The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment PDF

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The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment

Kellen Castineiras PSY2012 Dr. Gail C. Flanagan February 6, 2022

2 The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment The day after the assassination of civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Junior, an Iowan third-grade teacher, Jane Elliot, started a controversial experiment called "The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes" with her students. The experiment was initiated in hopes of teaching the students about racial prejudice and discrimination. In the experiment, the students were separated into two groups based on the color of their eyes. While one group was told they were superior and received privileges, the other experienced discrimination. Although Jane Elliot's intentions were to teach the youngsters about racism, ethical issues related to the simulation were raised. Issues such as the right to know, the right to privacy, and informed consent. (Byrnes & Kiger, 1992). According to the APA code of conduct, researchers are required to obtain informed consent from either the participants in an experiment or their legal guardians (APA, 2017) However, during the experiment, Mrs. Elliot did not get informed consent. She failed to explain to the students their right to withdraw at any time or decline participation. In addition, the exercise might have been emotionally and psychologically harmful to the children. It is crucial to teach about racism and discrimination in schools. However, extra safeguarding may be necessary to protect the rights and welfare of individuals or groups whose vulnerabilities impede autonomous decision-making (APA, 2017). The recreation of this experiment today would need to be approached differently, considering that youngsters cannot make decisions autonomously and are unable to give informed consent. A different environment, such as a college classroom, would be an ideal fit for educators or psychologists wanting to conduct this experiment while still adhering to the APA's Code of Conduct and ethical standards. Another ethical issue related to "The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment" is the use of deception. The APA code of conduct specifies that deception should not be used in

3 cases where severe emotional distress is expected. In addition, it states that psychologists should not use deception unless the ends justify the means (APA 2017). Mrs. Elliot used deception when creating fake scientific facts about the superiority of one group. In result, students suffered emotional discomfort throughout the research. Nevertheless, researchers argue that the simulation's positive lasting impacts, such as reducing prejudice in participants, outweigh the potential short-term emotional distress (Byrnes & Kiger, 1992). For this case, deception could be justified because the simulation provided information about prejudicereduction strategies. It has been over 50 years since Elliot's experiment was done for the first time. After all these years, there is still debate about whether these types of experiments are ethical. To address the ethical issue, we must remember that the APA code of conduct outlines standards of professional conduct. These standards are put in place to protect both the public and the professionals. The APA code of conduct establishes that informed consent is required for research because individuals need to be protected from potential harm that any given experiment may cause. The experiment "Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes" could have been done ethically if Elliot had followed the rules and regulations available today to protect the participants.

4 References American Psychological Association. (2017, March). Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/ethics/code Byrnes, D. A., & Kiger, G. (1992). Prejudice-Reduction Simulations: Ethics, Evaluations, and Theory into Practice. Simulation & Gaming, 23(4), 457–471. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878192234006...