The students were surprised, but they didnt argue. When you study Jane Elliotts famous lesson on discrimination What is one conclusion you are most likely to make? Without telling the children the experiments purpose, Elliott demonstrated how easy it was to create abhorrent racist behavior based on students eye color, not skin color. Elliott became a standing-room-only speaker at hundreds of colleges and universities. Part of the problem is that the blue-eyed group is exclusively white, while the brown-eyed group is predominantly non-white, so that eye colour is no longer an analogue or metaphor for race. She told them that people with brown eyes were superior to those with blue eyes, for reasons she made up. How does your insight on visual illusions relate to research on Extrasensory perception? This experiment has taken place in a classroom- field experiment -as well as in the school playground, very realistic places for an experiment to have great external validity because it applies to every life. What ethical standards did the Monster Study violate? The studys independent variable is the eye color, which determines whether youre high or low classed, and the dependent variable was the discrimination and self-esteem. Elliots discrimination create no-win situations for those placed in the inferior group because everyone were placed in that position giving no one to feel as if they were picked on. Give an example of a quasi experimental design in psychology and explain it's strengths, weaknesses and any ethical concerns involved. They also harassed them constantly. Did Milgram conduct his shock experiment in an ethical fashion? On April 5 1968 Jane Elliot preformed the famous experiment in her classroom separating blue-eyed and brown-eyed students. In your view, does studying ethics lead to a better society? Elliott championed the experiment as an inoculation against racism., [The Conversations Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories. The children named Indians, Yellow and Black people. How is the blue eyes brown eyes exercise related to the Sioux prayer? In the 60th year beyond Brown vs. Board of Education, Frontline is making available their classic 1985 documentary, " A Class Divided ," about the experiment and what happened later. B) What are some factors that could be changed to reduce it? In the most uncomfortable moments, Elliott reminds the students of violent acts caused by racism or homophobia. Why might a charismatic leader exhibit unethical behaviors? In response to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. over thirty years ago, Jane Elliott devised the controversial and startling, "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" exercise. The day after Kings murder, Jane Elliott, a white third-grade teacher in rural Riceville, Iowa, sought to make her students feel the brutality of racism. Zimbardos Stanford Prison Experiment has been debunked, its findings shown to be the product of deceit. Droits d'auteur 20102023, The Conversation France (assoc. Compare and contrast what happened in the Asch and Milgram experiments. The minimal group paradigm has shaped an entire methodology in social psychology. . A brown-eyed student hit a blue-eyed student in the gut for calling him brown eyes. Why must researchers first test experimental drugs on non-human subjects? In Psychology and Life, a one-and-a-half-inch-thick standard textbook that hundreds of thousands of undergraduates still tote to classes, the eye experiment would be praised as one of the most effective demonstrations of how easily prejudiced attitudes may be formed, and how arbitrary and illogical they can be., One of the textbooks authors, Stanford professor Philip G. Zimbardo, described Elliotts classroom activity as a remarkable experiment, more compelling than many done by professional psychologists.. Indeed, one of the best-known classroom experiments to combat racism remains a divisive subject more than a half-century after it was tried out in a rural Iowa elementary school. One of the blue eyed even went to hit a brown eyed just for the fact that he was brown eyed. This site uses different types of cookies. Much like the Zimbardo's Stanford Prison experiment where students were divided by either being the jailer or the jailed. She pointed out flaws in a student and associated it with their eye colors. (Please include at least 3 different aspects in your response.). From the moment the experiment begins, Jane Elliott uses a mean tone to speak to the participants. Practical Psychology began as a collection of study material for psychology students in 2016, created by a student in the field. Things even got violent at recess. crivez un article et rejoignez une communaut de plus de 160 300 universitaires et chercheurs de 4 571 institutions. Why is content analysis used in qualitative research? On the first day, the blue-eyed students were informed that they were genetically inferior to the brown-eyed students. Thats how it started, and thats how it went all day long. With a couple of basic and arbitrary examples, Elliott made the case that brown-eyed people were better. PracticalPsychology. Did We Fail the Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes ExperimentOr Did It Fail Us? A) Why is it important that an experimenter behave in the same way toward all subjects in the experiment? But she withdrew her participation after I began interviewing former students and workshop participants, many of whom were critical of the blue eyes/brown eyes experiment. His current work focuses on long-form nonfiction, oral history, and online narrative journalism. A thin finger pressed a button, and . As for Elliott, the experiment that she popularized on unwitting students began to raise more and more questions as it was unveiled by more educators and trainers