does social experiment mean

Slang dictionary

Social experiment.

[ soh -shuh l ik- sper -uh-muhnt]

What does social experiment mean?

A social experiment is a type of research done in fields like psychology or sociology to see how people behave in certain situations or how they respond to particular policies or programs.

Informal, personal, and humorous experimentation , such as pranks, is sometimes also referred to as a social experiment .

Related words

Where does social experiment come from.

Scientifically, social experiments  began in the 1860s. They are different than clinical or lab experiments in that they research how people behave in the real world,  socially .

Famous, and controversial, social experiments include the 1960s Stanley Milgram experiment, which tested subjects’ obedience by having them think they were electrically shocking other people. Others are the 1960s Bobo doll experiment, examining violence in children, and the 1971 Stanford prison experiment, quickly abandoned after participants took their roles as prisoners and guards too seriously. 

In social media and the internet …

…  social experiment became a phrase for informal efforts to see how people react to something. For instance, in 2012, actor Cole Sprouse set up a personal Tumblr account as a social experiment .

In 2013, Chance the Rapper launched his Social Experiment tour, joining the group The Social Experiment for a critically acclaimed 2015 album, Surf.

The phrase  social experiment  became the subject of some internet controversy thanks to YouTube prank videos. One YouTuber, Sam Pepper, posted a video in 2014 where he pinched the butts of women after asking them for directions. The prank called outrage and Pepper attempted to defend it by saying it wasn’t sexual harassment but a social experiment . Yeah, no.

In 2018, Instagram celebrity Timmy Thick, popular for his risqué and effeminate pictures, claimed his feed was a social experiment run by Harvard University.

Examples of social experiment

Who uses social experiment?

Sociologists, psychologists, and behavioral economists conduct formal social experiments . The Marshmallow Test , concerning delayed gratification and willpower, was a called a  social experiment in the 2010s.

Individuals may refer to personal experiments (e.g., dying their hair green) as social experiments . Sometimes, brands conduct more attention-getting or humorous informal social experiments , such as in 2018 when Payless Shoes tricked people into thinking their shoes were exclusive, high-end designer footwear.

Quite the prank, @paylessinsider ! The shoe store hosted a social experiment to see if fashion influencers would pay top dollar for their discount shoes. (Hint: They did!) @ABonTV breaks it down for us. https://t.co/0wZJnpowI9 pic.twitter.com/JQxxi6VLqi — Good Morning America (@GMA) November 30, 2018

This is not meant to be a formal definition of social experiment like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of social experiment that will help our users expand their word mastery.

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Example sentences social experiment

Numerous social experiments show that making public commitments has a very strong effect on those signing up to them.

If we look at the past three decades as a social experiment , the results are not in the least comforting.

He is fighting a large number of critics who argue that social experiments involving drugs and alcohol are dangerous and rarely succeed - as happened with prohibition in the 1920s.

Definition of 'experiment' experiment

Definition of 'social' social

Cobuild collocations social experiment.

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8 Famous Social Experiments

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Emily Swaim is a board-certified science editor who has worked with top digital publishing brands like Voices for Biodiversity, Study.com, GoodTherapy, and Vox.

A social experiment is a type of research performed in psychology to investigate how people respond in certain social situations. 

In many of these experiments, the experimenters will include confederates who are people who act like regular participants but who are actually acting the part. Such experiments are often used to gain insight into social psychology phenomena.

Do people really stop to appreciate the beauty of the world? How can society encourage people to engage in healthy behaviors? Is there anything that can be done to bring peace to rival groups?

Social psychologists have been tackling questions like these for decades, and some of the results of their experiments just might surprise you.

Robbers Cave Social Experiment

Why do conflicts tend to occur between different groups? According to psychologist Muzafer Sherif, intergroup conflicts tend to arise from competition for resources, stereotypes, and prejudices. In a controversial experiment, the researchers placed 22 boys between the ages of 11 and 12 in two groups at a camp in the Robbers Cave Park in Oklahoma.

