Psychology — Origins of Mind Science
Asking what makes us human — 33 famous experiments
Each experiment distilled to one hanja. Cross-linked with cheonjamun.
The Marshmallow Test: Does 4-Year-Old Patience Predict Success?
Walter Mischel 1972 — self-control and future achievement
In 1972 at Stanford's Bing Nursery, Walter Mischel placed one marshmallow in front of 4-year-olds: eat it now, or wait 15 minutes and get two. Decades...
The Dunning-Kruger Effect: Why the Ignorant Feel So Confident
Cornell 1999 — the paradox of incompetence and confidence
In 1995 Pennsylvania, robber McArthur Wheeler covered his face in lemon juice, believing it would make him invisible to security cameras. Dunning and ...
Anchoring: The First Number Determines Everything
Kahneman & Tversky 1974 — irrelevant numbers shape every judgment
Kahneman and Tversky spun a rigged roulette wheel that landed on 10 or 65, then asked subjects "What percent of UN countries are in Africa?" The 10-gr...
Cognitive Dissonance: We Rewrite Our Beliefs to Match Our Actions
Leon Festinger 1957 — what cult members did when the world didn't end
In 1954 Chicago, a cult expected aliens to rescue them at midnight Dec 21. Festinger's team infiltrated. Midnight passed. Aliens didn't come. Did beli...
Priming: Reading "Old" Makes You Walk Slowly
Bargh 1996 — how the unconscious tugs our actions
In 1996 NYU, Bargh gave students a 5-word sentence task. Group A's word list contained "Florida, forgetful, bald, gray, wrinkle" — old-age primes. Aft...
The Trolley Problem: One to Save Five?
Foot 1967 → Greene 2001 — morality in two brain systems
In 1967 Oxford, philosopher Philippa Foot asked: a runaway trolley will kill 5. Pull a lever to divert it; 1 dies on the other track. 89% pull. Varian...
False Memory: Vivid Memories of Things That Never Happened
Elizabeth Loftus 1974 — memory is reconstruction, not recording
In 1974, Loftus showed students a car-crash video. Same video. Only the verb changed: "contacted" vs "smashed." Group A averaged 31 mph, Group E (smas...
The Stroop Effect: The Spear and Shield Inside Your Brain
John Ridley Stroop 1935 — when reading clashes with seeing
The word "RED" is written in blue ink. Read it: "red." Name the ink color: "blue." When asked to name the color, you hesitate — your answer takes abou...
Loss Aversion: Why Losing $100 Hurts Twice as Much as Gaining $100
Kahneman & Tversky 1979 — the paper that toppled rational choice theory
"Flip a coin: heads you win $150, tails you lose $100. Take it?" Expected value is +$25 — mathematically a good deal. Most refuse. In 1979, Kahneman a...
The Paradox of Choice: Why 24 Jams Sell Less Than 6
Iyengar & Lepper 2000 — when more options paralyze
In 2000 at a California gourmet grocery, Sheena Iyengar of Columbia set up two tasting tables. Saturday: 24 varieties of jam. Sunday: only 6. **The re...
The Default Mode Network: Your Brain Is Busiest When Doing Nothing
Marcus Raichle 2001 — the paradox that rest is activity
In the late 1990s, Marcus Raichle's team at Washington University noticed a strange pattern in fMRI data — certain brain regions used **more energy du...
Somatic Marker Hypothesis: The Body Knows Before the Mind Decides
Antonio Damasio 1994 — without emotion, even rational decision is impossible
In 1848, American railroad worker Phineas Gage survived an iron rod piercing his frontal lobe. His IQ was normal. But he could no longer **decide** — ...
Stanford Prison: How Good People Turn Cruel in Days
Philip Zimbardo 1971 — the experiment shut down in 6 days
In August 1971, Philip Zimbardo built a fake prison in Stanford's psychology basement. 24 ordinary students were randomly assigned guard or prisoner r...
Milgram's Obedience: How Far Will We Go Under Authority?
Yale 1961 — 65% complied with lethal-dose shock orders
In August 1961, Stanley Milgram watched the Eichmann trial and asked: "Were Germans uniquely cruel, or would anyone do this?" In Yale's basement, ordi...
The Bystander Effect: 38 Watched, None Called
Kitty Genovese 1964 — when more help means less help
On March 13, 1964 at 3am in Queens NYC, 28-year-old Kitty Genovese was attacked over 30 minutes. The NYT reported "38 witnessed, none called." Four ye...
Asch Conformity: When Obviously Short Becomes Long
Solomon Asch 1951 — 75% conformed to a wrong answer at least once
In 1951, Asch showed 8 students a simple visual task: "Which line matches the reference?" The answer was obvious. But 7 of 8 were confederates who con...
Broken Windows: Do Small Disorders Invite Big Crimes?