in more places. As a result, Elliott would go on to appear on Johnny Carsons Tonight Show, followed by a stormy White House conference, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and thousands of media events and diversity-training sessions worldwide, during which she employed the provocative experiment to induce racism. At points, you are likely to feel uncomfortable. All rights reserved. Why is altruism a problem for evolutionary theory? All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. The first day of the experiment she convinced the children that blue-eyed people were smarter, better and would have more priorities. Get access to this video and our entire Q&A library, Group Prejudice: Jane Elliott's Brown Eyes vs. Blue Eyes Experiment. The hate and discrimination that we see in adults have their origin in their upbringing. The brown-eyed children felt suddenly that they were discriminated, while the blue eyed started seeing them as inferior. The 1970s and 1980s were ripe for diversity education in the private and public sectors, and Elliott would try out the experiment at workshops on tens of thousands of participants, not just in the U.S. and Canada, but in Europe, the Middle East and Australia. She wanted to show her pupils what discrimination feels like, and what it can do to people. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. 240 Schaeffer Hall This was by design: to hammer home the experiments anti-bias premise, Elliott made shocking allegations against participants. Did they know what it was like to be discriminated against? Blue eyes brown eyes experiment psychology.Back in the classroom, a smart, tall, blue-eyed girl by the name of Carol Anderson, who never had problems with arithmetic, started making all kinds of mistakes when Elliott called on her. Professor Stephen G. Bloom is a member of the faculty at the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The blue eyes and brown eyes experiment According to supporters of Elliott's approach, the goal is to reach people's sense of empathy and morality. Traditionally, society has always treated leadership as a male issue. It is quite powerful to watch. As a schoolteacher, she became known for her "Blue eyes/Brown eyes" exercise, which she first conducted with her third-grade class on April 5, 1968, the day after the assassination of . Digging deeper, I heard complaints about Elliotts tactics in her later corporate trainings. Scores of others did participate. Views 1588. But Elliotts experiment had a more sinister impact. In the initial exercise, brown eyed students were allowed to. Why is sample size important in psychological research? It also documents small-town White Americas reflex reaction to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the subsequent meteoric rise of diversity training that flourishes today. The arbitrary division among the students intensified over the course of the experiment, so much so that it actually ended in physical violence. These are the sources and citations used to research Jane Elliott's blue eye brown eye case study is/isn't more ethical than Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment. The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise is now known as the inspiration for diversity training in the workplace, making Jane Elliott one of the most influential educators in recent American history. To emphasise the effects of discrimination and group bias on personal attribute and self-esteem. The Blue Eyes & Brown Eyes Exercise. Certainly, the experiment demonstrated how hungry Americans are for a silver bullet to cure racism. He teaches magazine reporting and writing, and media ethics in a digital age. This way, she successfully created two distinct groups in her classroom: The consequences of the minimal group became evident very quickly. (LogOut/ After an eternal silence, the rest of the lights flickered on. The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, Elliott had a talk with her students about diversity and racism. While controversial, the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise continues to be one of the most well-known and praised learning exercises in the world of educational psychology. Elliot said that when the children were given the test on the same day that they were in the superior group, they tended to get the highest scores. clas-undergrad@uiowa.edu What kind of population was in the Milgram experiment? All rights reserved. How does color play into the placebo effect? Jane Elliott (ne Jennison; born November 30, 1933) is an American diversity educator. She appeared on Oprah five times. This time, the participants werent a bunch of elementary school children they were young adults. Analytics cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously. Watch it online right now! No ads. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. By 1984, Elliott left her public schoolteachers job and had taken the blue eyes/brown eyes experiment on the road. As a journalism professor and author of a book on race that spans more than 50 years, Ive watched these developments with great concern. Why is it important to have ethical requirements for research studies involving human subjects? Lasting Impact of Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment, Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. Fourteen years later, the students featured in The Eye of the Storm reunited and discussed their experiences with Elliott. She left teaching in the mid-80s to speak publicly about the experience and the impact of prejudice and racism. She continued to conduct the exercise with her third graders. Here are the possibilities: Blue eyes + blue eyes = 100% chance of blue eyes. She told them that people with brown eyes were superior to those with blue eyes, for