In present society, psychological experiments are guided by honesty, truthfulness, and accuracy. Elliott continues, "Just when you think that the fertile soil can sprout no more, another season comes round, and you see another year of bountiful crops, tall and straight. One caller complained that white children would not be able to handle the exercise and would be seriously damaged by the exercise. American Psychological Association, 4. Although Jane Elliot's intentions were to teach the youngsters about racism, ethical issues related to the simulation were raised. Role Theory: Expectations, Identities, and Behaviors. ISBN 9780520382268. 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. Back when she introduced the experiment to her Iowa students more than five decades ago, at least one student had the audacity to challenge Elliotts premise, according to those who were in the classroom at the time. These initial criticisms didnt stop Elliott. Elliott and I were sitting at her dining room table. It has everything to do with power.. The people of riceville did not exactly welcome Elliott home from New York with a hayride. They felt superior and had the support of the authority figure (the teacher). One group consisted pupils with brown eye while the other group consisted of those with blue eyes. She said she watched and was horrified at what she saw. Ms. Elliott, now 87, said she started teaching about racism on April 5, 1968 the day after the Rev. Below, . But Paul, one of eight siblings and the son of a dairy farmer, didnt buy Elliotts mollification. Students in the inferior groups were more likely to get a worse score. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. You give them something nice and they just wreck it." Jane Elliott's brown eye/blue eye experiment starts at 03:10 of A Class Divided. "He's a bluey! When she separated the class by eye color and announced that blue-eyed children were superior, Paul Bodensteiner objected at every turn. What Lies Behind Your Urgent Need to Answer Work E Mails? SYNOPSIS OF BLUE EYED. ", 2023 Smithsonian Magazine Their 12-year-old daughter, Mary, came home from school one day in tears, sobbing that her sixth-grade classmates had surrounded her in the school hallway and taunted her by saying her mother would soon be sleeping with black men. ", The two hugged, and Whisenhunt had tears streaming down her cheeks. You have the right color eyes!. Hire a professional with VAST experience! In 1970, she demonstrated it for educators at a White House Conference on Children and Youth. The Blue-Eyed/Brown-Eyed Experiment: Investigation. Need an original essay on Essay Sample: Ethical Concerns in Jane Elliot's Experiment? This paradigm helps understand the current problems related to discrimination. Elliott turned into Americas mother of diversity training. She pointed out flaws in a student and associated it with . She told her students that she had made a mistake the previous day and that brown-eyed students . In the case of any doubt, it's best to consult a trusted specialist. On the other hand, privileged members of the community are treated as in-groups which earn them undue respect and capacity to abuse the less advantaged. To get her points across, Elliott hurled insults at workshop participants, particularly those who were white and had blue eyes. Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. ", Walt Gabelmann, 83, was Riceville's mayor for 18 years beginning in 1966. It is a must . 4. Elliott asked her students to write about their experiences for the local newspaper. Ethical issues were 1/3 of the participants refused to take the head off the rat . Jane Elliott and Dr. On April 5 1968 the day after the death of Martin Luther King Jr Elliott decided to show her students how easy it was to be influenced by racism. Perhaps because the outcome seemed so optimistic and comforting, coverage of Elliott and the experiments alleged curative powers cropped up everywhere. Elliott was even brought on The Tonight Show to talk about her experiences. Let's just move on. "Mention two wordsJane Elliottand you get a flood of emotions from people," says Jim Cross, the Riceville Recorder's editor these days. It has since evolved into an online blog and YouTube channel providing mental health advice, tools, and academic support to individuals from all backgrounds. ", Jane shielded her eyes from the morning sun. Elliott flew to the NBC studio in New York City. Would you like to get this essay by email? . (She prefers the term "exercise.") I felt mad. Days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., she pioneered an experiment to show her all-white class of third graders what it was like to be Black in America. Additionally, the brown-eyed students got to sit in the front of the class, while the blue-eyed kids . Is it even possible today? Elliott shared the essays with her mother, who showed them to the editor of the weekly Riceville Recorder. The basic idea was to separate the class into two halves, students with blue eyes and those with brown. she asked the children, who were white. 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? Malinda Whisenhunt? The experiment known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. The first day of the experiment she convinced the children that blue-eyed people were smarter, better and would have more priorities. She told them that people with brown eyes were better than people with blue eyes. The experiment, known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment, is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. Subsequently the brown-eyed children stopped objecting, even when Miss Elliott and the blue-eyed kids chastised and bullied them. In 1968, schoolteacher Jane Elliott decided to divide her classroom into students with blue eyes and students with brown eyes. The next day, Elliott reversed the roles. 