The halo effect was first developed and empirically examined by an American psychologist named Edward Thorndike in his 1920 piece "A Constant Error in Psychological Ratings". The halo effect, also called

13837-399: The major influence, with Marxism–Leninism the leading social doctrine and Pavlovian conditioning the approved means of behavior change. Chinese psychologists elaborated on Lenin's model of a "reflective" consciousness, envisioning an "active consciousness" ( pinyin : tzu-chueh neng-tung-li ) able to transcend material conditions through hard work and ideological struggle. They developed

13974-475: The mentality that if nobody else is helping, then I am not needed as well. Research on bystander apathy by psychologist Kyle Thomas et al. found that people's decisions to help are influenced by their level of knowledge. While the diffusion of responsibility and pluralistic ignorance are factors, the researchers found that bystanders also consider what they know about other bystanders and the situation before getting involved. The HighScope Perry Preschool Project

14111-415: The neural, genetic, and cellular mechanisms that underlie behaviors involved in learning, memory, and fear responses. Cognitive neuroscientists , by using neural imaging tools, investigate the neural correlates of psychological processes in humans. Neuropsychologists conduct psychological assessments to determine how an individual's behavior and cognition are related to the brain. The biopsychosocial model

14248-404: The participant believed others were around the speed and frequency of response declined significantly. The authors concluded that situational factors play an influential role in bystander apathy. People are less likely to help in an emergency if other people are present. Two reasons were offered by Latané and Darley: first is the diffusion of responsibility , and second is pluralistic ignorance or

14385-453: The prediction and control of behavior." Since James defined "psychology", the term more strongly implicates scientific experimentation. Folk psychology is the understanding of the mental states and behaviors of people held by ordinary people , as contrasted with psychology professionals' understanding. The ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, China, India, and Persia all engaged in the philosophical study of psychology. In Ancient Egypt

14522-824: The problem itself ( d ensity H ales– J ewett). This project was set up in order to try to solve the Erdős discrepancy problem . It was active for much of 2010 and had a brief revival in 2012, but did not end up solving the problem. However, in September 2015, Terence Tao , one of the participants of Polymath5, solved the problem in a pair of papers. One paper proved an averaged form of the Chowla and Elliott conjectures, making use of recent advances in analytic number theory concerning correlations of values of multiplicative functions. The other paper showed how this new result, combined with some arguments discovered by Polymath5, were enough to give

14659-473: The problem was "probably solved", though work would continue on both Gowers's thread and Tao's thread well into May 2009, some three months after the initial announcement. In total over 40 people contributed to the Polymath1 project. Both threads of the Polymath1 project have been successful, producing at least two new papers to be published under the pseudonym D. H. J. Polymath , where the initials refer to

14796-616: The profession. The International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS) is the world federation of national psychological societies. The IUPsyS was founded in 1951 under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) . Psychology departments have since proliferated around the world, based primarily on the Euro-American model. Since 1966, the Union has published

14933-494: The psychological laboratory that brought experimental psychology to the world. Wundt focused on breaking down mental processes into the most basic components, motivated in part by an analogy to recent advances in chemistry, and its successful investigation of the elements and structure of materials. Paul Flechsig and Emil Kraepelin soon created another influential laboratory at Leipzig, a psychology-related lab, that focused more on experimental psychiatry. James McKeen Cattell ,

15070-514: The results of natural selection or sexual selection over the course of human evolution. The history of the biological foundations of psychology includes evidence of racism. The idea of white supremacy and indeed the modern concept of race itself arose during the process of world conquest by Europeans. Carl von Linnaeus 's four-fold classification of humans classifies Europeans as intelligent and severe, Americans as contented and free, Asians as ritualistic, and Africans as lazy and capricious. Race

15207-492: The second half of the 20th century continued to do research that had large-scale impacts on the field of psychology. Mary Ainsworth 's work centered around attachment theory . Building off fellow psychologist John Bowlby , Ainsworth spent years doing fieldwork to understand the development of mother-infant relationships. In doing this field research, Ainsworth developed the Strange Situation Procedure,

15344-424: The soul can also never approach chemistry even as a systematic art of analysis or experimental doctrine, for in it the manifold of inner observation can be separated only by mere division in thought, and cannot then be held separate and recombined at will (but still less does another thinking subject suffer himself to be experimented upon to suit our purpose), and even observation by itself already changes and displaces

