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Student Corner

How Psychological Experiments Affect Mental Health

Written by: Pradnesh Singh Basnet - 27015, Grade X

Posted on: 18 June, 2024

For a considerable time, psychological experiments have played a crucial role in forming our comprehension of human behavior, thought, and emotion. These experiments, which range from historical investigations like the Stanford Prison Experiment to more recent studies examining the impact of social media on wellbeing, provide insightful information about the details of the psychological makeup of people. Psychological experiments do add to our understanding of science, but they also bring up ethical issues, especially when it comes to the possible effects they may have on topics' mental health. Furthermore, the results of psychological studies frequently have a significant impact on our knowledge of and response to mental health issues. Research on mental differences, for instance, has revealed the basic causes of anxiety disorders, and studies on learned helplessness have shaped depression treatment strategies. Psychological experiments aid in the creation of successful protective and treatment plans by defining the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive processes associated with mental health disorders.

Psychological experiments are done with two possible outcomes, they can either turn out to be good or they can either turn out to be bad, throughout the years there have been many psychological experiments conducted and these psychological experiments have led to two outcomes every time, let's take a look at some of the  experiments done. The first experiment is the radio experiment where the scientist of uk had attached radio  wires to the brain of the volunteers, from which the volunteers could take a guess at the picture and they would get it right, this was a successful experiment until after a week the volunteers claimed that they had faced severe anxiety and depression, and later the brain had fried up.

There are some experiments which benefited the research as well, and the most famous one was, Stanford Prison experiment, where the prisoners were given a role, and this experiment was done to understand human nature and they had concluded that any human in power would have a change in behavior. The psychological experiments are not  done just to adults, they were also done to babies and animals. This experiment showed us human manipulation, they showed us that  just with the sound of the food, they could make the dogs drool and make the babies alert. These experiments were the positive experiments which were used for human research. These experiments have a huge impact on human beings, most of the experiments done have caused harm toward the mental health of the individual. Psychology and mental health are interlinked within each other. That's why the top organizations and the scientists must not only think about the profits that they get, but they should also consider what harms it could bring for someone's life while doing so .

 

Sources:

Little albert experiment:- https://www.verywellmind.com/the-little-albert-experiment-2794994

Stanford prison expriment:- https://www.prisonexp.org/