The monster study was an experiment conducted by Wendell Johnson and Mary Tudor, a former student of his. The test subjects were 22 orphaned children all from about the age of 5 to 15. The children were unaware that they were being experimented on, they just thought that they were recieving speech therapy. It took place in Daveport Iowa, in 1939. The experiment was testing if children were told that they had speech problems when they didn't would they develop stutters, and if children with stutters were told they didn't have a stutter would it go away. The 22 children were divided into two groups 1A and 1B. There were 10 children who even before the study began were marked as having stutters. The group of ten was divided. Half went to group 1A and were told that they had no problem with their speech, and the other half went to group 1B and were told that they had a lot of problems that must be fixed immediatly. The other 12 that made up the 22 children were chosen randomly, some with stutters, some without. Six were put in 1A and complemented on their speech, and 6 were put in group 1B. Their IQ, speech, and handyness were tested. Children with stutters in group 1A were told that they would grow out of their stuttering and that it was only a phase, but children in group 1B were told to never say anything unless it came out correctly. This was quite problematic because after that, in the 45 minute meetings the scientist had with the children, the children would be afraid to say anything in case they might say it wrong. Some children started trying to disiplin themselves so much that they had no time for other things such as school. Eventually they got so anxious when the spoke that some of them just stopped speaking. Most of the children developed mental issues when they grew older, and some even developed mild stutters.
This experiment was named "The Monster Study" by some of Johnson's peers, was hidden from authority, in fear of ruining Johnson's reputation. Johnson's experiment contributed most of the information that we know about stuttering, so although this was a very inhumane experiment, was the knowledge worth the pain it caused others?
By Mira and Olivia
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Very good blog article. I can't believe they would do an experiment like that. Especially on children.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alex. I do not understand what the purpose of the experiment was, other than to be mean and cruel to children (and even orphans at that)! They probably scarred these poor kids for life. It is very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting blog article. The tests that they preformed on some of the children were horific. The least they could have done, which they partly did, was pay for the damage that they caused to all of the children in group 1B. Also after a while of conducting this experiment they should have told the children in group 1B that they did not really have a stutter and that it was just made up.
ReplyDeleteI think it was to test children's gullability. This could be used to see about what age their brains are developed enough to think freely. But yes it is not moral to lie to children like that (in my eyes).
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