Coin flipping

46). The Stanford Prison Study does incorporate an independent variable, which was the random selection of the prison roles of either a guard or prisoner by flipping a coin (Weiten, 2013). “A dependent variable is the variable that is affected by the manipulation of the independent variable” (Weiten, 2013, p. 46). Zimbardo’s study does incorporate a dependent variable, which was the effect on their social behavior…

Cognitive biases are irrational patterns that occur in our thought processing. At the surface, they only seem to misconstrue our perception of reality and hinder our ability to reach a logical conclusion when faced with a problem or situation. However, through further research and investigations, psychologists have discovered that this apparent flaw in our minds has been a necessary part of our evolution. These biases help us make sense of the vast, complex world around us by simplifying the…

“We want to believe in the essential, unchanging goodness of people, in their power to resist external pressures, in their rational appraisal and then rejection of situational temptations. We invest human nature with God-like qualities, with moral and rational faculties that make us both just and wise. We simplify the complexity of human experience by erecting a seemingly impermeable boundary between Good and Evil.” (Zimbardo 211) In 1971 in the basement of the phycology department of stanford…

We haven’t seen anyone ever since we murdered those men. When we killed them, I had a rush of excitement and it almost seemed fun. Now I feel a burning pain inside for all those people we killed. They were probably just like us, trying to stay alive. They most likely just felt threatened, and attacked by self defense. Instead of trying to avoid war, we just killed them. Maybe we could have talked about it. Maybe no one had to die. Maybe Dante wouldn’t be dead right now. But we didn’t talk, we…

An individual has a higher chance of getting hit by an asteroid (1 in 700,000) in their lifetime, than they have winning the Powerball (1 in 185,000,000). However, it is still very unlikely, that such an event will happen during our time on Earth. After all, there are between 1.1 and 1.9 million asteroids in the Asteroid Belt, between Mars and Jupiter (“Asteroids: In Depth” 2). Who is to say one of those massive asteroids will not go on a collision course with Earth, and cause another…

For instance, in ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’, the overarching theme of incomprehensibility and absurdity is explored through the coin-flipping scenes and throughout the play. In the opening scene, when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern flip a coin, it lands heads-up eighty-five times consecutively. Even then, although Guildenstern is ‘well alive to the oddity of it’, he attempts to make sense of the strange phenomenon, applying the mathematical law of probability to the problem and speculating…

Before I begin my critical book review on The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Philip Zimbardo, I would like to give a brief background of the author Philip Zimbardo. Philip Zimbardo is a retired professor from the University of Stanford. In 2002, he became the president of the American Psychological Association. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Brooklyn College where he triple majored in psychology, anthropology, and anthropology. Zimbardo also earned his Master’s…

For instants the toilet seat argument. The guy forgets to put the seat back down after going to the bathroom the woman flips out because she can 't see why it is so hard to put the seat down after going pee. The guy then gets mad that she 's flipping out because he doesn 't see why it is so hard for her to put the seat down before she goes doesn 't it take longer before you can go pee if you stop to yell at him for not putting it down. This argument is caused because they do and think…

The success of Roman Empire was a paradox within itself. Despite its unmatched conquest and proud advocating of Pax Romana and extended citizenship, the empire incorporated a cruel system of enslavement and suppression of its conquered people. While bragging of its unprecedented republican system, Augustus, the most-well known Roman princeps, conspicuously attempted to establish his succession by awarding senatorial positions to his sons. And perhaps most importantly, as M.I. Finley notes, the…

Question 1 Cowles and Davis (2016) discussed several factors that contributed to the adoption of the .05 level of statistical significance. The first factor discussed was the discovery that computations can be utilized to measure observational error, by and astronomer, Lambert Adolphe Quetelet. This discovery led to the development of the normal distribution curve utilized today (Cowles & Davis, 2016). Following the development of the normal distribution curve, a measure of variability known…