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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. One scholar asserts that it is "Orwellian" and teaches whites "self-contempt." As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. She was hesitant to enroll in Elliotts workshop but was told that if she wanted to succeed as a manager, shed have to attend. In a grassy front yard down the block is a hand-lettered sign: "Glads for Sale, 3 for $1." 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 second day, Elliott reversed the groups. I felt mad. PracticalPsychology. Your Privacy Rights Much like the Zimbardo's Stanford Prison experiment where students were divided by either being the jailer or the jailed. Elliott said that blue-eyed people were less intelligent and less clean. With over 2 million YouTube subscribers, over 500 articles, and an annual reach of almost 12 million students, it has become one of the most popular sources of psychological information. According to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, 2010 the experiment also violates the principle of Integrity. Did We Fail the Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes ExperimentOr Did It Fail Us? And StanfordUniversity psychologist Philip G. Zimbardo writes in his 1979 textbook, Psychology and Life, that Elliott's "remarkable" experiment tried to show "how easily prejudiced attitudes may be formed and how arbitrary and illogical they can be." 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. Students in the inferior groups were more likely to get a worse score. This was intentional. ", Absolutely not. "You know, sweetheart, you haven't changed one bit. Mary and Zeke have three children, all of whom have blue eyes. Lesson of a Lifetime | Science| Smithsonian Magazine Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Today, increased migration means more opportunities for people from different backgrounds to interact with each other, which is often a source of conflict. Perhaps because the outcome seemed so optimistic and comforting, coverage of Elliott and the experiments alleged curative powers cropped up everywhere. Yet what Elliott did continues to stir controversy. All rights reserved. Would you like to get this essay by email? The people and cultures already present in a place often feel threatened by new immigrants. She says that its shocking how children whore normally kind, cooperative, and friendly with each other suddenly become arrogant, discriminatory, and hostile when they belong to a superior group. The study also violates the American Principles of Psychologist codes of conduct making its replication or further investigation unethical. The results were the same. Elliott instructed the blue-eyed kids not to play on the jungle gym or swings. 10 Psychological Experiments That Could Never Happen Today - Mental Floss The Blue-Eyes, Brown-Eyes Experiment. Two Important Psychological Experiments: The Blue Eye/Brown Eye and Considering all the stereotypes and prejudices that exist, what kind of damage is being done? "Eye color, hair color and skin color are caused by a chemical," Elliott went on, writing MELANIN on the blackboard. Thousands of educators across the United States folded the experiment into their curriculums. 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. Why was the Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment considered - Study That spring morning 37 years ago, the blue-eyed children were set apart from the children with brown or green eyes. "Your son got what he deserved," the woman said. Jane Elliott - Wikipedia She asks them if they have ever faced treatment like the type that blue-eyed people would experience in the following two and a half hours. she asked the children, who were white. . "This here is Jane Elliott," I said. 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. "We want to see Room No. On April 4 1968, King was killed by the single . Children with brown eyes were forced to wear armbands that made it easy for people to see that they had brown eyes. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 prompted educator Jane Elliott to create the now-famous "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise ." As a school teacher in the small town of Riceville, Iowa, Elliott first conducted the anti-racism experiment on her all-white third-grade classroom, the day after the civil rights leader was killed. According to role theorist Erving Goffman, emotional and cognitive experiences in such experiments as the Blue-Eyed versus the Brown-Eyed can have a long-term influence on behaviors and attitudes of participants especially when they are made to play the role of a stigmatized group (Biddle, 2013). "It's Riceville 30 years ago. 4. Hundreds of viewers wrote letters saying Elliott's work appalled them. ", We stopped on Woodlawn Avenue, and a woman in her mid-40s approached us on the sidewalk. The idea was simple but profound. Jane Elliots work and experiences have made her an authority on education and anti-racism. "It's the same thing over and over again," Cross says. 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. I got to have five minutes extra of recess." a brown-eyed boy asked. All the work should be used in accordance with the appropriate policies and applicable laws. Ethical Principles of Psychologists & Code of Conduct - StudyMode What Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment? 