Cockroaches, Monsters, and Placebos:

Ten Studies to Promote Student Appreciation for Research in Psychology

Below we list our top ten studies (okay, we know that there are 13 - sue us) the promote appreciation for scientific research in psychology. We have posted space for you to add to this list - What are your nominees for best study to promote appreciations for research? Once we get enough suggestions we plan to divide this list by sub-discipline and include a method of voting on studies to generate perpetually updated rankings.

13. Feldman, G., Zayfert, C., Sandoval, L., Dunn, L., Cartreine, J.A. (In Press). Reward Responsiveness And Anxiety Predict Performance Of Mount Everest Climbers. Journal of Research in Personality.

12. Joshua D. Greene, "The secret joke of Kant’s soul", in Moral Psychology, 2008, Vol. 3: The Neuroscience of Morality, W. Sinnott-Armstrong, Ed., (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).

11. Kruger, J., Dunning, D. (1999). Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 1121–34.

10. Wilson, T. D., Lisle, D. J., Schooler, J. W., Hodges, S. D., Klaaren, K. J., & LaFleur, S. J. (1993). Introspecting about reasons can reduce post-choice satisfaction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 331-331.

9. Schachter, S. (1971). Some extraordinary facts about obese humans and rats. American Psychologist, 26, 129-144.

8. Kahneman, D. & Tversky, A. (1984). Choices, values, and frames. American Psychologist, 39, 341-350.

7. Stack, S., & Gundlach, J. (1992). The effect of country music on suicide. Social Forces, 71, 211-218.

6. Harris, P.L., Brown, E., Marriott, C., Whittall, S. & Harmer, S. (1991) Monsters, ghosts and witches: testing the limits of the fantasy–reality distinction in young children, British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9, 105–123.

5. Mischel, W., Shoda, Y., & Rodriguez, M. L. (1989). Delay of Gratification in Children. Science, 244, 933-938.

4. Simons, D. J. & Levin, D.T. (1998), Failure to detect changes to people during a real-world interaction, Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 5, 644–649.

3. Minami, H. and Dallenbach, K. (1946). The effect of activity upon learning and retention in the cockroach, Periplaneta americana. American Journal of Psychology, 59, 1-58.

2. Freckleton, W.C., and Wahlsten, D. (1968). Carbon dioxide-induced amnesia in the cockroach, Periplaneta americana. Psychonomic Science, 12, 179-180.

1. Middlemist, R.D., Knowles, E.S., & Matter, C.F., (1976). Personal Space Invasions in the Lavatory: Suggestive Evidence for Arousal, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33, 541-546.