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. 4 Pages. 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. Elliott championed the experiment as an inoculation against racism., [The Conversations Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories. In her article, Peggy McIntosh compares the "white privilege" to an invisible set of unearned rewards and . "It's happening every day in this country, right now," she said in an interview with Morning Edition. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . The students started to internalize, and accept, the characteristics they'd been arbitrarily assigned based on the color of their eyes. Jane Elliot and the Blue-Eyed Children Experiment. The test violated the principle of respect for people's rights and dignity. Introduction. 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. Keep me from judging a man until I have walked a mile in his moccasins. This is a Sioux saying. She wanted them to understand what discrimination felt like. Given the long-term results of the experiment, the controversial study could not have taken place in today's society despite its significant insights on matters racism. The effectiveness of a well-known prejudice-reduction simulation activity, "Blue Eyes-Brown Eyes," was assessed as a tool for changing the attitudes of nonblack teacher education students toward blacks. Grasping for a scientific explanation, she ended up claiming that melanin makes eyes darker, and makes . ", Then, the inevitable: "Hey, Mrs. Elliott, how come you're the teacher if you've got blue eyes?" To this day, at the age of 86, Jane Elliott continues this work. In fact, most of the initial response was negative. The killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, was a seismic event, a turning point that compelled many Americans to do something and do it with urgency. She repeated the abuse with subsequent classes, and finally turned it into a fully commercial enterprise. New York: Elsevier Science. She compromised the APA's Code of Conduct and Ethical Standard because she lied, after that she recanted the lies and kept as they were justified because of her greater purpose. Its not surprising to anyone that some social groups discriminate against others due to ethnicity, religion, or culture. Website. The test also included violation of consent in which participation of the children was made involuntarily. "They can't forget me," she said, "and because of who they are, they can't forgive me. According to the article is Jane Elliot's experiment to small degree effective. The blue-eyed students, when told they were superior and offered privileges such as extra recess time, changed their behavior dramatically and their attitudes toward the children with brown eyes. Jane Elliott's Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes experiment was a turning point in social psychology. In response to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, Jane Elliott devised the controversial and startling, "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes Exercise." This, now famous, exercise labels participants as inferior or superior based solely upon the color of their eyes and exposes them to the experience of . "That's what I tried to teach, and that's what drove the other teachers crazy. Tears formed in the corners of Elliott's eyes. She has . Kellen Castineiras PSY Dr. Gail C. Flanagan February 6, 2022. . Order from one of our vetted writers instead. Immediately after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Professor Jane Elliott used the minimal group paradigm to perform an experiment that would teach her students about race discrimination. Jane Elliot, a third-grade teacher from Lowa town, became troubled with the turn of events and knew that something had to be done about racial discrimination (Danko, 2013). ", Others have praised Elliott's exercise. She told the students that the brown-eyed children were inferior and repeated the experiment. If you are the original author of this essay and no longer wish to have it published on the She and her husband, Darald Elliott, then a grocer, have four children, and they, too, felt a backlash. The blue eyes brown eyes study was a study on group prejudice and discrimination conducted by Jane Elliot. Children often fight, argue, and sometimes hit each other, but this time they were motivated by eye color. Charity is humiliating because its exercised vertically and from above; solidarity is horizontal and implies mutual respect.. In 1970, Elliott would come to national attention when ABC broadcast their Eye of the Storm documentary which filmed the experiment in action. The documentary has become a popular teaching tool among teachers, business owners, and even employees at correctional facilities. Almost immediately, it was apparent that she had created segregation and prejudice given that the blue-eyed students began exhibiting signs of dominion and superiority. She noticed that student relationships had changed; even if students were friendly outside of the exercise, they treated each other with arrogance or bossiness once the roles were assigned. The Hangout Bar & Grill, the Riceville Pharmacy and ATouch of Dutch, a restaurant owned by Mennonites, line Main Street. Elliott rattled off the rules for