Yes—but the beheading associated with psychologist Carney Landis’s 1924 experiment was of a live rat, not a person. Landis was studying emotional reactions and facial expressions; the animal task was one disturbing part of a larger sequence of stimuli, not the study’s central scientific finding. A separate 1900 medical report described experiments on executed humans after decapitation, a different history that is easy to confuse with Landis’s work.
What happened in Carney Landis’s experiment?
Landis’s 1924 study examined how people’s faces and bodies reacted in different emotional situations. Participants’ faces were marked so their expressions could be observed and photographed as they encountered a range of stimuli. In one part of the procedure, participants were asked to decapitate a live rat.
An American Psychological Association teaching resource says some participants carried out the task; when others refused, Landis did it himself. The procedure is ethically troubling, and the rat task went beyond what was needed to study facial expression. It should be understood as an infamous component of the experiment, not as its scientific conclusion. The APA TOPSS lesson plan summarizes the study and its ethical issues.
Did the experiment involve beheading a person?
No. The beheading in Landis’s psychology study involved a rat. The human participants were asked to respond to stimuli; the APA account does not say that any participant was beheaded.
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There is, however, a separate historical record of post-execution experiments on humans. A 1900 item in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that Professor A. Hoche described two experiments on decapitated criminals, conducted two and three minutes after decapitation. The report concerns investigations after executions, not Landis’s study of facial expression. JAMA’s 1900 report, “Experimentation on the Cord After Decapitation,” is the source for that account.
| Record | Date | Subject and focus |
|---|---|---|
| Carney Landis, Studies of Emotional Reactions, II | 1924 | Psychology study of emotional reactions and facial expression; the notorious task involved a live rat. |
| A. Hoche experiments described in JAMA | Reported in 1900 | Experiments on executed humans after decapitation, concerning physiological response. |
What did Landis’s research establish?
The study examined whether different emotional situations produced characteristic facial expressions or bodily reactions. The APA summary says it did not establish that people share a common set of unique facial expressions. The rat task is memorable because of its cruelty, but it should not be mistaken for the study’s main finding.
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The original publication is Carney Landis’s Studies of Emotional Reactions, II, published by Williams & Wilkins Company in 1924. Google Books catalogs the work as a 63-page book.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What can be said about consciousness after decapitation?
That question belongs to the separate medical history, not to Landis’s psychology experiment. A 2023 review by Matthew D. Turner surveyed historical accounts and modern evidence. It concluded that available evidence indicates consciousness is lost within seconds, while stressing that the historical record is sparse and cannot settle the question with certainty. The review treats familiar stories of blinking or expressive severed heads as anecdotal or urban-legend-like, not strong scientific evidence. Turner’s 2023 review is available through Cureus/PMC.
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