Shocking Psychological Studies and the Lessons They Teach

by Thad A. Polk

We live in a time of amazing new technologies - and an unparalleled level of surveillance. Virtually every aspect of human behavior is tracked millions of times a day through the technology that we all, often without giving it a thought, use every day. The collected data has the potential of providing vital insight into the human experience, but can the scientific community explore the psychosocial experience of humanity without making victims of us all?

Professor Thad Polk, of the University of Michigan, invites you to join him for Shocking Psychological Studies and the Lessons They Teach, a six-lecture course exploring a range of shocking psychological experiments from the past that have nonetheless contributed significant insight into the human condition. Dr. Polk elucidates the contemporary ethical principles now in place to protect both subjects and science, but admits that with every new technological and scientific advancement, there also comes a new set of ethical conundrums for researchers to grapple with.

Psychological research today adheres to the Belmont Report’s principles, a set of three ethical principles established in 1976 following the aftermath of research studies that critically failed to protect the rights of the research subjects. Through a look at a series of influential, but flawed, studies, ranging from syphilis to stuttering to psychoactive drugs, Professor Polk explores these ethical principles and how they, in retrospect, might have been applied.

As he concludes Shocking Psychological Studies and the Lessons They Teach, Professor Polk acknowledges that as science still grapples with the ethics of studying human subjects, past mistakes have helped us to create a safer and more enlightened field of scientific research, adhering to ethical research principles.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Audiobook, Science, Education, Sociology, Medicine

4 pages, Audible Audio

Published July 17, 2020

About the author

Professor Thad A. Polk is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. He received a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Virginia and an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Computer Science and Psychology from Carnegie Mellon University. He also received postdoctoral training in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania.

Professor Polk’s research combines functional imaging of the human brain with computational modeling and behavioral methods to investigate the neural architecture underlying cognition. Some of his major projects have investigated differences in the brains of smokers who quit compared with those who do not, changes in the brain as we age, and contributions of nature versus nurture to neural organization. Professor Polk regularly collaborates with scientists at the University of Texas at Dallas and at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, where he is a frequent visiting scientist.

Professor Polk regularly teaches on topics ranging from the human mind and brain, to cognitive psychology, to computational modeling of cognition. His teaching at the University of Michigan has been recognized by numerous awards, and he was named to The Princeton Review’s list of the Best 300 Professors in the United States.

Reviews

[Bon Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good eye opener, but something tells me it's only tip of an iceberg... And not only in psychology. It's sad state of affairs in pretty much all of the science, especially when it comes to so called "replication crysis". It's the very system that is rigged against the quality research and truth.

[jules]

All the studies discussed are among the most famous ever conducted, and other than recounting these tales of scientific misconduct, the lectures don't have a lot to add. Still, a pretty good starting point for people who haven't heard of these experiments before.

[Duy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cuốn sách tương đối hay về những thí nghiệm tâm lý học gây shock như thí nghiệm thay đổi giới tính của trẻ nhỏ, hay thí nghiệm nổi tiếng 'nhà tù Stanford'.
Một phần rất hay của chương trình nói về nạn chỉnh sửa, thậm chí bịa đặt số liệu trong nghiên cứu tâm lý học, khiến nhiều nghiên cứu tâm lý rất không đáng tin. Nhìn chung đây không phải là vấn đề của riêng tâm lý học mà của nhiều ngành khoa học xã hội và tự nhiên khác.

[Katie Storr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very short but concise free course from Audible

Topics include:

•Tuskegee Syphilis experiment - deliberately withholding treatment

•Facebook use of data - emotional contagion experiment analysing good/bad words on FB feeds

• Milgram’s obedience study - how many electric shocks would someone administer?

•The Stanford prison experiment - how the prison system may effect sense of self

•The Neubauer twin study - twins separated during adoption process

•The monster study - children and stammers/stutters

•Edgewood facility testing - falsely giving ex military men drugs inc LSD

•The Tearoom trade study - spying on men having sex with other men in public restrooms

•The John/Joan case - Bruce made a girl after being born a boy

•Digital data and privacy - what is ethical and what is not?

