Research By Kevin Perelman
Table Of Contents
3. 1920 — John B. Watson & Rosalie Rayner
5. 1930s–1950s — B. F. Skinner
6. 1932–1972 — Tuskegee Syphilis Study / U.S. Public Health Service
8. 1935–1950s — António Egas Moniz / Walter Freeman
9. 1938–present — Ugo Cerletti & Lucio Bini
11. 1940s — Nazi Human Experiments
12. Late 1940s–1950s — CIA Project BLUEBIRD
13. Early 1950s — CIA Project ARTICHOKE
15. 1950s–1960s — Robert G. Heath
16. 1950s–1960s — José Delgado
18. 1953–1973 — CIA Project MKUltra
19. 1961–1962 — Stanley Milgram
20. 1961–1963 — Albert Bandura
21. 1960s — Martin Seligman & Steven Maier
24. 1970s–1980s — Thought Reform / Coercive Persuasion Research
26. 1980s–2000s — Interrogation Psychology Controversies
27. 2000s–Present — Digital Behavioral Engineering
28. 2000s–2010s — James Mitchell, Bruce Jessen, APA / National-Security Interrogation Psychology
29. 1997–Present — B.J. Fogg / Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab — Captology & Behavior Design
- 1890s–1900s — Ivan Pavlov
Pavlov restrained dogs, surgically prepared some to measure saliva, and repeatedly paired food with a bell, tone, metronome, or visual cue. After repetition, the dogs salivated to the signal alone, showing that the nervous system could be trained to react automatically to a previously neutral cue. - 1913 — John B. Watson
Watson promoted behaviorism, arguing that psychology should focus on observable behavior instead of inner thoughts. His view pushed the idea that human behavior could be predicted, shaped, and controlled by manipulating the environment. - 1920 — John B. Watson & Rosalie Rayner
In the Little Albert experiment, they showed a baby a white rat, then made a sudden terrifying noise by striking a steel bar behind him. After repeated pairings, the child began fearing the rat and similar furry objects. A harmless object was turned into a fear trigger. - 1927–1960s — Manfred Sakel
Sakel treated psychiatric patients with large insulin doses to force severe hypoglycemia and coma. Patients were repeatedly pushed into dangerous unconscious states and then revived, supposedly to treat schizophrenia. The “treatment” carried risks of seizures, brain injury, and death. - 1930s–1950s — B. F. Skinner
Skinner placed rats and pigeons inside controlled boxes where levers, keys, lights, and food dispensers controlled every consequence. Animals learned to press or peck for food, avoid unpleasant outcomes, or repeat behaviors based on reinforcement schedules. The experiment reduced behavior to a controllable machine-like loop. - 1932–1972 — Tuskegee Syphilis Study / U.S. Public Health Service
Government researchers followed Black men with syphilis while misleading them about the study and their diagnosis. Even after penicillin became the standard treatment, many were not properly treated. The men were used as long-term disease subjects instead of protected as patients. - 1934 — Ladislas Meduna
Meduna injected psychiatric patients with Metrazol/Cardiazol to intentionally trigger violent seizures. The theory was that convulsions might relieve schizophrenia. Patients often experienced terror before the seizure, physical injury risk, and extreme distress. - 1935–1950s — António Egas Moniz / Walter Freeman
Moniz developed frontal lobotomy, and Freeman popularized it in the United States, including the transorbital “ice-pick” method through the eye socket. Brain pathways were cut or damaged to alter behavior, emotion, or agitation. Many patients were left cognitively impaired, emotionally flattened, disabled, or permanently changed. - 1938–present — Ugo Cerletti & Lucio Bini
Cerletti and Bini introduced electroconvulsive therapy by sending electrical current through the brain to cause seizures. Modern ECT is done with anesthesia and medical safeguards, but early use was harsher, less controlled, and sometimes involuntary. Its history includes serious ethical concerns around consent and coercion. - 1940s — B. F. Skinner
Skinner tested reinforcement schedules where animals did not receive food every time, but unpredictably after varying numbers of responses. This variable-ratio pattern made animals keep pressing or pecking intensely because the next reward might always be one action away. It became the behavioral logic behind gambling-style reward systems. - 1940s — Nazi Human Experiments
Prisoners in concentration camps were subjected to freezing, high-altitude pressure, infectious disease exposure, drug testing, forced wounds, sterilization, and surgeries without consent. These were not ethical experiments; they were torture and murder disguised as science. The horror helped lead to the Nuremberg Code. - Late 1940s–1950s — CIA Project BLUEBIRD