The boys were separated into two groups and spent the first week of the experiment bonding with their other group members. It wasn't until the second phase of the experiment that the children learned that there was another group, at which point the experimenters placed the two groups in direct competition with each other.

This led to considerable discord, as the boys clearly favored their own group members while they disparaged the members of the other group. In the final phase, the researchers staged tasks that required the two groups to work together. These shared tasks helped the boys get to know members of the other group and eventually led to a truce between the rivals.  

The 'Violinist in the Metro' Social Experiment

In 2007, acclaimed violinist Josh Bell posed as a street musician at a busy Washington, D.C. subway station. Bell had just sold out a concert with an average ticket price of $100 each.

He is one of the most renowned musicians in the world and was playing on a handcrafted violin worth more than $3.5 million. Yet most people scurried on their way without stopping to listen to the music. When children would occasionally stop to listen, their parents would grab them and quickly usher them on their way.

The experiment raised some interesting questions about how we not only value beauty but whether we truly stop to appreciate the remarkable works of beauty that are around us.

The Piano Stairs Social Experiment

How can you get people to change their daily behavior and make healthier choices? In one social experiment sponsored by Volkswagen as part of their Fun Theory initiative, making even the most mundane activities fun can inspire people to change their behavior.

In the experiment, a set of stairs was transformed into a giant working keyboard. Right next to the stairs was an escalator, so people were able to choose between taking the stairs or taking the escalator. The results revealed that 66% more people took the stairs instead of the escalator.  

Adding an element of fun can inspire people to change their behavior and choose the healthier alternative.

The Marshmallow Test Social Experiment

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, a psychologist named Walter Mischel led a series of experiments on delayed gratification. Mischel 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.  

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).  

The results suggest that this ability to wait for gratification is not only an essential skill for success but also something that forms early on and lasts throughout life.

The Smoky Room Social Experiment

If you saw someone in trouble, do you think you would try to help? Psychologists have found that the answer to this question is highly dependent on the number of other people present. We are much more likely to help when we are the only witness but much less likely to lend a hand when we are part of a crowd.

The phenomenon came to the public's attention after the gruesome murder of a young woman named Kitty Genovese. According to the classic tale, while multiple people may have witnessed her attack, no one called for help until it was much too late.

This behavior was identified as an example of the bystander effect , or the failure of people to take action when there are other people present. (In reality, several witnesses did immediately call 911, so the real Genovese case was not a perfect example of the bystander effect.)  

In one classic experiment, researchers had participants sit in a room to fill out questionnaires. Suddenly, the room began to fill with smoke. In some cases the participant was alone, in some there were three unsuspecting participants in the room, and in the final condition, there was one participant and two confederates.

In the situation involving the two confederates who were in on the experiment, these actors ignored the smoke and went on filling out their questionnaires. When the participants were alone, about three-quarters of the participants left the room calmly to report the smoke to the researchers.

In the condition with three real participants, only 38% reported the smoke. In the final condition where the two confederates ignored the smoke, a mere 10% of participants left to report the smoke.   The experiment is a great example of how much people rely on the responses of others to guide their actions.

When something is happening, but no one seems to be responding, people tend to take their cues from the group and assume that a response is not required.

Carlsberg Social Experiment

Have you ever felt like people have judged you unfairly based on your appearance? Or have you ever gotten the wrong first impression of someone based on how they looked? Unfortunately, people are all too quick to base their decisions on snap judgments made when they first meet people.

These impressions based on what's on the outside sometimes cause people to overlook the characteristics and qualities that lie on the inside. In one rather amusing social experiment, which actually started out as an advertisement , unsuspecting couples walked into a crowded movie theater.

All but two of the 150 seats were already full. The twist is that the 148 already-filled seats were taken by a bunch of rather rugged and scary-looking male bikers. What would you do in this situation? Would you take one of the available seats and enjoy the movie, or would you feel intimidated and leave?

