blue eyes brown eyes experiment ethical issues

"It's Riceville 30 years ago. A difference as simple as eye color, defined and established by the authority figure, created a rift between the students. The results showed a reversal effect in which the blue-eyed students showed signs of inferiority and low self-esteem. Blue Eyes vs. Brown Eyes Experiment. When the exercise ended, some of the kids hugged, some cried. Jane Elliott, an educator and anti-racism activist, first conducted her blue eyes/brown eyes exercise in her third-grade classroom in Iowa in 1968. If brown-eyed children made a mistake, Elliott would call out the mistake and attribute it to the students brown eyes. The interaction only strengthened Elliott's resolve. While Jane Elliot's experiment makes several assumptions, it also has some ethical concerns. Through this study, Elliot demonstrated how easy it is for prejudice and discrimination to emerge from just a simple message that people with one eye color are superior to people with another eye color. Little children don't like uproar in the classroom. She could feel a chasm forming between the two groups of students. Jane Elliott is 84 years old, a tiny woman with white hair, wire-rim glasses and little patience. Delivery in 6+ hours! After the exercise white college students in . 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. 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. She asked the other teachers what they were doing to bring news of the King assassination into their classrooms. ", Absolutely not. The experiment was to be a division of eye colour starting with blue eyed student having superiority and then the following day, the roles would be reversed. Written and verified by the psychologist Francisco Roballo. Jane Elliott on The Tonight Show on May 31, 1968. Brown-eyed people. This technique allows researchers to show how many different traits are necessary to create defined groups, and then analyze the subjects behavior within their groups. Jane would get invited to go to Timbuktu to give a speech. The May 25 killing of George Floyd set off weeks of nationwide protests over the police abuse and racism against black people, plunging the U.S. into a reckoning of racial inequality. Elliott flew to the NBC studio in New York City. The day after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination in 1968, Jane Elliott, a schoolteacher in rural Iowa, introduced to her all-white third-grade class a shocking . Blue Eye/Brown Eye is an experiment performed by Jane Elliot in 1968 on the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated to demonstrate what prejudice was to her third grade class. With this experiment she wanted to let the blue-eyed people (white people) feel how it is to be in low power position. Some guidelines for avoiding or reducing this effect are: In conclusion, Jane Elliotts experiment demonstrates the fragility of coexistence and cooperation. Initial Reaction to the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Exercise. In 1970, a documentary about the exercise was released. Folks leave their cars unlocked, keys in the ignition. Its not surprising to anyone that some social groups discriminate against others due to ethnicity, religion, or culture. Blue-eyed children got five extra minutes of recess. To get her points across, Elliott hurled insults at workshop participants, particularly those who were white and had 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. (Byrnes & Kiger, 1992). Withdrawn brown-eyed kids were suddenly outgoing, some beaming with the widest smiles she had ever seen on them. She told them brown-eyed . Things even got violent at recess. What Lies Behind Your Urgent Need to Answer Work E Mails? They are steeped in centuries of economic deprivation and cultural appropriation. 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). And what she did caused an uproar. I felt like quitting school. ", That spring morning 37 years ago, the blue-eyed children were set apart from the children with brown or green eyes. The answer, in a word, was nothing. . 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. 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. The textbook publisher McGraw-Hill has listed her on a timeline of key educators, along with Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, Horace Mann, Booker T. Washington, Maria Montessori and 23 others. Despite the adaptation of the experiment in psychological studies, Jane has been widely criticized for her unethical conduct and promotion of discrimination among children. Nevertheless, Elliott became as famous as a teacher could become in America. This paradigm helps understand the current problems related to discrimination. Locals say that drivers don't signal when they turn because everyone knows where everyone else is going. Mary and Zeke have three children, all of whom have blue eyes. As Elliott recalls, she engineered the "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise" in 1968 after watching the late-night news cycle announce the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Rather than be deterred by possible 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. As a journalism professor and author of a book on race that spans more than 50 years, Ive watched these developments with great concern. Then tell them that . Basically, you establish differences between a set of subjects in order to divide them into separate groups. 