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Loh Seng Tsai trains rat to fetch a pail of water (1952)

 FORGOTTEN PSYCHOLOGY is a one-of-a-kind blog that highlights the old and obscure in the history of psychology. Each post focuses on a single "forgotten" paper and reviews the material from a modern day perspective.

Interested in writing for the blog? Learn more here.

Popular posts from this blog

WOMAN'S HAND HAS MIND OF ITS OWN, DRAWS MYSTERIOUS FACES

In 1912, Mazie Fitzroy of St. Louis, Missouri, sat down to draw a picture of her nephew, when she suddenly lost control of her hand. It seemed the hand had a mind of its own and was drawing a picture without her direction. Being curious, she didn't resist and let the hand finish its work. The end result was a face that looked nothing like her nephew, nor like anyone she had ever met.

This was the first of many "automatic" drawings by Fitzroy — always faces, and never anyone she knew. Dr. Charles Cory, professor at Washington University, described the case in an article published in The Journal of Abnormal Psychology in February 1920. Dr. Cory believed Fitzroy's automatic drawings originated from her unconscious mind. To others, the mysterious drawings were evidence of psychic phenomena.
DR. CHARLES CORY
Charles Edward Cory was born in the small village of Thornburg, Iowa, on December 6, 1878. A remarkable student of philosophy and theology, he earned his Ph.D. at Ya…
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"POWER RANGERS" THERAPY: HOW A CHILD PSYCHIATRIST HELPED KIDS IN THE 90s MORPH INTO THEIR BETTER SELVES

On August 28, 1993, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers premiered and made instant fans of children across the globe. Based on the Japanese television series Super Sentai, the Power Rangers featured a colorful team of high-kicking, karate-chopping teenagers endowed with special powers and the ability to summon massive robots or, "zords", to protect the world from evil. The show was a profound success and launched a mega-franchise of movies, toys, and television spin-offs that continue to capture the hearts of children to this day.

Given how super popular the original Power Rangers series was, it only seemed natural that someone would develop a therapy based on the gang of somersaulting, zord-beckoning heroes. And, in the mid-90s, Dr. Avi Rose, a clinical psychologist from the University of Toronto, did just that. He saw great potential in the themes, characters, and morality plays depicted in the show and established a new therapy using Power Rangers story arcs as metaphors for …
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SUBJECTS UNDER HYPNOSIS PERSUADED TO TOUCH RATTLESNAKE AND THROW ACID AT EXPERIMENTER

In the 1930s, Dr. Loyd W. Rowland hypnotized several people and convinced them to touch an angry rattlesnake. In another experiment, he had them throw sulphuric acid in his face. His findings warned of the dangers of hypnosis — that it could be used to persuade normal people into hurting themselves and others.

Hugh Davis, the curator of a local zoo, was the snake handler for the study.
The two experiments, which took place at the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, appeared in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology in January 1939. The report drew criticism and kicked off a controversial series of experiments testing the limits of what a person can and cannot be made to do under hypnosis.


THE RATTLESNAKE EXPERIMENT Dr. Rowland borrowed a diamondback rattlesnake from a nearby zoo and placed it in a box with the help of Hugh Davis, a professional handler (learn more about Hugh Davis's extraordinary life here).



Dr. Rowland kept the box in a hot room for three days until the snake “becam…
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