This is a fun post that serves the purpose of analyzing a few of the most popular social experiments undertaken. I will be looking at 5 social experiments and what the results actually mean. Stay tuned and enjoy.
- The “Violinist in the Metro” Experiment
In 2007, an acclaimed violinist who sold out a concert with an average ticket price of $100 decided to pose as a street musician for an experiment. He played sweet melodies with his $3.5 million handcrafted violin. Most people totally ignored him and quickly passed.
This proves how much human beings are impressed by appearances. We’ve seen many cliche movies where a rich person pretends to be poor just to see if someone has genuine feelings for him or her. It is sad that we judge books by their covers but that is just the reality. That is why most people groom themselves and look presentable. More favour is attracted to you if you do that. The Carlsberg social experiment and the Halo Effect Experiment provided a similar result.
2. The “Marshmallow Test” Experiment
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, a psychologist named Walter Mischel led a series of experiments on delayed gratification. He was interested in learning whether the ability to delay gratification might be a predictor of future life success.
In the experiments, children between the ages of 3 and 5 were placed in a room with a treat (often a marshmallow or cookie). Before leaving the room, the experimenter told each child that they would receive a second treat if the first treat was still on the table after 15 minutes. 3 Follow-up studies conducted years later found that the children who were able to delay gratification did better in a variety of areas, including academically. Those who had been able to wait the 15 minutes for the second treat tended to have higher SAT scores and more academic success (according to parent surveys).
This is very interesting because I get an investment and plan for the future vibe from this. Every successful person has had to sacrifice pleasures and comfort for a better future. If some kids were able to get through this test correctly then that might mean that they are better wired for success? You be the judge.
3. A Class Divided Social Experiment
Jane Elliott’s famous experiment was inspired by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the inspirational life that he led. The third grade teacher developed an exercise to help her Caucasian students understand the effects of racism and prejudice. This was a rather harsh experiment however, it needed to be done.
Elliott divided her class into two separate groups: blue-eyed students and brown-eyed students. On the first day, she labeled the blue-eyed group as the superior group and from that point forward they had extra privileges, leaving the brown-eyed children to represent the minority group. She discouraged the groups from interacting and singled out individual students to stress the negative characteristics of the children in the minority group. What this exercise showed was that the children’s behavior changed almost instantaneously. The group of blue-eyed students performed better academically and even began bullying their brown-eyed classmates. The brown-eyed group experienced lower self-confidence and worse academic performance. The next day, she reversed the roles of the two groups and the blue-eyed students became the minority group.
At the end the kids were relieved that it was over. This proves how much society can shape the kids. If you want a long lasting effective change then you must start by educating the kids properly and teaching them valuable lessons.
4. Ross’ False Consensus Study
Lee Ross conducted an experiment in 1977 that, in lay terms, focuses on how people can incorrectly conclude that others think the same way they do about the beliefs and preferences of others.
In the first part of the study, participants were asked to read about situations in which a conflict occurred and then were told two alternative ways of responding to the situation. They were asked to do three things:
- Guess which option other people would choose
- Say which option they themselves would choose
- Describe the attributes of the person who would likely choose each of the two options
What the study showed was that most of the subjects believed that other people would do the same as them, regardless of which of the two responses they actually chose themselves. This phenomenon is referred to as the false consensus effect, where an individual thinks that other people think the same way they do when they may not. The second observation coming from this important study is that when participants were asked to describe the attributes of the people who will likely make the choice opposite of their own, they made bold and sometimes negative predictions about the personalities of those who did not share their choice.
This experiment is relevant to this day. It is so evident in social media. You see people berate others because they do not share the same opinion instead of trying to understand where the other person is coming from. People believe what they believe to be the right thing I guess, that is just human nature.
5. YouTube Social Experiments
For the bonus social experiment, I’ll refer you to YouTube. It is one of the most used websites in the world and there are many popular channels which undertake various interesting social experiments. YouTube content creators such as Angry Picnic, The Impractical Jokers, Big Daws TV, and Juan among many others go round interacting with other human beings under unique circumstances just to record their reactions. It could be in the form of asking girls awkward questions or listening to loud music in a library or creating an awkward situation just to see how people react. Each of those tests is met with a variety of answers which provide interesting information about humans and how we think. I encourage you to check such channels out if you have not. Lots of interesting content there.
