What is your favourite psychology study?

Brain imaging shows that people have more active hippocampi when correctly navigating, as tested in a computer-simulated "virtual" navigation task.^[42] Also, there is evidence that the hippocampus plays a role in finding shortcuts and new routes between familiar places. For example, London's taxi drivers must learn a large number of places and the most direct routes between them (they have to pass a strict test, The Knowledge, before being licensed to drive the famous black cabs). A study at University College London by Maguire, et al.. (2000)^[43]showed that part of the hippocampus is larger in taxi drivers than in the general public, and that more experienced drivers have bigger hippocampi. Whether having a bigger hippocampus helps an individual to become a better cab driver, or if finding shortcuts for a living makes an individual's hippocampus grow is yet to be elucidated. However, in that study, Maguire et al. examined the correlation between size of the grey matter and length of time that had been spent as a taxi driver, and found a positive correlation between the length of time an individual had spent as a taxi driver and the volume of the right hippocampus.

Mark Levine's football shirt study.

And I don't just say that because it was done at my university

Milgram because the evaluation points were easier and you could even make them up at the top of your head during the exam

what was this about ?

Social psychology and football fan identity, using Liverpool and Manchester United fans at Lancaster Uni. They had either their identity as a football fan reinforced, or their identity as a fan of their team, by asking them questions about it. They then went to a different part of the university and witnessed someone falling over - if they'd had team identity reinforced they would be more likely to help someone wearing the shirt of their team, and less likely to help someone wearing the shirt of the opposite team. When it was reinforced that they were football fans this effect was less.

Also there's a video somewhere which was on a documentary once and it's really funny how clearly staged the falls are.

I always liked the one I did at A-Level about brain plasticity. The hippocampus region of the brain deals with spatial navigation, and is much larger than average in London taxi drivers who have had to memorise all the streets in London in order to pass a taxi driver test called The Knowledge.

From the Wikipedia:


I love studies about the brain, because we know so little about it and everything is always to interesting!

If anyone mentions that stupid Bobo doll study which was an absolute joke of a study I will hunt you down.