In the informal experiment, not all of the couples ended up taking a seat, but those who eventually did were rewarded with cheers from the crowd and a round of free Carlsberg beers.

The exercise served as a great example of why people shouldn't always judge a book by its cover.

Halo Effect Social Experiment

In an experiment described in a paper published in 1920, psychologist Edward Thorndike asked commanding officers in the military to give ratings of various characteristics of their subordinates.

Thorndike was interested in learning how impressions of one quality, such as intelligence, bled over onto perceptions of other personal characteristics, such as leadership, loyalty, and professional skill.   Thorndike discovered that when people hold a good impression of one characteristic, those good feelings tend to affect perceptions of other qualities.

For example, thinking someone is attractive can create a halo effect that leads people also to believe that a person is kind, smart, and funny.   The opposite effect is also true. Negative feelings about one characteristic lead to negative impressions of an individual's other features.

When people have a good impression of one characteristic, those good feelings tend to affect perceptions of other qualities.

False Consensus Social Experiment

During the late 1970s, researcher Lee Ross and his colleagues performed some eye-opening experiments.   In one experiment, the researchers had participants choose a way to respond to an imagined conflict and then estimate how many people would also select the same resolution.

They found that no matter which option the respondents chose, they tended to believe that the vast majority of other people would also choose the same option. In another study, the experimenters asked students on campus to walk around carrying a large advertisement that read "Eat at Joe's."

The researchers then asked the students to estimate how many other people would agree to wear the advertisement. They found that those who agreed to carry the sign believed that the majority of people would also agree to carry the sign. Those who refused felt that the majority of people would refuse as well.

The results of these experiments demonstrate what is known in psychology as the false consensus effect .

No matter what our beliefs, options, or behaviors, we tend to believe that the majority of other people also agree with us and act the same way we do.

A Word From Verywell

Social psychology is a rich and varied field that offers fascinating insights into how people behave in groups and how behavior is influenced by social pressures. Exploring some of these classic social psychology experiments can provide a glimpse at some of the fascinating research that has emerged from this field of study.

Frequently Asked Questions

An example of a social experiment might be one that investigates the halo effect, a phenomenon in which people make global evaluations of other people based on single traits. An experimenter might have participants interact with people who are either average looking or very beautiful, and then ask the respondents to rate the individual on unrelated qualities such as intelligence, skill, and kindness. The purpose of this social experiment would be to seek if more attractive people are also seen as being smarter, more capable, and nicer.

The Milgram obedience experiment is one of the most famous social experiments ever performed. In the experiment, researchers instructed participants to deliver what they believed was a painful or even dangerous electrical shock to another person. In reality, the person pretending to be shocked was an actor and the electrical shocks were simply pretend. Milgram's results suggested that as many as 65% of participants would deliver a dangerous electrical shock because they were ordered to do so by an authority figure.

A social experiment is defined by its purpose and methods. Such experiments are designed to study human behavior in a social context. They often involved placing participants in a controlled situation in order to observe how they respond to certain situation or events. 

A few ideas for simple social experiments might involve:

• Stand in a crowd and stare at a random spot on the ground to see if other people will stop to also look
• Copy someone's body language and see how they respond
• Stand next to someone in an elevator even if there is plenty of space to stand elsewhere
• Smile at people in public and see how many smile back
• Give random strangers a small prize and see how they respond

Sherif M. Superordinate goals in the reduction of intergroup conflict . American Journal of Sociology . 1958;63(4):349-356. doi:10.1086/222258

Peeters M, Megens C, van den Hoven E, Hummels C, Brombacher A. Social Stairs: Taking the Piano Staircase towards long-term behavioral change . In: Berkovsky S, Freyne J, eds. Lecture Notes in Computer Science . Vol 7822. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg; 2013. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-37157-8_21

Mischel W, Ebbeson EB, Zeiss A. Cognitive and attentional mechanisms in delay of gratification . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1972;21(2):204–218. doi:10.1037/h0032198

Mischel W, Shoda Y, Peake PK. Predicting adolescent cognitive and self-regulatory competencies from preschool delay of gratification: Identifying diagnostic conditions . Developmental Psychology. 1990;26(6):978-986. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.26.6.978

Benderly, BL. Psychology's tall tales . gradPSYCH Magazine . 2012;9:20.