15481-417: The stage for further research to be done in social psychology , especially in gender construction . Other women in the field also continued advocating for women in psychology, creating the Association for Women in Psychology to criticize how the field treated women. E. Kitsch Child , Phyllis Chesler , and Dorothy Riddle were some of the founding members of the organization in 1969. The latter half of

15618-621: The state of the observed object." In 1783, Ferdinand Ueberwasser (1752–1812) designated himself Professor of Empirical Psychology and Logic and gave lectures on scientific psychology, though these developments were soon overshadowed by the Napoleonic Wars . At the end of the Napoleonic era, Prussian authorities discontinued the Old University of Münster. Having consulted philosophers Hegel and Herbart , however, in 1825

15755-414: The study. This study significantly contributed to understanding obedience to authority and human behavior in social contexts. Its impact extended beyond psychology, influencing various fields like ethics, sociology, and behavioral studies. The experiment's implications and ethical considerations continue to spark discussions in the academic and social spheres. The Button was an online social experiment on

15892-416: The subjects are unaware that they are partaking in an experiment as to prevent bias; however, this may bring ethical issues (see ethics section). Several "actors" or "plants" are used to study social behaviors . Companies have also used social experiments to collect consumer data and their opinions about a product or a particular topic. In 1895, American psychologist Norman Triplett constructed one of

16029-427: The technique of autogenic training , prominently advocated sterilization and euthanasia of men considered genetically undesirable, and devised techniques for facilitating this process. After the war, new institutions were created although some psychologists, because of their Nazi affiliation, were discredited. Alexander Mitscherlich founded a prominent applied psychoanalysis journal called Psyche . With funding from

16166-493: The tester left the room and then returned. (The reward was sometimes a marshmallow, but often a cookie or a pretzel.) In follow-up studies, the researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better life outcomes, as measured by SAT scores, educational attainment, body mass index (BMI) , and other life measures. The Asch experiment took place at Swarthmore College in 1951. Solomon Asch conducted an experiment to investigate

16303-605: The timer went down to zero. A Reddit user named mncke created an automated bot that would use “zombie” accounts to press the Button so the Button would go on forever. But when one of the “zombie's” accounts was created after 1 April, nothing happened when it tried to press the Button, and the Button ticked down to zero. r/Place was an online social experiment on the social networking website Reddit created by Josh Wardle , who went by powerlanguage , that first began on April Fools' Day 2017 and rebooted on April Fools' Day 2022. In

16440-722: The unconscious mind. Research psychologists employ empirical methods to infer causal and correlational relationships between psychosocial variables . Some, but not all, clinical and counseling psychologists rely on symbolic interpretation . While psychological knowledge is often applied to the assessment and treatment of mental health problems, it is also directed towards understanding and solving problems in several spheres of human activity. By many accounts, psychology ultimately aims to benefit society. Many psychologists are involved in some kind of therapeutic role, practicing psychotherapy in clinical, counseling, or school settings. Other psychologists conduct scientific research on

16577-459: The unique experiences of individual humans, which cannot be understood only as data points within a larger population. Critics inside and outside the field have argued that mainstream psychology has become increasingly dominated by a "cult of empiricism", which limits the scope of research because investigators restrict themselves to methods derived from the physical sciences. Feminist critiques have argued that claims to scientific objectivity obscure

16714-548: The universe in term of a division of physical reality and mental reality as well as the interaction between the physical and the mental. Chinese philosophy also emphasized purifying the mind in order to increase virtue and power. An ancient text known as The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine identifies the brain as the nexus of wisdom and sensation, includes theories of personality based on yin–yang balance, and analyzes mental disorder in terms of physiological and social disequilibria. Chinese scholarship that focused on

16851-497: The upcoming generation of math and science researchers." The problems are original research and unsolved problems in mathematics. All high school and college students from around the world with advanced background of mathematics are encouraged to participate. Older participants are welcomed to participate as mentors and encouraged not to post solutions to the problems. The first Crowdmath project began on March 1, 2016. The initial proposed problem for this project, now called Polymath1 by

16988-413: The values and agenda of (historically) mostly male researchers. Jean Grimshaw, for example, argues that mainstream psychological research has advanced a patriarchal agenda through its efforts to control behavior. Psychologists generally consider biology the substrate of thought and feeling, and therefore an important area of study. Behaviorial neuroscience, also known as biological psychology, involves

17125-526: The viewer to promote the image of the individual or for the pure purpose of generating controversy. Researchers also believed that the impact of Informal Social Experiments via social media videos may have negative consequences on formal social marketing research as well as the society in general, detailing that while Informal Social Experiments address moral and social issues such as child safety, self-confidence , etc., producers of these social experiments might do it for their gain and benefits. Based on

