clipped from: www.spring.org.uk   
Head Turned

"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 eminent social psychologist Professor Philip Zimbardo, 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.

Over the past few months I've been describing 10 of the most influential social psychology studies. Each one tells a unique, insightful story relevant to all our lives, every day.

1. The Halo Effect: When Your Own Mind is a Mystery

2. How and Why We Lie to Ourselves: Cognitive Dissonance

3. War, Peace and the Role of Power in Sherif's Robbers Cave Experiment

4. Our Dark Hearts: The Stanford Prison Experiment

5. Just Following Orders? Stanley Milgram's Obedience Experiment