the blue eyes and brown eyes experiment unethical
Professor of Journalism, University of Iowa. Youve probably heard different versions of it. The searing story is a cautionary tale that examines power and privilege in and out of the classroom. Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes offers an intimate portrait of the insular community where Elliott grew up and conducted the experiment on the town's children for more than a decade. Overall, the blue eye brown eye experiment was a powerful and eye-opening study that helped to shed light on the damaging effects of discrimination and prejudice. What Was the Purpose of the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment? It has since evolved into an online blog and YouTube channel providing mental health advice, tools, and academic support to individuals from all backgrounds. 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. In what is now famously known as the "blue eyes, brown eyes" exercise, Elliott divided her class into two groups based on a characteristic over which they had no control: eye color. The students were surprised, but they didnt argue. The act of treating students differently was obviously a metaphor for the social decisions made on a larger level. With a couple of basic and arbitrary examples, Elliott made the case that brown-eyed people were better. She told them that people with brown eyes were superior to those with blue eyes, for reasons she made up. 319.335.2633 Normally, blue-eyes isnt an insult. The mainstream media were complicit in advancing such a simplistic narrative. She manipulated us, recalled Sandy Juettner, another US West employee enrolled in a workshop. 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 Martin Luther King Jr. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. Blue-eyed genes are generally recessive. How can put those little children through that exercise for a day? And they seem unable to relate the sympathy that theyre feeling for these little white children for a day to what happens to children of color in this society for a lifetime or to the fact that they are doing this to children based on skin color every day. It's called the "Blue Eyes - Brown Eyes" exercis. 240 Schaeffer Hall There were more brown-eyed students in the room. I want to know why youre so willing to accept it or to allow it to happen for others., The first reaction I get from teachers, who see this film or from hearing, hear me discuss what I do say to me How can you do that to these little children? The blue eyes/brown eyes experiment, which could last one to three days, was at a glance similar to other human-potential-movement workshops of the era, including Werner Erhard's est training, in that it focused on changing basic self-perceptions and behavior. Looking back, the experiment may have demonstrated to participants what bias felt like, but it failed to include any demonstration of how kindness, compassion, or empathy might play roles in reducing prejudice. The contents of Exploring Your Mind are for informational and educational purposes only. Why is Jane Elliots experiment unethical? She asked her students, who were all white, whether or not they knew what it felt like to be judged by the color of their skin. The never-before-told true story of Jane Elliott and the "Blue-Eyes, Brown-Eyes Experiment" she made world-famous, using eye color to simulate racism. On an otherwise deserted and isolated island, 200 perfect logicians . But when she discovered that I was asking pointed questions of scores of her former students, as well as others subjected to the experiment, she made an about-face and said she no longer would cooperate with me. Barbie had to have a Ken, so Elliott picked from the audience a tall, handsome man and accused him of doing the same things with his female subordinates, Pasicznyk said. The following are some of her most insightful quotes on these issues. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Two months after trying it out, Elliott appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, followed by an appearance in an award-winning network TV documentary, and a headline-making White House conference on education. Elliott pulled out green construction paper armbands and asked each of the blue . After the exercise white college students in . The arbitrary division among the students intensified over the course of the experiment, so much so that it actually ended in physical violence. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. How is the blue eyes/brown eyes exercise related to the Sioux prayer, Help me not judge a person until I have walked in his shoes? I consent to the use of following cookies: Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. Iowa City, IA 52242-1409 Why do you believe that researchers would want to see if there is a correlation rather than just fully testing each variable? 