the day, saying blue-eyed kids had to use paper cups if they drank from the water fountain. In 2001, she was still trying to make a change. Even though some of the children said yes, Elliott pushed back. In Jane Elliott's experiment she made the third graders believe that the blue eyed people were better,than the brown eyed people. Little children don't like uproar in the classroom. Elliott went after Ken and Barbie all day long, drilling, accusing, ridiculing them, to make the point that whites make baseless judgments about Blacks all the time, Pasicznyk said. [online] Today I Found Out. Blue-eyed students slumped in their chairs, as though . She then made the blue-eyed students believe that they were better and smarter than their counterparts. More than 50 years after her famous exercise, Elliott is still fighting. The goal of the minimal group paradigm is to establish subjective differences and create a climate of favoritism. At her lunch break that day in the teacher's lounge, she told her colleagues about the exercise. All 28 children found their desks, and Elliott said she had something special for them to do, to begin to understand the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. the day before. And our number two freedom is the freedom to deny that were ignorant., I want every white person in this room who would be happy to be treated as this society in general treats our citizens, our black citizens, if you, as a white person, would be happy to receive the same treatment that our black citizens do in this society, please stand. Focusing on ethics the experiment violated some of the principles and codes of conduct established by the American Psychological Association. That says very plainly that you know whats happening, you know you dont want it for you. Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. The secretary said the south side of the building was closed, something about waxing the hallways. The idea of white privilege is closely tied to Elliotts initial question to her students. The story was then picked up by the Associated Press. "We want to see Room No. The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise continues to be relevant. The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise received national attention shortly after it ended. Now, almost four decades later, Elliott's experiment still mattersto the grown children with whom she experimented, to the people of Riceville, population 840, who all but ran her out of town, and to thousands of people around the world who have also participated in an exercise based on the experiment. Blue eyes, brown eyes: What Jane Elliott's famous experiment says about race 50 years on. Traditionally, society has always treated leadership as a male issue. Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment Ethical? Blue-eyed children got five extra minutes of recess. Thats what it feels like when youre discriminated against., -A child participant in the Blue Eyes-Brown Eyes experiment-. They wouldnt be allowed second helpings for lunch. You can contribute to that positive change by watching the documentary. Days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Decent Essays. On April 4 1968, King was killed by the single . With a couple of basic and arbitrary examples, Elliott made the case that brown-eyed people were better. Sorry, but it's not possible to copy the text due to security reasons. On the first day of the two-day experiment, Elliott told the . They also harassed them constantly. ", Elliott says the role of a teacher is to enhance students' moral development. A columnist at a Denver newspaper called it "evil. The anti-racism sessions Elliott led were intense. Did they know what it was like to be discriminated against? She appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show five times. The brown-eyed children began to act aggressive and mean towards the blue-eyed children. This is the phrase that inspired one of the most well-known experiments in education. The arbitrary division among the students intensified over the course of the experiment, so much so that it actually ended in physical violence. Elliott is nothing if not stubborn. One of the ways Hitler decided who went into the gas chamber was eye color, Elliott said in a later speech. I felt like quitting school. Not only were they fewer in numbers, but the authority figure was against them. They didnt need to engage with a single Black person. "She stirs people up. She slumped. 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. Would you like to find out? One caller complained that white children would not be able to handle . When the blue-eyed group saw that the brown-eyed group was going to be seated first, some became upset. Elliott had hoped that this experiment would help the children to better understand the feelings of discrimination that certain groups feel on a daily basis, but what she didn . The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 prompted educator Jane Elliott to create the now-famous "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise.". Mary and Zeke have three children, all of whom have blue eyes. 