SpeakCoveThe most famous psychology experiments include Milgram's obedience study (published 1963), the Stanford Prison Experiment (run in 1971, published 1973), Bandura's Bobo doll study (1961), Festinger and Carlsmith's $1 versus $20 cognitive dissonance study (1959), Rosenhan's "On Being Sane in Insane Places" (1973) and Loftus and Palmer's car-crash memory study (1974). This list adds four influential papers that aren't a single experiment: prospect theory (1979), heuristics and biases (1974), Miller's "magical number seven" (1956) and Rogers's conditions for therapy (1957).
Two of the experiments have not held up well. Archival research found that the Stanford Prison guards were coached on how to behave (Le Texier, 2019), and a 2019 investigation by Susannah Cahalan raised serious doubts about whether Rosenhan's study happened as reported. We note the caveats for each paper below, with full citations.
Most of these papers are written in prose that works well as audio because they describe experiments with people. Most sit behind publisher paywalls, so you'll usually need a PDF from your library or institution. Three (Miller, Bandura and Festinger) are free to read online at York University's Classics in the History of Psychology: copy the text into SpeakCove's free web reader at speakcove.com/text-to-speech to hear it read aloud, no sign-up needed.
The books
1“Behavioral Study of Obedience” by Stanley Milgram (1963), Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology
Ordinary volunteers kept giving what they believed were increasingly dangerous electric shocks to a stranger because an experimenter told them to continue. Milgram's descriptions of participants' visible distress are striking to hear. Its ethics and methods have been debated ever since, so pair it with modern commentary.
2“Interpersonal Dynamics in a Simulated Prison (Stanford Prison Experiment)” by Craig Haney, Curtis Banks, and Philip Zimbardo (1973), International Journal of Criminology and Penology
Students assigned to be guards in a mock prison treated the 'prisoners' harshly within days. The paper's observations are vivid, but archival research (Le Texier, 2019) found that guards were coached on how to behave, so listen to it as a historical document as much as a finding.
3“Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk” by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky (1979), Econometrica
A founding paper of behavioral economics, and part of the work for which Kahneman received the 2002 Nobel prize in economics (Tversky died in 1996). Its key idea, that losses loom larger than equivalent gains, is laid out with simple choice problems that are easy to follow by ear.
4“Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models (Bobo Doll Study)” by Albert Bandura, Dorothea Ross, and Sheila A. Ross (1961), Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology
Children who watched an adult attack an inflatable Bobo doll were more likely to behave aggressively toward it themselves, often copying the adult's exact actions and words. A short, clearly structured paper that became a cornerstone of social learning theory.
5“Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance (Cognitive Dissonance)” by Leon Festinger and James M. Carlsmith (1959), Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology
Participants paid $1 to tell the next person a boring task was interesting later rated the task as more enjoyable than those paid $20. This counterintuitive finding, that a smaller reward produced a bigger attitude change, is explained simply. A foundational paper for understanding self-justification.
6“On Being Sane in Insane Places” by David L. Rosenhan (1973), Science
Healthy volunteers got themselves admitted to psychiatric hospitals by reporting hearing voices, then behaved normally, yet staff read their behavior as symptoms. The narrative is gripping, but journalist Susannah Cahalan's 2019 investigation raised serious doubts about whether the study happened as reported. Listen to it alongside that critique.
7“Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases” by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman (1974), Science
The paper that described three heuristics people use under uncertainty (representativeness, availability, and anchoring) and the predictable biases they cause. Each is illustrated with a concrete example you will recognize from your own life.
8“The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information” by George A. Miller (1956), Psychological Review
One of the most cited papers in psychology, and one of the most enjoyable. Miller writes with wit about the limits of absolute judgment and immediate memory. Later work (Cowan, 2001) argues the real limit is closer to four chunks, which makes a good follow-up.
9“The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions of Therapeutic Personality Change” by Carl R. Rogers (1957), Journal of Consulting Psychology
Rogers sets out six conditions he believed were enough for therapy to work, including empathic understanding and unconditional positive regard. The paper is short and plainly written, and it shaped humanistic psychotherapy and counseling training for decades.
