THE MONSTER STUDY stutter) developed a stutter that
worsened as experiment progressed;
Wendell Johnson (insert picture) - He was a
Their speech reduced, shorter length of
speech pathologist. He was born April 16 1906
replies;
in Roxbury, Kansas and died August 29 1965 in
They became more aware of their
lowa City, lowa. Johnson was also a stutterer.
stutter and embarrassed;
Mary Tudor (insert pic) She was a psychology Their school results became poorer:
graduate at the University of lowa. She was Each orphan reacted differently to their
born 1917 and died in 2006. She was 22 years stutter;
old when she conducted the Monster Study for - Each orphan were affected in a
master's thesis. Along with her mentor, long term and negative way.
Wendell Johnson. The orphanage closed in 1975. And the
University of lowa apologized in 2001.
In the early 1940s, Wendell Johnson
proposed the diagnosogenic The Test Subjects and Test Groups
(semantogenic) theory for the onset of
There were 22 orphans, from ages 5-15,
stuttering
and none of them were aware that they
Wendell Johnson was trying to show
were being experimented on.
that the other common theories about
Ten children with stutters were divided
stuttering were wrong, Johnson did not
into two groups, 1A and 1B. The other
agree to the fact that children were
twelve were divided randomly in half,
either born with a stutter or not.
and six went to 1A, and six went to 1B.
He thought that labeling children as
stutterers could cause "normal" Hypothesis of the Monster Experiment
children to start stuttering. To prove his
The experiment tested if children were
point he suggested the experiment and
told that they had a stutter, they would
called it "The Monster Study”
developed a stutter, and if children who
The experiment took place in Davenport
did stutter were told that they didn't,
Iowa, in 1939. The Monster Study was
would their stutter would disappear?
conducted by Wendell Johnson himself
at the Iowa Soldiers' Orphans Home in What The Experiment Did?
Davenport with the help of his student,
Mary Tudor 1A was made up of stutterers and non-
Wendell Johnson and Mary Tudor's stutterers, they were told that they had
method was to divide 22 orphans up no speech problems, or that it was just
into two groups all of which did not a phase that would eventually pass.
have any speech problems. One half 1B was made up of stutterers and non-
receiving positive therapy by means of stutterers and were told that they had a
encouragement and were praised while major problem, and in order to prevent
the other half were constantly belittled it, they may only speak when what they
and depreciated for "stuttering". wanted to say could come out correctly.
Aftermath of the Study What happened to Group 1A?
Orphans that were criticized from their 1A was made up of stutterers and non-
problems speaking (even if they did not stutterers, they were told that they had
no speech problems, or that it was just sometimes they had no time for
a phase that would eventually pass. school
1B was made up of stutterers and non- Some just stopped talking entirely,
stutterers and were told that they had a and wouldn't even talk to their
major problem, and in order to prevent friends.
it, they may only speak when what they
How This Experiment Affected the Test
wanted to say could come out correctly.
Subjects' Lives?
The information we used did not
describe the effects that the experiment The non-stutterers who were told that
had on the children that made up group they had a stutter became shyer in
1A class, and either became reluctant/self
concious to speak didn't say anything at
What happened to group 1B?
all.
The orphans who did not stutter Teachers wrote that their students
and were told that they did became didn't talk at all, and their grades
reluctant to speak, and after a few dropped because they wouldn't speak
weeks, some stopped speaking all in front of the class. A teacher reported
together. Their reason for doing this that one boy didn't even look up, and
was so that nothing that they said kept his face hidden for the entire day
would come out wrong.
What The Test Subject Got?
One girl said "A" before every word
and later, snapped her fingers. The test subjects didn't get anything until their
When asked why, She explained later lives, Then, only 6 of the test subjects got
that she said "A" because she was $925,000 for life long psychological and
afraid that she would say the next emotional trauma caused by the torment that
word wrong, and then snapped her they were put through during the Monster
fingers because she was afraid she Experiment.
was going to say "A".
Much like her the children tried to Legal Battle
discipline themselves, but their In 2003, six orphans and their heirs who
attempt turned out to only cause said the experience caused lifelong
more damage emotional distress, filed a lawsuit
One girl stopped talking to her against the State of lowa
friends, for fear that they would In 2007, the lawsuit resolved in a
notice her stutter" which she did settlement. The three women and the
not have later, she ran away from estates of three deceased people who
the orphanage and eventually were subjects of the study will share a
ended up at another school. $925,000 payment from the State of
Another warned that he wouldn't lowa.
be able to say the next word,
because it seemed stuck in his
throat
Orphans were disciplining
themselves so much that Was the monster study unethical?
CPAs Code of Ethics when they were adults and others with
speech therapy. She did this because as
I . Respect for the Dignity of Persons
she said in her letter tom Johnson, she
1.20 Obtain informed consent for all thought that what they had done was
research activities that involve obtrusive not right
measures, invasion of privacy, more than Despite the experiment being
minimal risk of harm, or any attempt to change "inhumane," the scientific knowledge
the behaviour of research participants. derived from it is considered substantial
and foundational to the field today.
Johnson and Tudor left the orphans completely
unaware of their research. Also, Johnson and
Tudor attempted to change the orphans normal
speech development to stuttering. (explanation)
Il. Integrity of Relationships
III.31 Not exploit any relationship
established as a psychologist to further
personal, political, or business interests in the
expense of the best interests of their clients,
research participants, students, employees, or
others...
Johnson and Tudor exploited their relationship
with the orphans by constantly belittling them
for all their speech errors to further Johnson's
hypothesis,(explanation)
III. Informed consent
1.16 Seek as full and active participation
as possible from others in decisions that affect
them, respecting and integrating as much as
possible their opinions and wishes.
The children were never told they had been
involved in a study, until it was revealed by a
newspaper over 60 years later Also, the
teachers and administrators of the orphanage
were noted about the purpose of the study. This
deception was never explained to them.
(explanation)
Mary tudor helped many of the test
subjects both while they were still
children and continued to help them