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. Does simulating racism using fake-punitive methods work? In workshops Elliott led, there were indelible moments of joy and tears, affirmation and recrimination, hugging and screaming. She has made statements about the increase in hate crimes and racism in recent years. In the case of any doubt, it's best to consult a trusted specialist. They needed not acknowledge their privilege or reflect on it. God's Crooked Lines: Paranoia or Reality? Exploring your mind Blog about psychology and philosophy. Debriefing. But, if the experiment may teach us anything, its that no single classroom experiment, no one-day workshop, is equal to that task. You may not know Jane Elliott by name, but you likely have heard of the blue eyes/brown eyes experiment, which has been performed on hundreds of thousands of children and adults across the United States and around the world. The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, Elliott had a talk with her students about diversity and racism. CLAS Undergraduate Programs One caller complained that white children would not be able to handle the exercise and would be seriously damaged by the exercise. She told them that people with brown eyes were better than people with blue eyes. The Blue Eyes & Brown Eyes Exercise. At recess, two boys fought when a brown-eyed boy punched a blue-eyed boy who called him "brown-eyes." In a day, somehow "brown eyes" became an insult worth fighting over for the children . The goal of the minimal group paradigm is to establish subjective differences and create a climate of favoritism. From the University of California Press website: The never-before-told true story of Jane Elliott and the Blue-Eyes, Brown-Eyes Experiment she made world-famous, using eye color to simulate racism. And the exercise continued in a similar fashion to how it was executed the day before. The hate and discrimination that we see in adults have their origin in their upbringing. She told them that people with brown eyes were better than people with blue eyes. One of the most famous experiments in education Jane Elliott's "blue eyes, brown eyes" separation of her third grade students to teach them about prejudice was very different from what the public was told, as revealed in this excerpt from the in-depth story about what really happened in that classroom. Professor Jane Elliott performed a group experiment, the current problems related to discrimination. But Elliotts experiment had a more sinister impact. To get her points across, Elliott hurled insults at workshop participants, particularly those who were white and had blue eyes. 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. Therefore, two brown-eyed partners can birth a blue-eyed baby. Theyd have to use paper cups if they drank from the water fountain. Charity is humiliating because its exercised vertically and from above; solidarity is horizontal and implies mutual respect.. Do similar matrices have same singular values? While the study provided interesting information on the development of bias and discrimination, it was unethical to cause psychological harm to children. Why might a charismatic leader exhibit unethical behaviors? And Im only doing this as an exercise that every child knows is an exercise and every child knows is going to end at the end of the day., We learn to be racist, therefore we can learn not to be racist. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. She tried it on adults, not just in the United States and Canada, but in Europe, the Middle East, and Australia. What are the ethical implications of using a true experimental study? What factors do you think would influence whether individuals could use this technique? That was part of convincing the students that the experiment was real. What event triggered Jane Elliotts blue eyes brown eyes exercise? Brown-eyed people, she told the students, are smarter, more civilized and better than blue-eyed people. 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. Why is social desirability bias a problem in research? Why the Stanford Prison Experiment is invalid? Explain why standardization, reliability, and validity are all essential to scientifically acceptable psychological tests. Psychological Realism. It didnt take long for the children to turn on each other. . When you read about this experiment, its hard not to question labels. The anti-racism sessions Elliott led were intense. She continued to conduct the exercise with her third graders. In this they saw how colors and discrimination . We may edit your letter for length and clarity and publish it on our site. Each experiment involved subjecting unknowing Americans to things like mind-altering drugs, sensory deprivation, verbal and sexual abuse, extreme isolation, hypnosis, and other forms of torture. Professor Stephen G. Bloom is a member of the faculty at the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All the while, Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes reveals the struggles that tormented a determined and righteous woman, today referred to as the Mother of Diversity Training, who was driven against all odds to succeed. The brown-eyed third-grade students were provided with the opportunity to be the superior group in the classroom. What was unethical about the blue eyes brown eyes experiment? This procedure is sometimes so subtle that no one notices it happening. Describe how researchers study genetic influences on personality. They went by names such as team-building, large group awareness training (LGAT), consciousness raising, management by objective, and transformative leadership training. Jane Elliott first gave this lesson on April 5, 1968, the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The searing story is a cautionary tale that examines power and privilege in and out of the classroom. We use them to divide and destroy people., White peoples number one freedom, in the United States of America, is the freedom to be totally ignorant of those who are other than white. No partisan hacks. She selectively interprets behavior to confirm the stereotypes she had assigned by asking questions. Select from the 0 categories from which you would like to receive articles. Thats what it feels like when youre discriminated against., -A child participant in the Blue Eyes-Brown Eyes experiment-. What kind of population was in the Milgram experiment? B) What are some factors that could be changed to reduce it? 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