the following social psychology experiments to research Jane Elliot\'s Brown eye
ID: 3451440 • Letter: T
Question
the following social psychology experiments to research
Jane Elliot's Brown eyes/blue eyes discrimination experiment
Rosenthal's Pygmalion Effect Experiment
Clark Dolls Experiment
Research the experiment with at least 2 different sources. Tell me about the experiment:
Who was the researcher(s), what was his or her background?
Why did they do the experiment?
What were the steps of the experiment?
What was the outcome of the experiment?
Finally, reflect on what you learned from the experiment. Would the results be valid today? Why or why not? Do you think you would have acted similar or different from the participants in the study? What relevance does the study have to help us understand the minds and behavior of people?
Explanation / Answer
Jane Elliott is an American educator and an anti-racism activist, as well as a feminist and a queer activist. She is known for her "Blue eyes–Brown eyes" exercise in the classrooms for combatting racial prejudice in the United States. The Blue eyes-Brown eyes experiment was primarily designed as a learning exercise by her for her class of eight year old children to help the young students understand the experience of racial discrimination on the target minority population of African Americans. The exercise came in light of the assassination of the Civil Rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and it was directed towards the purpose of targeting the dearth of racial prejudice within the small town of Riceville in Iowa where the school was located. Elliot based her method on the assumption that the all -White young class belonging to the all White town would show an internalisation of the negative attitude of their community only.
In her exercise, she divided the students into two groups based on the colour of their eye pupils: the blue eye and brown eye groups. She then modified the classroom environment in a way that seemed to favour the blue eyes students over the brown eyes such as by giving them greater share of food in the cafeteria, higher evaluations in simple tests of mathematics, positive verbal feedback, reserving the front rows of the class for the blue eyed group. On the other hand, the brown eyed group was given lower scores in tests, negative verbal feedback and made to occupy the last benches in the classroom. She further segregated the two groups from playing with each other and using the same water fountain for drinking water. She then reversed the situation such that the Brown eyed group began to receive greater privileges than the blue eyed groups. In both these conditions, the knowledge of differences in treatment due to physical features was made explicit to the two groups.
In the experiment, it was found that the differential treatment of the two groups created a situation of unfavourable conditions for the group which was denied privileges. Those who were deemed "superior" became arrogant, bossy, and otherwise unpleasant to their "inferior" classmates. Their grades on simple tests were better, and they completed mathematical and reading tasks that had seemed outside their ability before. However, the "inferior" classmates became more timid and subservient children who scored more poorly on tests, and began to isolate themselves during recess despite being previously dominant in the class. In addition, their academic performance decreased even on simple tasks.
Elliot’s study caused a political sensation in the community when it was reported in the local newspaper and later telecasted on prime time. Her actions were condoned by the conservative prejudiced elements on the account of introducing racial diversity as a training method in schools. However, the diferences in the behaviour of the two groups in the excercise shows the significance of her findings. Academic research into Elliott's exercise could show a moderate effect in reducing long-term prejudice.
If I imagine myself as a participant in the exercise, then I believe that I would be deeply affected by the inequality in treatment and I would want retaliate. However, considering that this exercise was voluntarily chosen by myself and my peers, then I also think that I will let the situation continue and not try to change it. My own response to Elliot’s exercise brings me to the possibility of another factor involved-that of perceived control or lack of control which makes a privileged group feel powerful and an underprivileged group powerless.
Although the original experiment was carried out in 1968, Elliot’s brown eyes blue eyes classroom experiments are significant even today for they can provide a working model of the need for diversity training in the educational institutions and workplaces and the inhibitory impact of negative attitudes on the self-esteem of the marginalised individuals.
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