Blue-eyed people. b. She instructed the blue-eyed kids not to play on the jungle gym or swings with the brown-eyed students. She was a standing-room-only speaker at hundreds of colleges and universities. The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, Elliott had a talk with her students about diversity and racism. Youve probably heard different versions of it. 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. In your view, does studying ethics lead to a better society? 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. 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. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. What is the lesson Jane Elliott wanted her students to learn? Pasicznyk joined 75 other telecommunication employees for a training session that lasted three days in a Denver suburb during the mid-1980s. Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes: A Cautionary Tale of Race and Brutality 2022-11-06. Practical Psychology began as a collection of study material for psychology students in 2016, created by a student in the field. For example, brown and copper eyeshadows can bring out the brown and gold tones found in hazel eyes, and soft blues, purples, and greens can help to really make the green tones in hazel eyes shine. They went by names such as team-building, large group awareness training (LGAT), consciousness raising, management by objective, and transformative leadership training. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. This paradigm helps understand the current problems related to discrimination. Is it permissible to breach ethical guidelines when studying certain research topics? (LogOut/ Do you think it affects ethical concerns if the assignment is random? This was intentional. She used ethnography by according students to the high or low class pending their eye color, either blue or brown. Method. Jane Elliott, one of the most controversial figures in U.S. education and diversity training, began her journey to international acclaim in Riceville, Iowa. The second day, Elliott reversed the groups. They wouldnt be allowed second helpings for lunch. If you have ever heard of the self-fulfilling prophecy, these results may not come as a surprise. They also harassed them constantly. What made the Aversion Project unethical? When you study Jane Elliotts famous lesson on discrimination, what is one conclusion you are MOST likely to make? a. How many hours ahead is Brazil than New York. She told them that people with brown eyes were better than people with blue eyes. The goal of the minimal group paradigm is to establish subjective differences and create a climate of favoritism. You may also want to experiment with a shimmer or glitter eyeshadow - this can help to make hazel eyes sparkle and take them to the next level. The purpose of this exercise was to put the kids in the same predicament as the colored and the people that is not colored. "A Class Divided" is a 1985 episode of the PBS series Frontline. Problem. What is the blue eyes brown eyes experiment? Jane Elliott has done a lot of reflection about the consequences of the minimal group experiment. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. 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. Professor Jane Elliott performed a group experiment with her students that they would never forget. If you white folks want to be treated the way blacks are in this society, stand. Why are both identical and fraternal twins studied? 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. She selectively interprets behavior to confirm the stereotypes she had assigned by asking questions. Right off the bat, she picked me out of the room and called me Barbie, recalled Pasicznyk. But the blue eyes/brown eyes experiment still retains a tentative foothold in some schools and work settings today. What ethical standards were violated in Milgram's obedience experiment? 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. What are the effects of being blue eyed and Brown Eyed? Written and verified by the psychologist Francisco Roballo. In the most uncomfortable moments, Elliott reminds the students of violent acts caused by racism or homophobia. What was the aim of Milgram's study? Why was the Robbers Cave experiment unethical? ISBN 9780520382268. Children often fight, argue, and sometimes hit each other, but this time they were motivated by eye color. She appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show five times. Do similar matrices have same singular values? Racism is not genetical. Did it work? Why might a charismatic leader exhibit unethical behaviors? The children said yes, and the exercise began. Jane Elliott, shown here in 2009, remains an outspoken advocate against racism. After the local newspaper published a story on Elliott and the experiment, she was flown to New York to appear on May 31, 1968, on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, where she extolled the experiments effectiveness in cluing in her 8-year-old white students on what it was like to be Black in America. After being treated like a member of the inferior group, students were less inclined to treat their peers that way. Even though the response to the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise was initially negative, it made Jane Elliott a leading figure in diversity training. Social Psychology is an empirical science, which gives us the opportunity to study the causes and reactions of social problems by the usage of scientific methods. 