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. Would you? Right off the bat, she picked me out of the room and called me Barbie, Pasicznyk told me. Blue Eyes vs. Brown Eyes Experiment. Still, Elliott said the last few years have brought out America's worst racist tendencies. "You can see the look on their faces. In Jane Elliott's experiment she made the third graders believe that the blue eyed people were better,than the brown eyed people. The hate and discrimination that we see in adults have their origin in their upbringing. The results showed a . Lasting Impact of Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment, Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. In explaining the experiment rules to the brown-eyed contestants, she addresses the people of color in the room. She told them that people with brown eyes were superior to those with blue eyes, for reasons she made up. ", 2023 Smithsonian Magazine The video . In this photograph from Sept. 13, 1965, Black children on their way to school in New York City pass by segregationists protesting integrated busing. Initial Reaction to the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Exercise. It's the Jane Elliott machine. A Review of Jane Elliott's Experiment In, a Class Divided Before she could answer, another boy piped up: "If she didn't have blue eyes, she'd be the principal or the superintendent.". And they are smarter than blue-eyed people." The brown-eyed children got to sit in the front of the room, to go to lunch first, and to have more time at recess. Fourteen years later, the students featured in The Eye of the Storm reunited and discussed their experiences with Elliott. She told them that people with brown eyes were better than people with blue eyes. Why Did Jane Elliott Choose Eye Color To Divide Her Students? A Class Divided: An Experiment Involving Race and Prejudice The searing story is a cautionary tale that examines power and privilege in and out of the classroom. See Page 1. Below, . Jane Elliot's experiment involves cheating and intentional misinterpretation of facts. ", A former teacher, Ruth Setka, 79, said she was perhaps the only teacher who would still talk to Elliott. The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise continues to be relevant. Withdrawn brown-eyed kids were suddenly outgoing, some beaming with the widest smiles she had ever seen on them. Within a few hours of starting the exercise, Elliott noticed big differences in the childrens behavior and how they treated each other. 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 of the main ones was the fact that their right to withdraw was taken away from them. "Brown eyes and Blue eyes" Study | sabbaila In Zimbardo's experiment the conditions were much more controlled for later study but the r. "Do blue-eyed people remember what they've been taught?" Elliott pulled out green construction paper armbands and asked each of the blue-eyed kids to wear one. What Was the Purpose of the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment? The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise received national attention shortly after it ended. On the first day of the experiment, she declared the brown-eyed group superior and gave them extra privileges like seconds at lunch, extra recess time, and access to the new school playground. The experiment, known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment, is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. hide caption. They also harassed them constantly. Elliott was featured on nearly every national news show in America for decades. At this point you may wish to tell the pupils that you are conducting an "experiment" to look at what prejudice is. 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. Blue Eye / Brown Eye experiment - Everything2.com One of the ways Hitler decided who went into the gas chamber was eye color, Elliott said in a later speech. Strong, Effective and Ethical Lessons | Applied Social Psychology (ASP) At lunchtime, Elliott hurried to the teachers' lounge. They didnt need to engage with a single Black person. Jane elliots the blue eyes and brown eyes experiment - Course Hero Elliott rattled off the rules for the day, saying blue-eyed kids had to use paper cups if they drank from the water fountain. "The racists carry on, so I carry on." The lives and legacies of Dr. Jane Elliott and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are inextricably linked. "There's a sense of renewal here that I've never seen anywhere else," Elliott says. Many critics that the children were too young to understand the exercise. The Daring Racism Experiment That People Still Talk About 20 - HuffPost She slumped. Social Emotional Learning Lessons for Jane Elliott - Advancement Courses She wanted them to understand what discrimination felt like. 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. The roots of racism and why it continues unabated in America and other nations are complicated and gnarled. Jane Elliott's brown eye/blue eye experiment starts at 03:10 of A Class Divided. Cookie Policy Introduction | FRONTLINE - PBS And you'll always have it. When Elliott walked into the teachers' lounge the next Monday, several teachers got up and walked out. A Teacher's Report on 'a Class Divided' a Pbs Film: Teaching She traveled to corporations, banks, prisons, schools and military bases. Although actions from the experiment show lack of respect towards subjects it has widely been recognized in the study of human behavior in social and cultural context. 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. 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. With a couple of basic and arbitrary examples, Elliott made the case that brown-eyed people were better. You can contribute to that positive change by watching the documentary. 980 Words. he asked. 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. Classroom experiment. 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. Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes: A Cautionary Tale of Race and Brutality If you are the original author of this essay and no longer wish to have it published on the 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. 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. At first, she cooperated with me. 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. Jane Elliott's experiment of dividing an otherwise homogenous group of school kids by their eye color. 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. "Blue-eyed people sit around and do nothing. Kids on top would tease the children who were deemed as the inferior group. Sign up for Politics Weekly.]. And what she did caused an uproar. Focusing on ethics the experiment violated some of the principles and codes of conduct established by the American Psychological Association. Jane Elliott is 84 years old, a tiny woman with white hair, wire-rim glasses and little patience. They are more civilized than blue-eyed people. 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).