17262-506: The war with a mandate to create a "New German Psychotherapy." This psychotherapy aimed to align suitable Germans with the overall goals of the Reich. As described by one physician, "Despite the importance of analysis, spiritual guidance and the active cooperation of the patient represent the best way to overcome individual mental problems and to subordinate them to the requirements of the Volk and

17399-473: The way researchers conduct studies and gather data. These platforms provide a versatile and accessible means of reaching a broader audience, enabling the performance of social experiments beyond the constraints of traditional laboratory settings. For example, the Citizen Social Lab platform combines human behavioral experiments with a citizen science approach, allowing researchers to bring science to

17536-446: The wrong answers 12 times. 75% of the participants conformed once or more, and the remaining 25% never conformed to the group's wrong answers. Participants were interviewed after the experiment, and although they knew the answers were wrong, they conformed to not be ridiculed by the group. A few individuals said they thought the group's answers were correct. Asch concluded that people conformed because they either wanted to fit in or thought

17673-463: Was Naomi Weisstein , who was an accomplished researcher in psychology and neuroscience , and is perhaps best known for her paper, "Kirche, Kuche, Kinder as Scientific Law: Psychology Constructs the Female." Psychology Constructs the Female criticized the field of psychology for centering men and using biology too much to explain gender differences without taking into account social factors. Her work set

17810-597: Was a randomized social experiment sponsored by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in the 1990s among 4600 low-income families with children living in high-poverty public housing projects . The program was designed based on the assumption that households benefit from living in higher-opportunity neighborhoods. Early evaluations of the MTO program, however, showed minimal gains for participant families. One explanation for these findings

17947-434: Was a study carried out by Albert Bandura who was a professor at Stanford University. It focused on the study of aggression using three groups of preschoolers as the subjects. Bandura took inflatable plastic toys called Bobo dolls and weighted them down to always stand upright. The preschoolers were divided into three groups by gender, and then into six subgroups. One of the groups would observe an adult act aggressively towards

18084-607: Was a turning point for women's recognition within the field of psychology. In addition to the contributions made by Leta Stetter Hollingworth and Anna Freud , Mary Whiton Calkins invented the paired associates technique of studying memory and developed self-psychology . Karen Horney developed the concept of " womb envy " and neurotic needs. Psychoanalyst Melanie Klein impacted developmental psychology with her research of play therapy . These great discoveries and contributions were made during struggles of sexism , discrimination , and little recognition for their work. Women in

18221-467: Was also used to justify the construction of socially specific mental disorders such as drapetomania and dysaesthesia aethiopica —the behavior of uncooperative African slaves. After the creation of experimental psychology, "ethnical psychology" emerged as a subdiscipline, based on the assumption that studying primitive races would provide an important link between animal behavior and the psychology of more evolved humans. A tenet of behavioral research

18358-561: Was another woman in psychology that changed the field with her research. She was one of the first African-Americans to receive a doctoral degree in psychology from Columbia University , along with her husband, Kenneth Clark . Her master's thesis, "The Development of Consciousness in Negro Pre-School Children," argued that black children's self-esteem was negatively impacted by racial discrimination . She and her husband conduced research building off her thesis throughout

18495-802: Was established by Carolyn Attneave . Harriet McAdoo was appointed to the White House Conference on Families in 1979. Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison , named one of Time Magazine's "Best Doctors in the United States" is a lecturer, psychologist, and writer. She is known for her vast modern contributions to bipolar disorder and her books An Unquiet Mind (Published 1995) and Nothing Was the Same (Published in 2009). Having Bipolar Disorder herself, she has written several memoirs about her experience with suicidal thoughts , manic behaviors, depression , and other issues that arise from being Bipolar . Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett views psychology through

18632-410: Was evaluated in a randomized controlled trial of 123 children (58 were randomly assigned to a treatment group that received the program and a control group of 65 children that did not receive the program). Prior to the program, the preschool and control groups were equivalent in measures of intellectual performance and demographic characteristics. After the program, the educational and life outcomes for

18769-527: Was funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research and was of interest to both the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps as an investigation into the causes of conflict between military guards and prisoners. The experiment is a study on the psychology of imprisonment and is a topic covered in most introductory psychology textbooks. Sherif was a founder of modern social psychology who developed several techniques for understanding social processes, particularly social norms, and social conflict. Sherif's experimental study of

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