•Intentional research misconduct - falsely creating data sets

•Psychology’s replication crisis

[Lukas Lovas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good overview of some of the more interesting/disturbing studies.

I do wish, the course went a bit deeper into the actual conclusions of some of the studies and not just the ethical issues....Still, definitely worth reading.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The enjoyment of this book depends on how much of these experiments you're already familiar with. Apart from that, It was a worth the time listening.

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, was this a fantastic book. I literally couldn't put it down once I started it. I also learned so much more then I thought I would. I definitely recommend this book so much.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

A basic refresher on the staples (Stanford prison experiment, Milgram pain experiment, MK Ultra) and an interesting intro to some less-known ones.

[Steve Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I’d heard of many of the unethical psychology experiments talked about in this lecture, I had not known of some of the questionable practices they contained. For those experiments I hadn’t heard of, this lecture broke new ground. I was actually shouting out in outraged protest (as if I could change the past) as I was driving along and listening.

There’s a trigger alert at the beginning of each chapter, and there needs to be. That said, be courageous if you can and consider listening. Take note of the optimistic ending as a new model of scientific review is proposed that will go far in rectifying problems attending science research.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I saw the title "Shocking Psychological Studies" I didn't believe it entirely. I knew there were some crappy things that psychologists used to do (and still do) to people in order to write a paper, but holy moley!

I had heard about the prisoner study where a professor paid college students to play prisoners and guards. It was supposed to be a 2 week study, but they shut it down in 8 days when the professor's sweetheart saw how it had deteriorated into psychological torture. (The professor's girlfriend stopped it! Not the professor. He was the warden and got caught up in his own experiment!)

I suggest reading "The Wave" by Todd Strasser, which is a fictional account of a real experiment conducted by a high school teacher on his students. It worked only too well.

A couple of these experiments just PISSED ME OFF... experimenting on children. In one case they separated orphaned twins at birth and never told them that they were twins. In another case a set of twin boys was kept together, but in a medical accident, the penis of one of the boys was destroyed, so they did gender reassignment and told the parents to raise the boy as a girl. And it got worse than that. I don't want to get into it.

This course is not simply a recitation of bad psychology experiments. It is also a warning that while new regulations are in place to prevent what has happened in the past, these regulations are far from perfect (which describes almost any regulation no matter how well conceived) and psychological damage can still be done to innocent participants in these human experiments.

I'll probably listen to this course again but not too soon. I need to calm down.

[Christopher Li · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of important terms and ideas:
- replication studies of 100 psychological studies found 34 instead of 97% of them produced statistically significant results. Measurement error in 1/20 studies causes statistically significant results, not considering the actual variables involved.
- Belmont report (1976 at belmont conference): 3 key ethical principles in psychological studies:
1. Respect for persons(humans should be treated as autonomous agents w/ free will and given opportunity to decide for themselves if they want to participate. Also, provide those disabled w/ extra protection
2. Beneficence (Looking out for the well being of the participants. Incorporates idea of maximizing benefits f/ research while minimizing harm/risk)
3. Justice (is the study fair? does it treat different people equally, both in terms of sharingin the benefits of the research and in bearing the risks? Must be fair with participant selection)
-Diederik Stapel: faked data in his "significant" psychological studies completely.