BLUEBIRD explored whether interrogation, hypnosis, drugs, isolation, and psychological pressure could weaken resistance or affect memory and compliance. It marked a shift from academic psychology into intelligence-driven behavior-control research, where secrecy and national-security goals replaced normal consent protections. - Early 1950s — CIA Project ARTICHOKE
ARTICHOKE expanded BLUEBIRD-style work into hypnosis, drugging, interrogation, amnesia, and attempts to test whether a person could be forced or manipulated into acting against their own will. The core issue was not therapy; it was control, compliance, and breaking resistance. - 1950s — Harry Harlow
Harlow separated infant monkeys from their mothers and gave them artificial wire or cloth “mothers.” Some monkeys were placed in isolation chambers for long periods. The studies showed the importance of attachment, but they did so by deliberately producing fear, deprivation, abnormal behavior, and psychological damage. - 1950s–1960s — Robert G. Heath
Heath implanted electrodes into psychiatric patients’ brains and stimulated areas linked to pleasure, emotion, arousal, aggression, and mood. Some experiments attempted to alter sexual behavior or emotional states. These studies are dark because they used invasive brain surgery to directly manipulate inner experience and behavior. - 1950s–1960s — José Delgado
Delgado implanted radio-controlled electrodes, called “stimoceivers,” into animals’ brains. He could send signals remotely to affect movement, aggression, stopping behavior, or responses. His famous bull demonstration showed a charging bull stopped by brain stimulation, making the idea of electronic behavioral control visible to the public. - 1951–1956 — Solomon Asch
Asch placed a real participant in a room with actors who intentionally gave wrong answers about obvious line lengths. Many participants agreed with the false group answer even when their own eyes showed the truth. The experiment showed how group pressure can make people deny reality to avoid standing alone. - 1953–1973 — CIA Project MKUltra
MKUltra involved LSD, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, interrogation methods, and experiments on suggestibility and memory. Some people were allegedly dosed or studied without informed consent. It became one of the clearest examples of secret government experimentation crossing ethical lines. - 1961–1962 — Stanley Milgram
Milgram told participants they were helping with a learning experiment, then had them deliver what they believed were increasingly painful electric shocks to another person. An authority figure calmly instructed them to continue. The experiment showed how authority can override conscience and push ordinary people into harmful obedience. - 1961–1963 — Albert Bandura
Bandura had children watch adults punch, kick, hit with a mallet, and verbally abuse a Bobo doll. Later, many children copied the aggressive actions. The experiment showed that behavior, including aggression, can be learned by observation rather than direct reward. - 1960s — Martin Seligman & Steven Maier
They exposed animals to unavoidable electric shocks, then later placed them in situations where escape was possible. Many animals failed to escape because they had learned that nothing they did mattered. The studies showed how repeated uncontrollable distress can train helplessness and passivity. - 1971 — Philip Zimbardo
Zimbardo created a mock prison, assigning students to guard or prisoner roles. Guards gained power over prisoners through rules, punishment, humiliation, sleep disruption, and control of basic routines. The study was stopped early and became a warning about how institutions can create abusive behavior. - 1972 — Irving Janis
Janis studied major political and military failures and argued that tight groups can pressure members into agreement. Dissent is discouraged, warnings are ignored, and the group convinces itself it is right. The danger is psychological conformity inside powerful institutions. - 1970s–1980s — Thought Reform / Coercive Persuasion Research
Researchers studied systems that use isolation, confession, repetition, sleep pressure, fear, dependency, humiliation, group approval, and punishment to reshape identity and belief. This includes cult dynamics, indoctrination, prisoner control, and coercive group systems. - 1984 — Robert Cialdini
Cialdini studied persuasion methods used by salespeople, advertisers, recruiters, fundraisers, and influence professionals. His principles included authority, scarcity, reciprocity, liking, commitment, and social proof. These are not torture methods, but they show how people can be steered without realizing the steering is happening.