10“Reconstruction of Automobile Destruction: An Example of the Interaction Between Language and Memory” by Elizabeth F. Loftus and John C. Palmer (1974), Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior
Asking how fast cars were going when they 'smashed' rather than 'hit' each other raised speed estimates, and a week later more of those witnesses falsely remembered broken glass. Two short, elegant experiments with clear implications for eyewitness testimony.
Listening Tips
- Psychology papers are among the most listenable academic writing because they describe experiments with people. Let the narrative pull you in rather than trying to memorize statistics.
- Listen to the introduction and results sections first for the key findings, then go back for the methodology if you want to evaluate the experimental design.
- Use 1x speed for your first listen. These papers are written in accessible prose, so normal speed usually works well; drop to 0.75x for statistical sections.
- Group related papers together: listen to Milgram and the Stanford Prison Experiment back-to-back on authority, or pair the two Kahneman and Tversky papers for behavioral economics.
- Several of these studies have been questioned or failed to replicate. Listen with a critical ear and look up the modern commentary in the sources below.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What are the most famous psychology experiments?
- Milgram's obedience study (1963), the Stanford Prison Experiment (1971, published 1973), Bandura's Bobo doll study (1961), Festinger and Carlsmith's cognitive dissonance study (1959), Rosenhan's "On Being Sane in Insane Places" (1973) and Loftus and Palmer's eyewitness memory study (1974) are among the most cited and taught.
- Which famous psychology studies have been discredited or questioned?
- The Stanford Prison Experiment: archival research (Le Texier, 2019) found the guards were coached. Rosenhan's study: Susannah Cahalan's 2019 investigation raised serious doubts that it happened as reported. Milgram's ethics and methods are still debated, and Miller's limit of seven items has been revised to about four chunks (Cowan, 2001).
- How do I get these psychology papers into SpeakCove?
- Most are paywalled, so download the PDF through your university or public library, then import it from the Files app. SpeakCove's built-in paper search only lists open-access papers, so it usually won't find these classics, but it's useful for newer open-access papers on the same topics.
- Are psychology papers easy to follow as audio?
- Psychology papers are among the more accessible academic papers for listening. They describe experiments involving people and behavior, so the prose is often narrative. Statistical sections are harder to follow by ear, but the key findings and implications are very listenable.
- How long are these papers as audio?
- Most papers on this list are 5 to 30 journal pages, which works out to roughly 20 to 90 minutes of listening at 1x. Loftus and Palmer and the Bandura study are on the short end; prospect theory and the Stanford Prison paper are longer.
- Do I need a university subscription to access these papers?
- For most of them, you need access through a university or public library. Miller (1956), Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961), and Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) are free to read at Classics in the History of Psychology. Only import PDFs you have legal access to.
- Is SpeakCove free for listening to papers?
- Yes. PDF import, paper search, text-to-speech, speed control, and sentence highlighting are free. A one-time $14.99 Premium purchase adds 8 more voices, background and lock-screen playback, and CarPlay.
Sources
- Milgram (1963). Behavioral Study of Obedience. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67(4), 371-378.
- Kahneman & Tversky (1979). Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263-291.
- Bandura, Ross & Ross (1961). Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models (free full text)
- Festinger & Carlsmith (1959). Cognitive consequences of forced compliance (free full text)
- Rosenhan (1973). On Being Sane in Insane Places. Science, 179(4070), 250-258.
- Tversky & Kahneman (1974). Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases. Science, 185(4157), 1124-1131.
- Miller (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two (free full text)
- Rogers (1957). The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 21(2), 95-103.
- Loftus & Palmer (1974). Reconstruction of automobile destruction. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 13(5), 585-589.
- Le Texier (2019). Debunking the Stanford Prison Experiment. American Psychologist, 74(7), 823-839.
- Cowan (2001). The magical number 4 in short-term memory. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24(1), 87-114.
- Psychiatric Times: review of Susannah Cahalan's The Great Pretender (2019)