Latane B, Darley JM. Group inhibition of bystander intervention in emergencies . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1968;10(3):215-221. doi:10.1037/h0026570

Thorndike EL. A constant error in psychological ratings . Journal of Applied Psychology. 1920;4(1):25-29. doi:10.1037/h0071663

Talamas SN, Mayor KI, Perrett DI.  Blinded by beauty: Attractiveness bias and accurate perceptions of academic performance.   PLoS One . 2016;11(2):e0148284. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0148284

Ross, L, Greene, D, & House, P. The "false consensus effect": An egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology . 1977;13(3):279-301. doi:10.1016/0022-1031(77)90049-X

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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Social Experiment

History of social experiments, limitations of social experiments, the future of social experiments, bibliography.

A social experiment is the random assignment of human subjects to two groups to examine the effects of social policies. One group, called the “ treatment group, ” is offered or required to participate in a new program, while a second group, the “ control group, ” receives the existing program. The two groups are monitored over time to measure differences in their behavior. For example, a social experiment can compare a program that gives unemployed individuals a financial reward for finding a job with one that does not. Or, a social experiment might compare students in schools that receive a new curriculum with students in schools that do not. Because the randomization procedure guarantees that the two groups are otherwise similar, the measured differences in their behavior can be causally attributed to the new program. The behavioral differences are sometimes called the “ impacts ” of the program. Commonly measured behavioral outcomes in social experiments include earnings, employment, receipt of transfer payments, health, educational attainment, and child development. Sample sizes in social experiments have ranged from under 100 to well over 10,000.

Some social experiments have more than one treatment group. In such cases, each treatment group is assigned to a different program. The various treatment groups may be compared to each other to determine the differential impacts of two of the tested programs, or they may be compared to the control group to determine the impact of the program relative to the status quo. The human subjects may be chosen randomly from the general population or, more commonly, may be chosen randomly from a target population, such as the disadvantaged.

Social experiments have been used extensively since the late 1960s. According to Greenberg and Shroder (2005) almost 300 social experiments have been conducted since then. Social experiments are very much like medical laboratory experiments in which the treatment group is given a new drug or procedure, while the control group is given a placebo or the standard treatment. Laboratory experiments have also been used extensively in the field of economics, since the 1970s (Smith 1994), but they differ from social experiments in that they are used mainly to test various aspects of economic theory, such as the existence of equilibrium or the efficiency of market transactions, rather than the effects of a social program. Also, economics laboratory experiments usually do not have a control group; instead, cash-motivated members of a treatment group are given the opportunity to engage in market transactions in a controlled environmental setting to determine whether they behave in a manner consistent with the predictions of economic theory. Some laboratory experiments in economics have been used to test public policy alternatives.

Much of the foundation of the modern approach to social experimentation can be traced back to the work of the famous statistician Ronald Fisher in the 1920s. Fisher refined the notion of random assignment and pointed out that no two groups could ever be identical. He noted that allocation of subjects to treatment and control groups by pure chance (by the flip of a coin or from a table of random numbers, for example) ensures that differences in the average behavior of the two groups can be safely attributed to the treatment. As a result, the direction of causality can be determined using basic statistical calculations. Fisher also recognized that randomization provides a means of determining the statistical properties of differences in outcomes between the groups.

