Talk:Curt Richter

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Discussion of the "Power of Hope" drowning rat experiment

Richter is quoted widely for his drowning rat experiments where rats would drown in a fairly short time, but if they had the experience of rescue then after rescue would swim for many hours.

This has been interpreted as an argument for the importance of hope and recirculates on the internet regularly. Is it worth creating a section about these experiments or add an "in popular culture" section?

Richter, Curt P. (1957). On the phenomenon of sudden death in animals and man. Psychosom. Med., 19, 191-8. Boatmik (talk) 02:30, 7 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It's certainly worth it only because the Popular Interpretation of this is counter-factual. The experiment was actually over different types of rats (wild, and domesticated) that had their wiskers trimmed. It had nothing to do with "hope" instilled from a prior rescue. https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/a/56848/3835 Evan Carroll (talk) 18:02, 3 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

StackExchange is not a citation. The actual paper referenced here clearly describes hope-conditioning as follows: "This is achieved by repeatedly holding the rats briefly and then freeing them, and by immersing them in water for a few minutes on several occasions. In this way the rats quickly learn that the situation is not actually hopeless; thereafter they again become aggressive, try to escape, and show no signs of giving up. Wild rats so conditioned swim just as long as domestic rats or longer."

While the popular interpretation may be overstated or taken somewhat out of context, it is incorrect to claim that there's no support for that interpretation, given the exact wording of the paper shown above. 76.153.237.23 (talk) 01:45, 4 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]