Major Psychological studies covered:
- Facebook emotional contagion experiment (2012, tested if positive/negative emotions are contagious, specifically if people saw fewer positive posts would post less positive posts themselves). Found that there were slight effects when removing positive posts and negative posts on emotions.
- Tuskegee syphillus study, gave treatments for syphillus inflicted people sometimes but sometimes just drew blood and didn't help, even when helping just a little reduces symptoms alot. They didn't inform the patients of their treatment status. Some went untreated for 40 years.
-had a big impact on regulations governing human research
-today researchers are required to tell participants about a new treatment that is potentially more effective than the one they are recieving currently.
- Stanley Milgram's Obedience Study/electric shock study(1960s, would people do unethical things if under orders from others with pressure): found that out of 40 people who were teachers administering shocks, 26/40(65%) kept following the experimenters instructions
-Stanford prison experiment(1971): prisoners were disciplined by guards and treated inhumanely despite no real reason to and it being an experiment. experimenters also failed to recognize the inhumane treatment of participants, despite participant protest
- Neuber Twin Study: wanted to see if nature v nurture influenced development more. showed the great effect of nature and genetics, but unethical and violated belmont principles
- Monster study(stuttering study, 1938): children were given either positive/negative feedback on their speech. some stuterrers were told they were fine, but some fine students were told they were stutterers, and they talked less, exhibited psychological trauma/stress. however, didn't make the normally fine people given negative treatment more stutter prone, disproving Johnson's diagnosgenic theory.
-MK Ultra(1953): many diff experiments, including prostitution study to lure people w prostitutes then give them lsd. Frank olson was on a retreat then drank a spiked LSD drink, then jumped off a building killing himself later despite having a good career, family, etc. Olson's autopsy also suggested it could have been a homicide done by the CIA to cover up the study.
- Edgewood experiments(1950s-60s): military tested many psychadellics and drugs to test mind control, and possible psychochemical warfare weapons. Recruited soldiers and didn't tell them they were being given actual drugs at all. Drugs included PCP (long, severe effects, causes paranoia), BZ(disorientation, agitation, tremor, stupor, seizures/catatonic states), LSD(james stanley given lsd without him knowing, he developed psychological issues.
-Harold Blauer (depression/mescalin study, 1952-1953): coerced despite protests to take larger and larger doses of mescalin to treat his depression, and he eventually OD'd then died.
- Tearoom trade study(1960s, Laud Humphreys): spied on gay men who had sex in public restrooms. most acts had no love, just purely exchange of sex, and many many men went despite risks. The types of men were from all types of social classes and occupations, even businessmen and priests who might sometimes overcompensate for their sin by denouncing it and acting more pure in public. But his observation of private sexual acts in this way caused controversy, especially since at this time homosexual activity was illegal
- John/Joan case(1965, researcher: john money) bruce/brian reimer were identical boy twins, but bruce had a procedure done early where his penis was accidentally burned/extra cauterized but brian didnt. John money wanted to prove people were born gender neutral, and societal norms largely dictated behavior and development. He suggested intersex babies recieve gender reassignment early and fully embrace that one gender identity. Bruce later had his male sex organs removed, they tried to reconstruct female genitalia, renamed him brenda instead and treated him like a girl in all ways. Initially, brenda was fully accepted as ok as a woman and thus john money was accepted as an expert on gender identity, despite also doing unethical things like asking children about sexual fantasies and showing pornographic materials. But, there was nothing feminine about brenda, acted differently from females and acted like a male, and she was eventually informed abt the experiment. Brenda transitioned back to a male after this to David, but eventually killed himself after divorcing his wife.Brian OD'd on antidepressants.

[cypher · Rating 1 out of 5]

interesting topic, but i have actually completely read Dr Zimbardo’s book about the Stanford Prison Experiment (“The Lucifer Effect”) and this author is misinterpreting it, criticising Zimbardo for things he did not actually do, the way this is implying, and this is also incorrectly stating what that study was about, in order to imply his study was unethical (and to make this more sensational, most likely), but Zimbardo’s study was one of the most useful studies in the field of psychology ever conducted, for reference (The Stanford Prison Experiment was only conducted to understand a bit more about what happened at Abu Ghraib, the prison, which even gave the name to the study, in a more controlled environment, and it was only meant to last 1 week, maximum 2 weeks, the study was ended on day 6, and nobody expected that things would progress so fast in the behaviour of the people who signed up for it, at that point the events at Abu Ghraib were already under prosecution so understanding the nature of the events was very important, for decades, the events at Abu Ghraib were under investigation with countless people brutally tortured and killed, and only in 2024 the trial managed to move further, Dr Zimbardo, with his study, has played an important part in the trial with his testimony and analysis, the Stanford Prison Experiment was incredibly important to understand the events and human psychology...and completely misrepresented here).

otherwise, this is very high level, cliché and picks to focus on the more sensational things, the way it’s presenting them too…no wonder it’s misinterpreting things to cause “intrigue” and sell.
…it’s a podcast on the go, for fast information, after all, not really a serious work in the field of psychology.

this is more tabloid level.

these “Great Courses” are a lot hit and miss, unfortunately.