The first major social experiment was the New Jersey Income Maintenance Experiment, which was initiated in the United States in 1968. Although a few smaller social experiments preceded the New Jersey Experiment (such as the Perry Preschool Project in 1962), they were much smaller in scope and much less sophisticated. The New Jersey Experiment tested the idea of a negative income tax (NIT), first proposed by the economists Milton Friedman and James Tobin in the 1960s. The New Jersey Experiment was the first of five NIT experiments conducted in North America (four in the United States and one in Canada ) that had very sophisticated designs and many treatment groups. Problems evaluating certain aspects of these complex experiments led to much simpler experimental designs in ensuing years.

From the 1970s to the present, social experiments have been conducted in numerous social policy areas, including child health and nutrition, crime and juvenile delinquency , early child development, education, electricity pricing, health services, housing assistance, job training, and welfare-to-work programs. Notable experiments include the Rand Health Insurance Experiment, which tested different health insurance copayment plans; the Moving to Opportunity Experiments, which tested programs enabling poor families to move out of public housing; four unemployment insurance experiments that tested the effects of various financial incentives to induce unemployed individuals to return to work; and a number of welfare-to-work experiments that tested ways of helping welfare recipients find jobs.

Although widely acknowledged as the ideal way to determine the causal effects of proposed social policies, social experiments have several important limitations. First, and perhaps most importantly, social experiments require that a control group be denied the policy change given to the treatment group. Because control groups in social experiments are typically disadvantaged, denial of program services may be viewed as constituting an ethical breach, thus limiting social experiments to places where resources prevent all eligible individuals from being served. Also, treatments that make a participant worse off are also viewed as unethical and politically infeasible.

Second, although well-designed experiments have a high degree of internal validity (inferences are valid for the tested sample), they may not have external validity (they are not generalizable to other settings). One common criticism of experiments is that because of their limited size, they do not generate the macroeconomic, “ community, ” effects that a fully operational program would generate. For example, a fully operational job training program may affect the wages and employment of nonparticipants and may affect social norms and attitudes, whereas a limited size experiment would not. Additionally, there is no way of knowing for sure whether a successful experiment in one location would be successful in another location, especially because social experiments are typically conducted in places that are chosen not randomly, but for their capability and willingness to participate in an experiment.

Third, social experiments take time to design and evaluate, usually several years. Policymakers may not want to wait the required time to find out if a particular program works.

Finally, in practice, it has often proven difficult to implement random assignment. For one reason or another, individuals may not be willing to participate in a research study, and in cases where collaboration between researchers and government agencies is required, some may be unwilling to participate. As a result, the treatment and control groups that are tested may turn out to be unrepresentative of the target population.

Because of the various limitations of social experiments, other means of evaluating the effects of social policies have been developed. These are generally termed “ nonexperimental ” or “ quasi-experimental ” methods. Nonexperimental methods monitor the behavior of persons subjected to a new policy (the treatment group) and select a “ comparison group ” to serve the role of a control group. But because randomization is not used to select the two groups, it is never known for sure whether the comparison group is identical to the treatment group in ways other than receipt of the treatment. Many researchers match treatment group members to persons in the nonparticipating population to make the groups as similar as possible. The matches are usually done using demographic and economic characteristics such as age, education, race, place of residence, employment and earnings history, and so on. One popular matching technique is propensity score matching , which uses a weighted average of the observed economic and demographic characteristics of the nonparticipating population to create a comparison group.

A particularly attractive nonexperimental method is the “ natural experiment. ” Natural experiments often are used to test the effects of social policies already in place. The natural experiment takes advantage of the way a new policy has been implemented so that the comparison group is almost a true control group. For example, military conscription (being draft eligible) during the Vietnam War was done by a national lottery that selected individuals for military service solely according to their date of birth. Thus, theoretically the group selected for military service should be identical to those not chosen, because the only difference is date of birth. Researchers wanting to test the effects of military conscription on individuals ’ future behavior could compare outcomes (for example, educational attainment or earnings) of those conscripted with those not conscripted and safely attribute the “ impacts ” to conscription (Angrist 1990). Because not all conscripted individuals actually serve in the military and because some non-conscripted individuals volunteer for military service, it is also possible to estimate the impact of actual military service on future behavior by adjusting the impacts of conscription for differences in the proportion serving in the military in the treatment and comparison groups. However, the validity of this procedure rests crucially on the comparability of the military service veterans in the two samples.