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. The searing story is a cautionary tale that examines power and privilege in and out of the classroom. 319.335.2625 Do blue eyes and brown eyes see differently? 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.. Now, people are returning to her work. 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. 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. Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. How did Elliotts discrimination create no win situations for those placed in the inferior group? Jane says she first started this exercise in her third grade class back in 1968,. The "superior" group was praised and told they were more gifted, which increased their self-confidence. Some cookies are placed by third party services that appear on our pages. Consequently, the brown-eyed children started using blue-eyes as an insult. 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 . Theyd have to use paper cups if they drank from the water fountain. How does your insight on visual illusions relate to research on Extrasensory perception? She started to make negative statements about one group, and the children easily accepted these new values associated with each group. They don't replace the diagnosis, advice, or treatment of a professional. The brown-eyed kids would now be considered inferior. In fact, most of the initial response was negative. She divided her class into two groups - blue eyed people and brown eyed people. During the 1970s and 1980s in the United States workshops such as Elliotts gained popularity in and out of the corporate world. Voir les partenaires de TheConversation France. Elliott pulled out green construction paper armbands and asked each of the blue . The eyes remained motionless as a thin, graceful reflection sauntered up and came to a stop. Jane Elliot was a third-grade teacher in Riceville, Iowa when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. (In later versions of the exercise, children in the inferior group were given collars to wear.). Jane Elliott's Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes experiment was a turning point in social psychology. They killed hundreds of thousands of people based on eye color alone, thats the reason I used eye color for my determining factor that day., Elliott divided the class into children with blue eyes and children with brown eyes. Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes offers an intimate portrait of the insular community where Elliott grew up and conducted the experiment on the towns children for more than a decade. 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 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 . A Class Divided portrays the reunion of a group of students who had taken part in a bold experiment in 1970. The brown-eyed children didnt want to play with the blue-eyes during recess. Why are case studies used in qualitative research? | Proudly powered by WordPress. What was the aim of Jane Elliotts experiment? These differences lead to war and hate. In the Milgram Experiment, why did so many people continue doing what they knew to be morally wrong? 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. Melanin, which determines eye color, also determines intelligence and learning ability. Therefore, two brown-eyed partners can birth a blue-eyed baby. Brown-eyed people, she told the students, are smarter, more civilized and better than blue-eyed people. On the second day, Elliott switched the students roles. 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 Today, she says, it's still playing out as the U.S. reckons with racial injustice. Why is content analysis used in qualitative research? Preference cookies enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in. Why is it difficult to distinguish genetic from experiential influences? The following are some of her most insightful quotes on these issues. She then proceeded to tell the class the brown-eyed children were superior to the blue-eyed children in every way because of the amount of melanin they had in their eyes. What aspects of power does the Milgram experiment address? The White Lotus: The Secrets of Its Success. This is the phrase that inspired one of the most well-known experiments in education. . To get her points across, Elliott hurled insults at workshop participants, particularly those who were white and had blue eyes. Jane Elliott (ne Jennison; born November 30, 1933) is an American diversity educator. His current work focuses on long-form nonfiction, oral history, and online narrative journalism. Prior to joining the Iowa faculty in 1993, Bloom was a staff writer at theSacramento Bee,San Jose Mercury News,Los Angeles Times, andDallas Morning News; he was the Brazilcorrespondent for the Field News Service and national news editor at theLatin America Daily Post; and he served as press secretary for San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan. Explain the value of standards and ethics in the psychological testing process. The first day of the experiment she convinced the children that blue-eyed people were smarter, better and would have more priorities. Two professors of education, Goodson and Sikes say that what Elliot did was unethical because the exercise was psychologically and emotionally damaging. Elliott was even brought on The Tonight Show to talk about her experiences. Welcome to a godforsaken spit of land in the middle of the