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. Nevertheless, Elliott became as famous as a teacher could become in America. Elliot's approach to the experiment involved creativity in which the pupils' age and ability to comprehend discrimination was taken into account. This way, she successfully created two distinct groups in her classroom: The consequences of the minimal group became evident very quickly. "Your son got what he deserved," the woman said. In Building Moral Intelligence: The Seven Essential Virtues That Teach Kids to Do the Right Things, educational psychologist Michele Borda says it "teaches our children to counter stereotypes before they become full-fledged, lasting prejudices and to recognize that every human being has the right to be treated with respect." Stripping away the veneer of the experiment, what was left had nothing to do with race. I was stunned. 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. Typical of their responses was that of Debbie Hughes, who reported that "the people in Mrs. Elliott's room who had brown eyes got to discriminate against the people who had blue eyes. Terms of Use After the exercise white college students in . I interviewed Julie Pasicznyk, who had been working for US West, a giant telecommunications company in Minneapolis. Racism is not genetical. She has spoken at more than 350 colleges and universities. Problems with this research were that it went against a lot of ethical issues. people are better than blue-eyed people. The Brown Eyed / Blue Eyed Experiment. 10 Psychological Experiments That Could Never Happen Today. Before she could answer, another boy piped up: "If she didn't have blue eyes, she'd be the principal or the superintendent.". You didnt understand the directions. "Because we might catch something," a brown-eyed boy said. Once indoors, the brown-eyed group was then treated to coffee and doughnuts, while the blue-eyed group could only stand around and wait. ", Steve Harnack, 62, served as the elementary school principal beginning in 1977. Regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status, decision making in psychology should protect individual rights and welfare to eliminate potential biases. At the time, she was a third-grade . Some guidelines for avoiding or reducing this effect are: In conclusion, Jane Elliotts experiment demonstrates the fragility of coexistence and cooperation. Jane Elliott's experiment. The answer, in a word, was nothing. I got to have five minutes extra of recess." The students initially involved wished that everyone could participate in an exercise like this. She was hesitant to enroll in Elliotts workshop but was told that if she wanted to succeed as a manager, shed have to attend. Still, Elliott said the last few years have brought out America's worst racist tendencies. ", Elliott replied, "Why are we so worried about the fragile egos of white children who experience a couple of hours of made-up racism one day when blacks experience real racism every day of their lives?". Then a picture was taken to remember. Why'd they shoot that King?" Jane Elliott, one of the most controversial figures in U.S. education and diversity training, began her journey to international acclaim in Riceville, Iowa. She decided to continue the exercise with her students after lunch. "They shot that King yesterday. On the "Tonight Show" Carson broke the ice by spoofing Elliott's rural roots. In 1968 after Martin Luther King was assassinated the United States was in turmoil. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 was also an event that spurred educators to action, motivating one teacher to try out a bold experiment touted to reduce racism. The mainstream media were complicit in advancing such a simplistic narrative. 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. The day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, Jane Elliott, a teacher in a small, all-white Iowa town, divided her third-grade class into blue-eyed and brown-eyed groups and gave them a daring . The brown-eyed people were told to step to the front of the line. Many of them noted that when they hear prejudice and discrimination from others, they wish they could whip out those collars and give them the experience they had as third graders. The second day, Elliott reversed the groups. They are more civilized than blue-eyed people. Jane divided the class into 9 brown eyes and 9 blue eyes. The first thing that Jane Elliott did was divide the children into groups: those with blue eyes and those with brown eyes. This procedure is sometimes so subtle that no one notices it happening. Everyone looked at Mrs. Elliott. 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. Issues such as the right to know, the right to privacy, and informed consent. She has since refused to answer any of my inquiries. Lasting Impact of Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment, Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. Elliott asked. Looking back, I think part of the problem was that, like the residents of other small midwestern towns I've covered, many in Riceville felt that calling attention to oneself was poor manners, and that Elliott had shone a bright light not just on herself but on Riceville; people all over the United States would think Riceville was full of bigots. SpeedyPaper website, please click below to request its removal: Liked this essay sample but need an original one? The next day, Jane made it known to the students that she had made a mistake and that the brown-eyed pupils were better and smarter than their counterparts. You've still got that same sweet smile. Kids on top would tease the children who were deemed as the inferior group. Folks leave their cars unlocked, keys in the ignition. But not Elliott. Many educators responded by holding mandatory workshops on institutional racism and implicit bias, reforming teaching methods and lesson plans and searching for ways to amplify undersung voices.
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