Every spring for 15+ years, I lose the NCAA Men’s March Madness Tournament bracket challenge to my siblings, cousins, and now our kids. It might be because I’m a psychologist (not a basketball expert). It might also be because I pick my MM brackets based on which mascots would win in a fight. It’s a mystery.
This year, however, I want to start a March tradition where everyone wins: March Psychology Maelstrom! (Note: since “Madness” was a term often used as an insult for those with mental illness, I figured we were better off using a different word here). Below you’ll see four brackets and 64 studies, psychologists, or interesting tidbits related to the field of psychology. If I’m missing your favorite psychologist or factoid, let me know! I have a long list that didn’t make the cut this time, but I’m willing to talk about in the future.
Live posts about each matchup will be on my tiktok (@prblynotyourpsychologist) Vote on the main page for each group for whichever psychologist or study seems more interesting – I will add more information as they advance. I will link those as I put them up.
There are four “regions” or groups – scroll to see the bracket. As each bracket is voted on, they will be updated here – my canva bracket with each group on a different page.
Group A: Human Rights (And Other Ethical Violations) – this group contains individuals and groups that did questionable research.
Group B: It’s Not All Dead Guys! – this group contains psychologists that are still alive and working today, as well as interesting contemporary research.
Group C: Criminally Underrated, But Not Criminals – psychologists who I think are underrated, and also I’m pretty sure aren’t criminals.
Group D: Shit Got Weird – This group is full of weird and interesting experiments and findings. There’s probably a lot of overlap with Group A!
Group A: Human Rights (And Other Ethical Violations)
This group includes the following matchups in round 1:
- Tuskeegee Syphillis Study vs 3 Identical Strangers
- Torture (by the US government in general) vs the David Reimer case
- “The Wave” experiment vs the Harlow Monkey Study
- “The Monster” experiment vs the Holmesburg Prison experiments
- South Africa’s Aversion Project vs the Little Albert experiment
- The Stanford Prison Experiment vs The Milgrim Experiment
- The Spitz Babies vs Minnesota Starvation Experiments
- Robbers Cave Study vs MK Ultra
Group B: It’s Not All Dead Guys!
This group includes the following matchups in Round 1:
- Daniel Strayer vs Barbara Fredrickson
- Steve Hayes vs Russell Barkley
- Richard Schwartz vs Brene Brown
- Mona Delahooke vs Carol Dweck
- Amy Cuddy vs Cloud & Townsend
- Jeanne Funk Brockmeyer vs Daniel Kahneman
- Marsha Linehan vs Irvin Yalom
- McCrae & Costa vs Elizabeth Loftus
Criminally Underrated, But Not Criminals
This group includes the following matchups in Round 1:
- Aaron Beck vs William Glasser
- Abraham Maslow vs Solomon Asch
- Francine Shapiro vs Mihayli Csikszenmihayli
- Albert Ellis vs Lev Vygotsky
- Alfred Adler vs George Kelly
- Carl Jung vs Jean Piaget
- Carl Rogers vs Karen Horney
- Albert Bandura vs Fritz Perls
Group D: Shit Got Weird
This group features the following matchups in Round 1:
- 3 Christs of Ypsilanti vs Bouba & Kiki
- Festinger vs The Rosenhan experiment
- The Baby Cliff study vs Mouse Poop Transplants
- BF Skinner’s Kamikaze Pigeons vs the Replication Crisis
- The Bobo Doll experiment vs Pavlov’s Dogs
- Change Blindness vs “Elderly” words make you walk slower
- Cockroach Arena vs Mouse Utopia
- Endless Soup vs Freud (General)
So follow along through the next few weeks! Most of my posts will be on my Tiktok. The schedule for the rounds:
Round 1: March 19-24
Round 2: March 25-27
Round 3 (Sweet 16): March 28-April 1
Round 4 (Elite 8): April 2-3
Round 5 (Final Four): April 4
Round 6 (Championship): April 6
Winner announced: April 7