NYTimes Monster Study Article

Background of Wendell Johnson

  • Johnson was a stutterer and a graduate student at the University of Iowa.

  • Engaged in speech pathology at a crucial time when the field sought to establish itself as a science.

  • Conducted experiments often involving fellow stutterers as subjects.

Theoretical Foundations

  • Physiological explanations for stuttering were predominant.

  • Johnson believed stuttering was a learned behavior influenced by parental reaction: "stuttering begins not in the child's mouth but in the parent's ear."

Tudor's Experiment

  • In 1939, Johnson tasked graduate student Mary Tudor with an experiment to see if non-stuttering children could be induced to stutter by telling them they stuttered.

  • Conducted at Soldiers and Sailors Orphans' Home, involved 22 subjects who were unaware of the true nature of the study.

Methodology

  • Subjects divided into experimental and control groups based on labels about their speech.

  • Tested to determine if labeling affected their fluency: Group IIA was falsely labeled as stutterers.

Observed Effects

  • Many children in Group IIA exhibited anxiety and reduced speaking, mimicking the behavior of stutterers.

  • Children assigned false labels began to show symptoms of stuttering but were fundamentally fluent.

  • Tudor documented distress among the falsely labeled children, illustrating psychological impacts of the study.

Ethical Concerns

  • The study lacked informed consent and exploited vulnerable children.

  • It has been compared to unethical experiments, raising long-term ethical questions in research.

Impact and Legacy

  • Results of Tudor's study were largely ignored; Johnson continued to advocate for the diagnosogenic theory.

  • Over time, the study’s findings were rediscovered, leading to public outcry and legal action from surviving participants.

Modern Understanding

  • Stuttering is now understood as a multifaceted disorder that may involve genetic, neurological, and environmental factors.

  • Johnson's singular focus on behaviorism has been challenged and largely discredited in modern speech therapy approaches.

Ongoing Legal Actions

  • Survivors of Tudor's study are suing for emotional distress due to the experiment's lasting impacts.

  • The case raises questions about accountability in psychological research and treatment outcomes.