Social experiments have changed in character since the late 1960s. Many early social experiments such as the NIT experiments, the Unemployment Insurance Experiments, and the Rand Health Insurance Experiment tested a “ response surface ” in which subjects were given “ quantifiable ” treatments of varying tax or subsidy rates. In contrast, most of the more recent social experiments are “ black box, ” meaning that a package of treatments is given to the treatment group, and it is not possible to separately identify the causal effects of each component of the package.

Black-box experiments have been criticized because they tend to have much less generalizability than response-surface experiments. Hence, many researchers have called for a return to nonexperimental evaluation as the preferred method of analyzing the effects of social policies. However, those favoring experimental methods have countered that social experimentation should remain the bedrock of social policy evaluation because the advantages are still great relative to nonexperimental methods (Burtless 1995). In an attempt to “ get inside the black box, ” those sympathetic with the social experiment as an evaluation tool have proposed ways of combining experimental and nonexperimental evaluation methods to identify causal effects of social policies (Bloom 2005). Nonexperimental methods are necessary because of a selection bias that arises when members of the treatment group who receive certain components of the treatment are not a random subset of the entire treatment group. In the future, social policy evaluation may make greater use of both evaluation methodologies — using experiments when feasible and combining them with nonexperimental methods when experiments cannot answer all the relevant policy questions.

SEE ALSO Negative Income Tax

Angrist, Joshua D. 1990. Lifetime Earnings and the Vietnam Era Draft Lottery: Evidence from Social Security Administrative Records. American Economic Review 80 (3): 313 – 336.

Bloom, Howard S., ed. 2005. Learning More from Social Experiments . New York : Russell Sage Foundation.

Burtless, Gary. 1995. The Case for Randomized Field Trials in Economic and Policy Research. Journal of Economic Perspectives 9 (2): 63 – 84.

Greenberg, David, and Mark Shroder. 2005. The Digest of Social Experiments . 3rd ed. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.

Greenberg, David, Donna Linksz, and Marvin Mandell. 2003. Social Experimentation and Public Policymaking . Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.

Smith, Vernon. 1994. Economics in the Laboratory. Journal of Economic Perspectives 8 (1): 113 – 131.

Philip K. Robins

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Unlocking the Mystery: The True Social Experiment Meaning Revealed

By: Author English Study Online

Posted on Last updated: January 29, 2024

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In the digital age, the term “social experiment” has taken on a life of its own, far removed from the controlled conditions of academic research. With just a camera and a daring idea, anyone can become a social scientist of sorts, probing the fabric of human nature one reaction at a time. From the streets to the screens, these real-life dramas unfold, capturing the raw essence of surprise, shock, or delight in unsuspecting participants.

Table of Contents

Social Experiments Meaning

Social experiments are a type of research that observes how people react to certain situations or events. These experiments are generally conducted in the field of psychology or sociology. The primary source of information in these experiments is the participants’ point of view and knowledge.

In a social experiment, researchers will randomly assign human subjects to two groups to examine the effects of social policies. One group, called the “treatment group,” is offered or required to participate in a new program, while a second group, the “control group,” receives the existing program.

In slang or colloquial use, someone might refer to an unconventional or risky interaction in a social setting as a “social experiment” in a half-joking manner, to suggest that they’re testing the boundaries of social norms or trying to see how people will react to something out of the ordinary.