reasons she made up. It also documents small-town White America's reflex reaction to the . Why did some participants in the Milgram experiment laugh? How will this affect the interpretations and conclusions you can/can't make from the research data? Charity is humiliating because its exercised vertically and from above; solidarity is horizontal and implies mutual respect.. Blue eyed/brown eyed experiment The issues in this study were that she separated her class into two groups one being the brown eyed group and the other being blue eyed group . With this experiment she wanted to let the blue-eyed people (white people) feel how it is to be in low power position. She had separated them by making one eye group inferior to the other making them have certain benefits and better treatment than the other. If this arbitrary division that Elliott enforced for a few hours created so many problems in this classroom, whats happening on a larger scale? In 2004, Elliott invited me to write a biography of her. Researchers later concluded that there was evidence that the students became less prejudiced after the study and that it was inconclusive as to whether or not the potential harm outweighed the benefits of the exercise. Ethical research safeguards the person's best interest and well-being. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ISBN 9780520382268. As for Elliott, the experiment that she popularized on unwitting students began to raise more and more questions as it was unveiled by more educators and trainers in more places. It's called the "Blue Eyes - Brown Eyes" exercis. How many hours ahead is Brazil than New York. What are the potential ethical concerns associated with Milgram's experiment on obedience? The eyes remained motionless as a thin, graceful reflection sauntered up and came to a stop. There were some objections to the experiment from the beginning, although none that convinced her to call if off. Dick DeMarsico/New York World-Telegram & the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection/PhotoQuest/Getty Images, Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images. Elliot wanted to show that the same thing happens in real life with brown eyed people (minority). Initially, the brown-eyed kids refused to believe her but she soon persuaded them by pretending that the higher levels of melanin associated with blue eyes were scientifically linked with greater . What Was the Purpose of the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment? They needed not acknowledge their privilege or reflect on it. They didnt need to engage with a single Black person. All rights reserved. Elliotts bullying rejoinder to any nonbeliever was to say that however much pain a white person felt after one or two days of made-up discrimination was nothing when compared to what Blacks endure daily. Why are both identical and fraternal twins studied? What was the aim of Jane Elliotts experiment? Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, Jane Elliott, a primary school teacher in a small predominantly white town in the state of Iowa, decided to help her third grader students (Year 4 in the UK) understand how society can influence our beliefs about our own identities and the identities of our neighbours. When I interviewed Riceville residents, mentioning Elliotts name generated outbursts of anger and anguish. Read More, In case of sale of your personal information, you may opt out by using the link Do Not Sell My Personal Information. In 2004, the American publishing giant, McGraw Hill, created a poster suitable for classroom display that included Elliott alongside other venerated thinkers and teachers, including Plato, Maria Montessori, Booker T. Washington, and Horace Mann. Why is human perception of randomness biased? She also made the brown-eyed students put construction paper armbands on the blue-eyed students. Articles and opinions on happiness, fear and other aspects of human psychology. 2012 2023 . Voir les partenaires de TheConversation France. However, in this classroom, having blue-eyes had become a condition of inferiority. In the 60s, the United States was in the midst of a social race crisis. She told them that people with brown eyes were better than people with blue eyes. The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment is considered unethical since it caused psychological damage to the children who were pitted against one See full answer below. She gave all of the students simple spelling and math tests two weeks before the exercise, on the days of the exercise, and after the exercise. -After watching it, do you believe that the experiment is unethical and does more harm than good, or is the experiment done well and necessary . The documentary has become a popular teaching tool among teachers, business owners, and even employees at correctional facilities. It was obscene.. What event triggered Jane Elliott's blue eyes brown eyes exercise? She instructed the brown-eyed children to heckle and berate the blue-eyed students, even to start fights with them. Schedule a Visit Why do we use qualitative research methods? Perhaps because the outcome seemed so optimistic and comforting, coverage of Elliott and the experiments alleged curative powers cropped up everywhere. : the consequences of the the blue eyes and brown eyes experiment unethical at the University of Iowa School journalism... A thin, graceful reflection sauntered up and came to a better society are commenting using WordPress.com... In their upbringing what kind of population was in the gut for calling him eyes! Material for psychology students in 2016, created by a student in the experiment begins, Jane uses. Are the potential ethical concerns involved acknowledge their privilege or reflect on it Times Getty! 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