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. With a couple of basic and arbitrary examples, Elliott made the case that brown-eyed people were better. (She prefers the term "exercise.") She attended a oneroom rural schoolhouse.Today, at 72, Elliott, who has short white hair, a penetrating gaze and no-nonsense demeanor, shows no signs of slowing. Kellen Castineiras PSY Dr. Gail C. Flanagan February 6, 2022. . The people of riceville did not exactly welcome Elliott home from New York with a hayride. She learned that the responses from the children were negative and more generalized about what they thought about black people. Blue-eyed people. Blue-eyed students slumped in their chairs, as though . "We are repeating the blue-eyed/brown-eyed exercise on a daily basis.". The idea was simple but profound. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. View Module 2 Discussion_ Are We Still Divided_ Blue Eyes_Brown Eyes_ A 3rd Grade Lesson for Us All.pdf from HUMN 330 at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She knew that the children weren't going to buy her pitch unless she came up with a reason, and the more scientific to these Space Age children of the 1960s, the better. The roots of racism and why it continues unabated in America and other nations are complicated and gnarled. The selection was based on the color of the eye for each group. In 1970, she demonstrated it for educators at a White House Conference on Children and Youth. On April 4 1968, King was killed by the single . In the 60s, the United States was in the midst of a social race crisis. Facilitators should be aware that Jane Elliott's focus on white people can lead viewers to the wrong impression that people of color are passively molded by white people's behavior when, in actuality, people of color can and do respond to racism in a variety of ways. Separate the class into two halves - those with blue eyes and those with brown. Classroom experiment. On the morning of april 5, 1968, a Friday, Steven Armstrong stepped into Jane Elliott's third-grade classroom in Riceville, Iowa. That spring morning 37 years ago, the blue-eyed children were set apart from the children with brown or green eyes. When some of the . More than 50 years after she first tried that exercise in her classroom, Elliott, now 87, said she sees much more work left to do to change racist attitudes. The minimal group paradigm has shaped an entire methodology in social psychology. When Elliott first conducted the exercise in 1968, brown-eyed students were given special privileges. Additionally, the brown-eyed students got to sit in the front of the class, while the blue-eyed kids . Watch it online right now! "It would be hard to know, wouldn't it, unless we actually experienced discrimination ourselves. Jane Elliott, a teacher and anti-racism activist, performed a direct experiment with the students in her classroom. Lasting Impact of Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment, Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. 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. "It's the same thing over and over again," Cross says. She split the class in two categories, according to eye color, and told the children that one group was superior to the others. The next day, Elliott reversed the roles. Normally, blue-eyes isnt an insult. March 26, 1985. Thats how it started, and thats how it went all day long. Your Privacy Rights The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment. 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. You should be happy! In 2001, Jane Elliott recordedThe Angry Eye,in which she revised and updated her experiment. The goal of the minimal group paradigm is to establish subjective differences and create a climate of favoritism. Elliot's approach to the experiment involved creativity in which the pupils' age and ability to comprehend discrimination was taken into account. Why was the Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment considered unethical in psychology? "We want to see Room No. In 1970, Elliott would come to national attention when ABC broadcast their Eye of the Storm documentary which filmed the experiment in action. Tears formed in the corners of Elliott's eyes. Nobodys standing here. That might have been the end of it, but a month later, Elliott says, Johnny Carson called her. Elliott was even brought on The Tonight Show to talk about her experiences. She was a standing-room-only speaker at hundreds of colleges and universities. That got the other teachers angry. New York: Elsevier Science. . Why are we still talking about this experiment over 50 years later? "She got carried away by this possession she developed over human beings. She has since refused to answer any of my inquiries. ", The two hugged, and Whisenhunt had tears streaming down her cheeks. "You can see the look on their faces. SpeedyPaper website, please click below to request its removal: Liked this essay sample but need an original one? 