The purpose of a social experiment is to investigate how people respond in certain social situations. In many of these experiments, the experimenters will include confederates who are people who act like regular participants but who are actually acting the part. The experiment depends on a particular social approach where the main source of information is the participants’ point of view and knowledge.

Social experiments are generally considered social investigations that can be used to estimate the impact of a specific policy or to estimate underlying behavior. The income maintenance experiments and the health insurance experiment are examples of social experiments that focused on fundamental policy issues that were still relevant many years after the experiments were completed.

The origin of this usage can be traced back to the rise of reality television and hidden camera shows, which popularized the idea of observing people in contrived or unusual situations. Shows like “Candid Camera,” which began in the late 1940s, are early examples of using the hidden camera format for entertainment. Over time, this concept evolved and expanded with the advent of the internet and social media.

The proliferation of platforms like YouTube in the mid-2000s gave rise to a new generation of content creators who began conducting pranks, stunts, or other provocative actions in public, labeling them as “social experiments.” These videos often aim to provoke reactions, capture genuine human behavior, or highlight certain aspects of society by placing individuals in unexpected situations.

Types of Social Experiments

Field experiments.

Field experiments are conducted in real-world settings, such as schools, neighborhoods, or workplaces. In a field experiment, researchers manipulate one or more variables and observe the effect on the behavior of the people in the setting. The advantage of field experiments is that they provide a more realistic picture of how people behave in their natural environment. However, field experiments can be difficult to control, and researchers must be careful to avoid contaminating the results with extraneous variables.

For example, a researcher might conduct a field experiment to test the effectiveness of a new anti-bullying program in a middle school. The researcher might randomly assign some classrooms to receive the program and compare the behavior of the students in those classrooms to the behavior of students in classrooms that did not receive the program.

Lab Experiments

Lab experiments are conducted in a controlled environment, such as a laboratory. In a lab experiment, researchers manipulate one or more variables and observe the effect on the behavior of the participants. The advantage of lab experiments is that they allow researchers to control extraneous variables and isolate the effect of the variable being manipulated. However, lab experiments may not accurately reflect how people behave in real-world settings.

For example, a researcher might conduct a lab experiment to test the effect of social pressure on conformity. The researcher might assign participants to a group and ask them to complete a task. The researcher might then manipulate the behavior of the other members of the group to see if the participant conforms to the group’s behavior.

Famous Social Experiments

Stanford prison experiment.

The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted by psychologist Philip Zimbardo in 1971. The study was designed to investigate the psychological effects of power and authority on individuals. Zimbardo and his team recruited 24 male college students and randomly assigned them to be either prisoners or guards in a simulated prison environment.

The experiment was supposed to last for two weeks, but it was terminated after just six days due to the extreme and abusive behavior of the guards towards the prisoners. The study demonstrated the powerful effect that social roles and power dynamics can have on individuals, and it raised important ethical questions regarding the use of human subjects in research.

Milgram Experiment

The Milgram Experiment was conducted by psychologist Stanley Milgram in 1961. The study was designed to investigate obedience to authority figures, particularly in the context of Nazi war crimes during World War II.

Participants in the study were asked to administer electric shocks to a “learner” (who was actually a confederate) every time they answered a question incorrectly. The shocks increased in intensity with each wrong answer, and the “learner” eventually began to scream and beg for the experiment to stop.

Despite the “learner’s” pleas, the majority of participants continued to administer shocks all the way up to the highest voltage level. The study demonstrated the powerful influence that authority figures can have on individuals, and it raised important ethical questions regarding the use of deception in research.

Both the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Milgram Experiment are still widely discussed and debated in the field of psychology today.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some interesting social experiment ideas for college students?

If you’re a college student looking for social experiment ideas, consider conducting an experiment on campus. For example, you could set up a “free hug” booth and see how many people are willing to participate. Or, you could conduct an experiment on the bystander effect by staging a fake emergency and observing how many people intervene.

What are some famous social experiments?