ocean, where 100 people have blue eyes and 100 have brown. Download. answer choices. With a couple of basic and arbitrary examples, Elliott made the case that brown-eyed people were better. Jane Elliott first gave this lesson on April 5, 1968, the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The brown-eyed students also exercised a certain level of power over the blue-eyed students when they put the armbands on them. Change). Blue-eyed people are seen as being the most expressive. What questions about the Milgram experiment did critics raise? The brown-eyed people may take off their collars, and each of you may put your collar on a blue-eyed person Jane Eliot addressing her students In order to teach students what it's like to be persecuted because of one's DNA, she also taught them what it's like to persecute others on the same grounds. When you read about this experiment, its hard not to question labels. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. The students were harshly discriminated and considered less smart when they belonged to the low class group. One even wrote a lipstick message with racial slurs. American scientists who conducted some tests concluded that brown-eyed people performed better at reaction time, but those with lighter or blue eyes appeared to be better strategic thinkers, the Daily Mail reported. The first thing that Jane Elliott did was divide the children into groups: those with blue eyes and those with brown eyes. (Optional) Attach an image to your letter. 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. 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. copyright 2003-2023 Homework.Study.com. The anti-racism sessions Elliott led were intense. What kind of population was in the Milgram experiment? In the documentary, she said that she conducted the original blue-eyes, brown-eyes experiment to make a positive change. Elliott was a schoolteacher in Riceville, Iowa, a small town with a population of 806, in 1968. Ethical standards are violated when a person is psychologically, emotionally, or physically harmed from a research project that did not determine imminent risks in the study. Imagine that scientists were able to identify specific genes linked to serious criminal behavior and it was possible to remove or redesign these genes. Ethical Research: Ethical research safeguards the person's best interest and well-being. Can two brown eyed people have a blue eyed baby? Jpeg, PNG or GIF accepted, 1MB maximum. On the first day, the blue-eyed students were informed that they were genetically inferior to the brown-eyed students. One caller complained that white children would not be able to handle the exercise and would be seriously damaged by the exercise. But Paul, one of eight siblings and the son of a dairy farmer, didnt buy Elliotts mollification. In 1968, schoolteacher Jane Elliott decided to divide her classroom into students with blue eyes and students with brown eyes. Professor Stephen G. Bloom is a member of the faculty at the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication. These initial criticisms didnt stop Elliott. The blue-eyed students wouldnt be allowed second helpings in the cafeteria. Students in the inferior groups were more likely to get a worse score. When asked what's wrong with being called brown eyes, the response was because it means that (brown-eyed) people are stupider. Courtesy of AP Photo, by STEPHEN G. BLOOM | What was unethical about the blue eyes brown eyes experiment? Why the Stanford Prison Experiment is invalid? The nonstop parade of sickening events such as the murder of George Floyd surely is not going to be abated by a quickie experiment led by a white person for the alleged benefit of other whites as was the case with the blue-eyed, brown eyed experiment. In the process, she turned herself into Americas mother of diversity training. Iowa City, IA 52242-1409 While the study provided interesting information on the development of bias and discrimination, it was unethical to cause psychological harm to children. 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 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. Blue-eyed students were placed in one group, and brown-eyed students in the other. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, Jane Elliott carried out the "Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes" exercise in her classroom. Explain. A) Why is it important that an experimenter behave in the same way toward all subjects in the experiment? Get access to this video and our entire Q&A library, Group Prejudice: Jane Elliott's Brown Eyes vs. Blue Eyes Experiment. Lasting Impact of Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment, Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. 240 Schaeffer Hall Thousands of educators across the United States folded the experiment into their curriculums. What did the Milgram experiment show about the influence authority can have on the average person? The blue-eyed participants faced discrimination for two and a half hours. Traditionally, society has always treated leadership as a male issue. 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. Such as Elliotts gained popularity in and out of the experiment she the. Process, she said that she conducted the original blue-eyes, brown-eyes experiment to make a positive change bold in... Their peers that way of education, Goodson and Sikes say that what Elliot was... 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