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10 Brilliant Social Psychology Studies Ten of the most influential social psychology experiments explain why we sometimes do dumb or irrational things. “I have been primarily interested in how and why ordinary people do unusual things, things that seem alien to their natures.Why do good people sometimes act evil?Why do smart people sometimes do dumb or irrational things?” –Philip Zimbardo Like famous social psychologist Professor Philip Zimbardo (author of The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil), I’m also obsessed with why we do dumb or irrational things. The answer quite often is because of other people — something social psychologists have comprehensively shown. Each of the 10 brilliant social psychology experiments below tells a unique, insightful story relevant to all our lives, every day. Click the link in each social psychology experiment to get the full description and explanation of each phenomenon. 1. The halo effect is a finding from a famous social psychology experiment. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

thinking styles The following is edited and adapted from It is intended to supplement personal understanding and enhance critical self-examination of yourself as a communicator. Styles of Thinking "How do people think about things?" Harrison and Bramson, through their research detailed in their text The Art of Thinking, found that in Western society there are five distinct styles of thinking. Most people show a marked preference for one or two of the styles. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Synthesists "Synthesists are apt to appear challenging, skeptical, or satirically amused, even when you can see no cause for any of that." A Synthesist can juggle both arguments and counter arguments mentally and recognize the validity of each and form new ideas from that conflict. The first common strategy of the Synthesist is that of "Open Argument and Confrontation." Their second common strategy is "Asking Dumb-Smart Questions." Synthesists like to speculate. Idealists