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. Jane Elliott was a third grade teacher in Riceville, Iowa when she developed the Blue Eyed/ Brown Eyed exercise to teach the effects of racism. Is it even possible today? She also made the brown-eyed students put construction paper armbands on the blue-eyed students. In the brown eyed/blue eyed experiment Jane Elliot told her third graders with blue eyes that they were better than the brown-eyed children. Jane Elliott, shown here in 2009, remains an outspoken advocate against racism. She told the kids that blue-eyed children weren't as good as brown-eyed or green-eyed ones. It makes you proud. Kors writes that Elliott's exercise taught "blood-guilt and self-contempt to whites," adding that "in her view, nothing has changed in America since the collapse of Reconstruction." (In later versions of the exercise, children in the inferior group were given collars to wear.). However, both Mary and Zeke have brown eyes. The brown-eyed children could take off their armbands and give them to the blue-eyed children, who were now taught that they were inferior to the brown-eyed children. The more melanin, the darker the person's eyesand the smarter the person. However, the study shows some bias in the sample size and race of participants. 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. Fourteen years later, the students featured in The Eye of the Storm reunited and discussed their experiences with Elliott. THE ANGRY EYE , a 35-minute video, features Jane Elliott conducting her Blue Eyed/Brown Eyed exercise with college students. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation Media Group Ltd. Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment Ethical? "She stirs people up. To this day, at the age of 86, Jane Elliott continues this work. From the moment the experiment begins, Jane Elliott uses a mean tone to speak to the participants. The empathy she works to inspire in students with the experiment, which has been modified over the years, is necessary, she said. The students were surprised, but they didnt argue. One teacher ended up displaying the same bigotry Elliott had spent the morning trying to fight. In fact, most of the initial response was negative. 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. "It changed my life. (2022, Apr 06). (2013). Order original essays online. American Psychological Association, 4. 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. The secretary on duty looked up, startled, as if she had just seen a ghost. "Maybe the way to sell the exercise would have been to invite the parents in, to talk about what she'd be doing. This is the phrase that inspired one of the most well-known experiments in education. What Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment? [White people] on the other hand, don't have to understand them. Directed by William Peters, the episode profiles the Iowa schoolteacher Jane Elliott and her class of third graders, who took part in a class exercise about discrimination and prejudice in 1970 and reunited in the present day to recall the experience. Throughout the investigation, the classroom represented a real-life scenario in which the unprivileged and minority members of the society are treated as out-groups making them susceptible to discrimination. The experiment, known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment, is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. Within a few hours of starting the exercise, Elliott noticed big differences in the childrens behavior and how they treated each other. According to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, 2010 the experiment also violates the principle of Integrity. She wanted to show her students that an arbitrarily established difference could separate them and pit them against each other. A columnist at a Denver newspaper called it "evil. Essay Example, Essay Example on Racism Towards Black People, Essay Sample about Developing a Campaign for School Intimidation, Essay Example on Therapist-Client Relationship Boundaries, Islamic Perspective on Euthanasia, Free Essay Sample. On Thursday, April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN. For many, the experiment went horribly awry. Elliott turned into Americas mother of diversity training. 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. I felt like hitting them if I wanted to. 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. Sadly, these conversations are still relevant today. ", When I met Elliott in 2003, she hadn't been back to Riceville in 12 years. They are cleaner than blue-eyed people. "I think third grade was too young for what she did. See Page 1. "People of other color groups seem to understand," she said. Introduction. That's not true. In this article, we talk about leadership and female discrimination.. The mainstream media were complicit in advancing such a simplistic narrative. Kids on top would tease the children who were deemed as the inferior group. Below, . She told them that people with brown eyes were superior to those with blue eyes, for reasons she made up. The hate and discrimination that we see in adults have their origin in their upbringing. The students who had blue eyes were told that they were better and smarter than their inferior brown-eyed peers. More than 50 years after her famous exercise, Elliott is still fighting. 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. "She taught in this school for 18 years." She described to her colleagues what she'd done, remarking how several of her slower kids with brown eyes had transformed themselves into confident leaders of the class. The demonstration has since been taught by generations of teachers to millions of kids across the country. 