social experiment
Public behavior study
A social experiment tests how people behave in particular situations, often by manipulating conditions and observing reactions.
Academic researchers conduct controlled social experiments; provocateurs stage public stunts and call them social experiments.
Online, the term often describes pranks or boundary-pushing content: It's just a social experiment, bro.
The phrase can function as a flimsy excuse for questionable behavior.
- hypothesisTestable proposed explanation
- inequalityUnequal distribution of resources
- hidden cameraConcealed recording device
- conformityAdherence to norms
- debriefingQuestioning following an operation
groupthink · informed consent · control group · double blind · confidentiality · cognitive dissonance · observation · field study · variable · harm reduction · replication · data collection · persuasion · bystander effect · deception · human behavior · peer pressure · altruism
- research methodshypothesis, deduction, experiments, induction, scientific method
- guerrilla marketingflash mob, publicity stunt, street team, reverse graffiti, human billboard
- flash mobssurprise dance
social experimentconventional wisdom
Generally accepted beliefs
received wisdom · common sense · tradition · dogma · ideology
social, society, societal, socialize, socialization, sociable, sociability, socially, unsocial