The Bobo Doll Experiment: Kids See, Kids Do
Have You Ever?
One day, your uncle has to work late, so your dad volunteers to take care of both you and your younger cousin. All in all, besides the addition of another person, y...
Psychology
The Asch Conformity Experiments: The Line Between Independence and Conformity
Problem
Your school is having students take their annual vision test, but to save time, they’re having multiple students go at once. In each group of four, students will go down a...
Learned Helplessness Experiment: Doggone Attitudes
Background
Your coach has introduced a new training method: at practice, you’ll jump hurdles while wearing weights on your legs. The idea is that after training for a while, you’l...
Curse of Knowledge: Ignorance Isn’t Bliss
Background
It is the first day of your introduction to biology class and the teacher is speaking about microbes and their role in human everyday life. Although this is an introduc...
Zero-Sum Bias: I Win, You Lose
Problem
Why is it so difficult to teach young children to share their toys instead of hogging their playthings all to themselves? Similarly, why does your neighbor’s dog bark so a...
Cognitive Dissonance: Always Believe in What you Do
Have You Ever?
When you have a crush on someone, you typically hope that this person likes you back and that you’ll eventually end up dating. Let’s say that you sent a friend to s...
Backfire Effect: My Mind’s Made Up
Problem
Mara is a typical teenager who happens to think that shark attacks happen relatively frequently to beachgoers, and that these attacks are mostly fatal. However, her marine...
Pavlov’s Dog Experiment: For Whom the Bell Tolls
Introduction
Riona is spending the day at a local carnival with her friends. The first thing she decides to do is buy her favorite fair food: funnel cake, loaded with plenty of po...
Skinner’s Operant Conditioning: The Carrot or the Stick?
Introduction
How does the inside of your bedroom currently look? Maybe a few shirts and pairs of dirty socks are placed out of sight under the bed, some crumbs are on the floor fr...
Survivorship Bias: The Exception is not the Rule
Introduction
Mel is an eight-year-old girl who’s always wanted to be a pop singer. Even at her young age, she’s taken notice of the starlets who grace the covers of gossip magazin...