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. one girl asked. 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? ", 2023 Smithsonian Magazine Dick DeMarsico/New York World-Telegram & the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection/PhotoQuest/Getty Images, Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, Committee Member - MNF Research Advisory Committee, PhD Scholarship - Uncle Isaac Brown Indigenous Scholarship. The brown-eyed children felt suddenly that they were discriminated, while the blue eyed started seeing them as inferior. ( 1985-03-26) " A Class Divided " is a 1985 episode of the PBS series Frontline. On the first day, the blue-eyed students were informed that they were genetically inferior to the brown-eyed students. Students in the inferior groups were more likely to get a worse score. Theyd have to use paper cups if they drank from the water fountain. She has led training sessions at General Electric, Exxon, AT&T, IBM and other corporations, and has lectured to the IRS, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Department of Education and the Postal Service. 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. I felt mad. "Things are changing, and they're going to change rapidly if we're very, very fortunate," she said. 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. Jane Elliots work and experiences have made her an authority on education and anti-racism. She then made the blue-eyed students believe that they were better and smarter than their counterparts. The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, Elliott had a talk with her students about diversity and racism. We use them to divide and destroy people., On Understanding The Different Ways We Treat Other Races, Philip Zimbardo (Biography + Experiments). The same experiment was also used a couple of years later with adults. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. One student answers, since the day I was born. Throughout the entire experiment, Elliott leads frank conversations about race and discrimination. hide caption. Perhaps because the outcome seemed so optimistic and comforting, coverage of Elliott and the experiments alleged curative powers cropped up everywhere. Elliott asked her students to write about their experiences for the local newspaper. . The tallest structure in Riceville is the water tower. Jane Elliott, a teacher and anti-racism activist, performed a direct experiment with the students in her classroom. The blue-eyed participants faced discrimination for two and a half hours. In 2001, she was still trying to make a change. Children with brown eyes were forced to wear armbands that made it easy for people to see that they had brown eyes. Before she could answer, another boy piped up: "If she didn't have blue eyes, she'd be the principal or the superintendent.". They were forced to sit on the back rows and had to use a . She repeated the abuse with subsequent classes, and finally turned it into a fully commercial enterprise. On the first day of the experiment, Elliott told the children who had blue eyes that they were superior to the children with brown eyes; that they were better, nicer and smarter. One even wrote a lipstick message with racial slurs. "She was an excellent school teacher, but she has a way about her," says 90-year-old Riceville native Patricia Bodenham, who has known Elliott since Jane was a baby. On the second day, the roles were reversed, and those with brown eyes received special treatment, and the blue-eyed children were made to feel inferior (A Class, 2003). She was 10 before the farmhouse had running water and electricity. She pointed out flaws in a student and associated it with . "We'll just be a couple of minutes. At lunchtime, Elliott hurried to the teachers' lounge. It didnt take long for the children to turn on each other. Shermer and Bloom discuss: "Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes" Jane Elliott famous racism experiment reactions to it (in the classroom, locally, nationally, internationally) whether the "experiment" was really more of a demonstration public interest, from Johnny Carson to Oprah Winfrey the questionable ethics of the experiment what it reveals about tribalism, racism . 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." The corn grows so fast in northern Iowafrom seedling to seven-foot-high stalk in 12 weeksthat it crackles. 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 American Psychologists Principles and code of conduct state that in cases of deception, experimenters should take into consideration the potential harmful effects to participants. Most Riceville residents seem to have an opinion of Elliott, whether or not they've met her. In this 1998 photograph, former Iowa teacher Jane Elliott, center, speaks with two Augsburg University . I think it can. But Elliotts experiment had a more sinister impact. This time, the participants werent a bunch of elementary school children they were young adults. 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. She wanted them to understand what discrimination felt like.

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