Wilson & Kelling 1982 — the most influential and controversial urban crime theory
In 1969, Zimbardo left identical cars in the Bronx (poor) and Palo Alto (rich). The Bronx car was looted in 10 minutes. The Palo Alto car sat untouche...
The Halo Effect: One Good Trait Colors All Others
Edward Thorndike 1920 — bias discovered in military officer evaluations
After WWI, the US Army rated officers on various qualities — intelligence, leadership, physique, appearance, dependability. Columbia's Edward Thorndik...
The Reciprocity Principle: One Small Gift Creates Obligation
Robert Cialdini 1971 — how Hare Krishna's flower built donations
In the 1970s at US airports, Hare Krishna devotees handed strangers a free flower. "A gift for you." If refused, they pressed it back. **Those who too...
Harlow's Monkeys: Love Is Not Milk, It's Warmth
Wisconsin 1958 — attachment outweighs survival
In 1950s American psychology, behaviorism reigned: "Babies attach to whoever feeds them" (secondary reinforcement). Harlow doubted it. He gave baby mo...
Pavlov's Dogs: Bell, Drool, and Learning
Russia 1897 — an accidental discovery that created learning science
Pavlov was a digestive physiologist, not a psychologist. He won the 1904 Nobel for studying dog salivation. By accident, he noticed dogs salivated at ...
Mirror Neurons: My Brain Moves When I Watch Yours
Rizzolatti 1996 — an accidental discovery of the empathy neurons
In early 1990s Parma, Rizzolatti's team was mapping which neurons fire when macaques grasp objects. One lunch break, a researcher reached for an ice c...
The Bobo Doll: Children Copy What They See
Bandura 1961 — the origin of media violence debate
In 1961, Bandura split 72 preschoolers into three groups. A: watched an adult attack a giant inflatable Bobo doll. B: adult ignored the doll. C: no ad...
Theory of Mind: The Moment a 4-Year-Old First Understands False Belief
Wimmer & Perner 1983 — when one mind first sees into another
"Maxi puts chocolate in cupboard A, then goes out to play. Mom moves it to cupboard B. Maxi comes back. Where will he look for the chocolate?" — 3-yea...
On Being Sane in Insane Places — Rosenhan 1973
Stanford 1973 — the experiment that shook psychiatry
In 1973, Rosenhan and 7 normal volunteers (a housewife, students, psychologists) checked into 12 psychiatric hospitals. The only lie — "I hear a voice...
Learned Helplessness: Free to Escape, Yet Doesn't
Seligman 1967 — the first neural model of depression
In 1967, Seligman placed dogs in two stages. Stage 1: inescapable mild shock. Stage 2: same shock, but a small barrier to safety. Dogs didn't jump. Th...
The Placebo Effect: Fake Pills, Real Healing
Henry Beecher 1955 — when belief becomes biology
In 1944 at Anzio, Italy, Army surgeon Henry Beecher ran out of morphine. Desperate, he injected saline, telling soldiers it was morphine. 75% reported...
Cognitive Therapy: Thoughts Make Emotions, Not the Other Way Around
Aaron Beck 1960s — leaving psychoanalysis to discover automatic thoughts
In the 1950s, psychoanalyst Aaron Beck tried to find the unconscious anger in depressed patients — the Freudian orthodoxy. But what he found in their ...
Phantom Limb Pain: Why an Amputated Arm Still Hurts — and How a Mirror Heals It
V.S. Ramachandran 1995 — the body map in the brain is the body itself
60-80% of amputees feel **pain, itching, and motion in a limb that no longer exists** — phantom limb syndrome. A decades-old medical mystery. In 1995 ...
Self-Determination: Pay Someone to Play, and They Stop Loving It
Deci & Ryan 1985 — how external rewards kill internal motivation
In 1971, Deci gave students a Soma puzzle. Group A: just play. Group B: $1 per solve. After a while, the experimenter stepped out. Who played more dur...
The Habit Loop: 40% of Your Daily Behavior Is on Autopilot
Ann Graybiel 1990s — how the basal ganglia automate behavior
A 2006 Duke study found about 40% of daily behavior is habit, not conscious choice. Since the 1990s, MIT's Ann Graybiel placed rats in mazes and measu...
Variable Ratio: How Slot Machines Cage Dopamine
B.F. Skinner 1957 — the strongest and most addictive reinforcement schedule
Harvard's B.F. Skinner published Schedules of Reinforcement in 1957. A pigeon pecks a key for food (Skinner Box). When the food appears — the "reinfor...
Implementation Intentions: Reframe Resolutions as "If-Then" and Success Triples
Peter Gollwitzer 1999 — preset conditions, not willpower, drive action
"I want to exercise more" — a goal intention. Most fail. "Monday/Wednesday/Friday at 7am, I will run for 30 minutes in the park outside my building" —...
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