26.1980s–2000s — Interrogation Psychology Controversies
Psychologists, intelligence agencies, and military organizations studied how stress, uncertainty, exhaustion, dependency, and environmental control affect human decision-making, resistance, memory, and compliance.
Rather than using rewards like Skinner’s experiments, these systems focused on removing a person’s sense of control.
Methods associated with these controversies included:
· Isolation — separating a person from normal social contact, support systems, and familiar environments.
· Sleep deprivation — reducing sleep to increase exhaustion and impair judgment.
· Sensory manipulation — constant light, darkness, noise, silence, temperature changes, or disorientation.
· Dependency creation — making access to information, comfort, food, communication, or relief dependent on cooperation.
· Fear and uncertainty — creating situations where the subject does not know what will happen next.
· Learned helplessness concepts — critics argued that some interrogation strategies appeared to rely on creating feelings of powerlessness similar to those studied in learned helplessness research.
Unlike Pavlov or Skinner, the goal was not simply to observe behavior but to determine how psychological pressure could weaken resistance and increase compliance.
The controversy emerged because psychological knowledge developed for understanding human behavior was being applied in settings where the purpose was not treatment or education, but interrogation and control.
27. 2000s–Present — Digital Behavioral Engineering
Modern technology platforms moved behavioral science out of laboratories and into everyday life.
Instead of studying dozens of subjects, companies can now measure and influence the behavior of millions of users in real time.
Many of the mechanisms have direct roots in earlier psychological research:
Pavlov — Triggers and Conditioning
· Notification sounds.
· Vibrations.
· Visual badges.
· Alerts.
Over time these cues can trigger automatic checking behavior.
Skinner — Variable-Ratio Reinforcement
· Refreshing a feed.
· Checking messages.
· Looking for likes or comments.
Most checks produce little reward, but occasional rewarding content encourages repeated checking.
Asch — Social Pressure
· Public reactions.
· Likes.
· Follower counts.
· Trending opinions.
People can be influenced by seeing what large groups appear to approve of.
Bandura — Social Modeling
· Viral trends.
· Influencer behavior.
· Copycat challenges.
People learn behavior by observing others.
Cialdini — Persuasion Principles
· Social proof.
· Authority.
· Scarcity.
· Commitment.
These principles are often embedded into interface design.
Specific mechanisms include:
· Infinite scroll.
· Autoplay.
· Push notifications.
· Recommendation algorithms.
· Streak systems.
· Engagement rankings.
· Personalized content feeds.
The system constantly measures:
· What captures attention.
· What produces engagement.
· What keeps people returning.
The environment is then adjusted based on those measurements.
Critics describe this as behavioral engineering because the system is not merely observing behavior — it is continuously testing, measuring, and modifying conditions to influence future behavior at population scale.
28. 2000s–2010s — James Mitchell, Bruce Jessen, APA / National-Security Interrogation Psychology
Psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen were linked to the CIA’s post-9/11 “enhanced interrogation” program. Their methods involved psychological and physical pressure tactics such as isolation, sleep deprivation, stress positions, fear, sensory manipulation, and dependency to weaken resistance and increase compliance. The controversy became bigger when the American Psychological Association faced scrutiny over psychologists’ involvement in national-security interrogations; APA later banned psychologists from participating in such interrogations.
29.1997–Present — B.J. Fogg / Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab — Captology & Behavior Design
B.J. Fogg founded Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab and developed the field sometimes called captology, meaning computers as persuasive technologies. His work studied how websites, software, mobile devices, and interactive systems can be designed to change people’s attitudes and behavior through prompts, triggers, feedback, habit loops, and reinforcement. This connects Skinner-style reinforcement, Pavlov-style triggers, and social influence research to modern apps, notifications, feeds, streaks, likes, and recommendation systems.