There have been many famous social experiments over the years. One of the most well-known is the Stanford Prison Experiment, which studied the psychological effects of power dynamics in a simulated prison environment. Another famous experiment is the Milgram Experiment, which examined how far people are willing to go when following authority figures.

How do you conduct a social experiment?

To conduct a social experiment, you first need to come up with a research question and hypothesis. Then, you need to design a study that will allow you to test your hypothesis. This might involve recruiting participants, gathering data, and analyzing your findings.

What are some social experiment ideas for students?

If you’re a student looking for social experiment ideas, consider conducting an experiment on your classmates. For example, you could conduct a study on the effects of group conformity by asking your classmates to make a series of decisions together. Or, you could conduct an experiment on the bystander effect by staging a fake emergency and observing how many people intervene.

What are some social experiments to try on strangers?

If you’re looking to conduct a social experiment on strangers, consider conducting an experiment on public behavior. For example, you could observe how many people litter in a public space and whether or not they are more likely to litter when others are doing so. Or, you could conduct an experiment on social norms by breaking a norm in public and observing how people react.

What is the importance of social experiments in psychology?

Social experiments are important in psychology because they allow researchers to study human behavior in a controlled setting. By manipulating variables and observing how people react, researchers can gain insights into how social norms, group dynamics, and other factors influence behavior. This information can be used to develop interventions and programs that promote positive social change.

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If you're a college student looking for social experiment ideas, consider conducting an experiment on campus. For example, you could set up a \"free hug\" booth and see how many people are willing to participate. Or, you could conduct an experiment on the bystander effect by staging a fake emergency and observing how many people intervene.

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If you're a student looking for social experiment ideas, consider conducting an experiment on your classmates. For example, you could conduct a study on the effects of group conformity by asking your classmates to make a series of decisions together. Or, you could conduct an experiment on the bystander effect by staging a fake emergency and observing how many people intervene.

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If you're looking to conduct a social experiment on strangers, consider conducting an experiment on public behavior. For example, you could observe how many people litter in a public space and whether or not they are more likely to litter when others are doing so. Or, you could conduct an experiment on social norms by breaking a norm in public and observing how people react.

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social experiment

Meanings of social and experiment.

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(Definition of social and experiment from the Cambridge English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

• Examples of social experiment

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• Definition of social
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Social experiments

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Social psychology : Altruism · Attribution · Attitudes · Conformity · Discrimination · Groups · Interpersonal relations · Obedience · Prejudice · Norms · Perception · Index · Outline

A social experiment is an experiment with human subjects , which typically investigates effects on groups of persons. As an experiment, a social experiment evaluates effects of treatments, such as changes in a program or policy. For example, a study of influenza vaccination can evaluate the antibody counts of individual subjects; a social experiment can evaluate the effect of the vaccination on the health of family or friends.

Some experiments such as the Seattle-Denver Income Maintenance Experiment, the RAND Health Insurance Study have been large and highly publicized. Some of "the more recent experimental evaluations of state-run welfare-to-work programs and of programs run under the Jobs Training Partnership Act of 1982" have also been publicized. Others, however, have been small and obscure. Some "have pilot tested major innovations in social policy", some "have been used to assess incremental changes in existing programs", while some "have provided the basis for evaluating the overall efficacy of major existing programs. Most "have been used to evaluate policies targeted at disadvantaged population groups". [1]

Ethical justification [ ]

Social experiments have often been carried out because they enable to observe humans interact in unusual social settings. Nowadays, it has become more difficult to receive approval from ethics boards to conduct social experiments, especially after such experiments as the Milgram experiment or the Stanford prison experiment . These experiments have received criticism from the scientific community, and have been labelled as physically harmful and psychologically detrimental to the participants.

See also [ ]

• Social psychology
• Social psychology (sociology)

References [ ]

• ↑ David Greenberg and Mark Shroder. The Digest of Social Experiments, Third Edition . URL accessed on December 9, 2011 .