[Chris Howells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Professor Thad Polk, of the University of Michigan, invites you to join him for Shocking Psychological Studies and the Lessons They Teach, a six-lecture course exploring a range of shocking psychological experiments from the past that contributed insight into the human condition....
This is a short series of lectures, only 5, but they really pack a punch. Some of the material I have heard before, the MK Ultra CIA experiments with mind altering drugs, but there are plenty of other stories that will shock you. One in particular is very relevant to the gender identity debate today. Excellent listen taught by a truly talented teacher, once again the Great Courses brand deliver a good and informative series of lectures.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE this kind of stuff. It is disturbing that some of it happened, but seems like some of these experiments did reveal some pretty big ideas about the human psyche. I had heard about a couple of these and have definitely brought them up in conversation many times. It helps if you're a stats/data guy for the last part where he discusses margins of error and just data in general, but I think anyone could enjoy 85% of this.

Highly recommended, especially since it's so short, even if you're not into it, it will be over soon.

[Enrico · Rating 4 out of 5]

The course tells the tales of some experiments that were done in the past, that wouldn't be allowed today because of obvious ethical problems. Another topic is the replication crisis in modern research, a bias in published research in which only results get published that show some kind of effect, even if that effect may be caused purely by randomness. Overall interesting and enjoyable short course.

[Kirsti · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lecturer is that rare bird: a professor of psychology and computer science and electrical engineering. Also, he has an appealingly squeaky voice. This is a relatively brief series of lectures (about three hours total) describing social science experiments that many people today would consider harmful, destructive, or immoral.

[Tobi ﾄﾋﾞ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 very interesting but a lot of ethical issues were left unaddressed so it feels incomplete. Wish this was much longer, this is already very short (3hrs) for a Great Courses audiobook lecture, they’re usually at least 16+ hours long. So quite sad because it was very interesting and I wanted to know more

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

These cases were awful! I am glad that this book highlights the atrocities that the CIA and many scientists have committed against people. As a social science major, I have a lot of respect for the ethics and rules that are now in place to protect people involved in studies!

[Blair Hodgkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shocking (as promised) and informative. The past and present ethical violations that took place in studies really do make you wonder. The lecturer also poses some concerns for future studies. Fascinating.

[Megan ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

i've studied psychology before so i was aware of pretty much all these cases and unfortunately there wasn't a lot of extra information in these lectures. i'd say it's a good starting point for people who don't know much about the research side of psychology.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This audiobook is at a beginner's level in Psychology, except for the research statistics section in the last lecture. It introduces the listener to some famous experiments in Psychology, plus some lesser-known ones. Recommended for those interested in research ethics and the darker side of Psychology as a science (like true crime).

[Nichola · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt a bit superficial and there were other cases that were less prominent but as problematic that I think could have been discussed. Perhaps this was too US centric? Maybe...

[Mark Stapel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audible, Added to notes

[G. Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, that was horrifying

[James]

Well, guess we're all waiting 40 years and 5 weeks more for that Neubauer Twin study data to become unsealed.

[DJ Linick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gotta watch those psychologists, man!

This featured the John Money study.... That never gets easier to hear about!

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a former psychology graduate from many moons ago, this was a great little read, to have a reminder on some of the more famous studies, and an introduction to some studies I hadn’t heard. This book can be enjoyed by anyone and was presented really well and very clearly.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but most of the cases that I already heard of.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It adds a different small perspective to major experiments done in the field of Psychology, but isnt really something new.

[Roy Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank goodness I’m not in crippling student loan debt from this course!