In 1964, a young woman was murdered as she walked to her apartment in Queens, New York. Her screams were left unanswered. No one came to her help. Within the space of thirty minutes, the assailant would return two more times to stab her again and again. The woman died. The number of witnesses to this crime who did not help was: 38. Two psychologists posed a question: how could this happen in such a heavily populated city?
Two other landmark studies occur around this time including the Milgram experiment and the Stanford prison experiment. Two experiments that range from insightful to controversial. However, all of these have captured the attention of psychologists and students, and helped us to learn more about ourselves. If nothing else, the latter certainly taught how one should not conduct a psychology study.