for a more lengthy discussion about this topic can be found in the enigmas podcast link in the bio in 1939 a study was conducted in Iowa Davenport involving 22 orphans the objective was to induce stuttering in normal speaking children and to see whether telling stutterers that their speech was fine would help them recover what was well-intentioned in the first place turned out to be one of the most unethical studies ever conducted in the field of psychology which caused a lifelong trauma to the participants of the study in the end the study was never published in a peer-reviewed journal it was bitterly dubbed as the monster study by the participants themselves the study was conducted by a graduate student Mary Tudor under the supervision of Wendell Johnson who was a distinguished speech expert from the University of Iowa since the monster study was conducted during the wake of the human experiment by the Nazis during World War two the experiment was kept hidden for fear of Johnson's reputation because the study was never published in a peer-reviewed journal t doors theses the graduate who conducted the study is the only official record of the details of the experiment despite its controversy Patricia zabrowski University of Iowa assistant professor of speech pathology in audiology believed that the study has the largest collection of scientific information on the phenomenon of stuttering as Johnson was the first to discuss the importance of the stutterers thoughts attitudes beliefs and feelings which continues to influence views under studdering greatly in 2001 the University of Iowa publicly apologized for the monster study [Music] none of the participants were told of the intent of the research and they believed that they were there to receive speech therapy the study involved 22 orphans which consisted of both stuttering and non stuttering from the Iowa soldiers as orphans his home they were divided into two groups where one of the group was praised for their speech whilst the other group was progressively showing symptoms of stuttering and correction had to take place immediately the experimental period lasted from January until late May in 1939 and the actual intervention consisted of two door driving to Davenport from Iowa City every few weeks and talking with each child for about 45 minutes she followed an agreed-upon scrip in her dissertation she reported that she talked to the stuttering youngsters who were going to be told that they did not stutter she said you will outgrow the stuttering and you will be able to speak even much better than you're speaking now pay no attention to what others say about your speaking ability for undoubtedly they do not realize that this is only a face to the nun stuttering youngsters who were to be branded stutterers she said the staff has come to the conclusion that you have a great deal of trouble with your speech you have many of the symptoms of a child who is beginning to stutter you must try to stop yourself immediately use your willpower do anything to keep from stuttering do not ever speak unless you can do it right you see how so-and-so stutters don't you well he undoubtedly started this very same way [Music] all the children's schoolwork fell off one of the boys began refusing to recite in class the other 11 year-old Clarence Pfeiffer started anxiously correcting himself to door reported he stopped and told me he was going to have trouble on words before he said them she asked him how he knew he said the sound wouldn't come out it feels like it's stuck in there one of the participants Mary cholesky a 12 year old who withdrawn and fractious during their sessions to door asked whether her best friend knew about her stuttering cholesky muttered no why not Cora Lasky shuffled her feet I hardly ever talked to her two years later she ran away from the orphanage and eventually ended up at the rougher industrial school for girls simultaneously escaping her human experimentation Mary Tudor herself wasn't untouched three times after experiment had officially ended she returned to the orphanage to voluntarily provide follow-up care she told the branded stutterers that they did not stutter after all the impact however well-meaning was questionable she wrote to Johnson about the orphans in a slightly defensive letter dated April 22nd 1940 that in time they will recover but we certainly made a definite impression on them on 17th August 2007 seven of the orphaned children were awarded a total of 1.2 million dollars by the state of Iowa for lifelong psychological and emotional scars caused by six months of torment during the University of Iowa experiment the study learned that although none of the children became stutterers some became self-conscious and reluctant to speak a spokesman for the University of Iowa called the experiment regrettable and added this is a study that should never be considered defensible in any era in no way would I ever think of defending the study in no way it's more than unfortunate before her death Mary Tudor expressed deep regret about her role in the monster study and maintained that Wendell Johnson should have done more to reverse the negative effects on the orphaned children speech what do you think of today's topic do you agree that Wendell Johnson had no intention in harming the orphans do you agree that the result of the study should have been published either way knowing that the study had important information in understanding stutterers do let me know what you think in the comment section below also don't forget to subscribe so you'll get notified as soon as there's a new episode stay safe and have a great day