Unveiling the Monster Study: Unethical Human Experiments

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Music.
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I'm the Gentleman, accompanied by the Disturbed Southern Bell. Hello!
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And in this episode, we will be continuing our Most Disturbing Human Experiments
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series with the Monster Study of 1939.
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Uh-huh! So, the Monster Study was an experiment performed on 22 orphaned children
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in Davenport, Iowa, in 1939.
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The study was conducted by Wendell Johnson, and the physical part of the experiment
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was conducted by his graduate student, Mary Tudor.
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The study was set up to test a hypothesis related to stuttering.
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The study was never published and was pretty much unknown until an article was
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published in 2001 in the San Jose Mercury News that was written by an investigative
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reporter named Jim Dyer. Okay.
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He not only revealed details about the experiment, but also followed up with
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surviving members of the study.
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Sadly, none of the participants in the study were told details about the experiment beforehand.
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The nickname Monster Study was applied to the study during the 1940s and 1950s
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by those who were associated with the stuttering research program at the University of Iowa.
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A theory about the nickname stems from reports by several peers who were horrified
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that Johnson had used orphan children just to prove a hypothesis.
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However, others have theorized that the name came from perhaps,
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or from the children themselves being made to feel monstrous.
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A thesis that was written by Mary Tudor is the only official documentation or record of the study.
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As stated earlier, the study was conducted through the University of Iowa,
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which is a well-known institution for its advancements in research on stuttering.
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Dr. Wendell Johnson, who was a stutterer himself, created the thesis for the
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experiment, which was then performed by Mary Tudor.
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It took place at the Iowa Soldiers' Orphanage Home in 1939.
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So, the study had two parts. In one part, they would attempt to cause a child
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who had previously had no stutter to now be afflicted with one, and in the second part,
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they would attempt to erase stuttering in children who did have a stutter by
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telling them that they spoke fine.
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So, Johnson later stated that he believed that stuttering begins not in the
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child's mouth, but in the parent's ear.
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The researchers had four questions when carrying out the study.
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For the first, will removing the label stutterer from those who have been so
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labeled have any effect on their speech fluency?
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For the second, will endorsement of the label stutterer previously applied to
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the individual have any effect on their speech fluency?
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For the third, will endorsement of the label normal speaker previously applied
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to an individual to have any effect on their speech fluency?
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And four, will labeling a person previously regarded as a normal speaker a stutterer
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have any effect on their speech fluency?
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So initially, there were 256 children who were screened by Tudor and five other
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graduate students who would serve as judges.
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During the screening, they would listen to each child speak and then grade them
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on a scale from one, which was considered poor, to five, which was considered fluent.
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22 subjects were then selected from the initial group.
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The children ranged in age from five to 16, and
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those selected and the workers from the orphanage were not
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told the intent of the experiment and were
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led to believe that the session would be a form of speech therapy to help all
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the children right among the 22 who were selected 10 were marked as stutterers
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and the remain 12 of the remaining 12 were deemed to be normal speakers the
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10 children who had a stutter were then divided into two groups.
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Group A was the experimental portion.
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In this part, five children with a stutter were placed in the group.
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They were told that their speech was fine and that they did not have a stutter.
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Group B was considered the control group.
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Children who were in this group would be told that their speech is as bad as
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people say and receive traditional speech therapy.
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The 12 children who were considered normal speakers were also divided into two groups.
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Group 2A was the experimental portion of the group, and this was honestly one
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of the saddest parts, in my opinion.
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The children in this group would be told that their speech was horrible,
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that they were also told that they were developing a stutter,
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and one that must be corrected immediately, and for them not to speak at all
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unless it was without a stutter.
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Group 2B was the control portion of this group, and these children were told
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that they had no stutter as well as being praised for their enunciation.
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So during Tudor's first visit, she tested each child's IQ and also identified
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that they were left-handed or right-handed.
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This was done because at that time, there was a popular theory that stuttering
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was caused by a cerebral imbalance.
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For example, if a person who was born left-handed but instead used their right
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hand, their nerve impulses would misfire, which would in turn impact their speech.
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However, Johnson did not believe this theory, but still had Tudor test each child's handedness.
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Most of the children involved in the study were right-handed,
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though there were left-handed children present in all test groups.
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The children in the group were assigned numbers, such as case number 15, Experimental Group 2A.
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The experiment lasted approximately five months from January to late May of 1939.
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It consisted of Tudor driving to Davenport from Iowa City every couple of weeks
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and talking with its child for around 45 minutes.
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She states in her dissertation that she followed an agreed-upon script.
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In her writings, she stated that she talked to stuttering children who were
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going to be told that they did not stutter and essentially said,
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you'll outgrow the stuttering and you will be able to speak much better than you are now.
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Pay no attention to what others say about your speaking ability for undoubtedly
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they do not realize that this is only a phase.
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And to the non-stuttering children who were going to be told that they did have
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a stutter, she wrote that she told them, the staff has concluded that you have
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a great deal of trouble with your speech.
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You may have many of the symptoms of a child who is beginning to stutter,
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and you must try to stop yourself immediately.
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Use your willpower, do anything to keep from studying, don't even speak unless you can do it right.
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So the children in the experimental group of normal speakers began to respond
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immediately to the negative reinforcement they were receiving.
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After her second session with a five-year-old, Norma Jean Pugh,
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or Pug, I'm not entirely sure, Tudor wrote, it was very difficult to get her
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to speak, although she only spoke very freely with the mouth before, or the month before.
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She wrote about another child in the group, a nine-year-old,
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Betty Romp, whom she practically refused to speak at all.
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The oldest child in the group, Hazel Potter, who was 15, was stated as being
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much more conscious of herself, and she talked less.
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All of the children that were in group 2A schoolwork began to drop off significantly.
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Or, of all the children, their schoolwork dropped off. Children who were afraid
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to speak in class, another child, an 11-year-old, Clarence Pfeiffer,
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began to anxiously correct himself and told his teacher that he knew he was
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going to have trouble saying words before he even said them.
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Another child, 12-year-old, Mary Krolosk, grew withdrawn.
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When she was questioned by Tudor if her best friend knew she was developing
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a stutter, Mary replied, no.
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When asked why not, she replied, I hardly ever talked to her.
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Two years later, Mary ran away from the orphanage and ended up at the industrial school for girls,
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Sadly, the majority of the children who received negative therapy during the
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study suffered negative psychological effects Some even retained speech issues
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for the remainder of their lives.
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Tudor was impacted herself by the experiment. She returned three times after the study concluded.
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She tried to provide follow-up care to the children, and later wrote a letter
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to Johnson in which she stated, I believe that in time they will recover,
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but we certainly made a definite impression on them.
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She attempted to reverse the negative effects that had been caused to the children,
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though in her letters to Johnson, she wrote that she was unable to provide enough
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positive therapy to reverse the effects.
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As stated, Johnson never published the results of the study,
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and it was relatively unknown to anyone who didn't know Johnson.
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Johnson passed away in 1965, and an article published in a 1988 issue of the
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Journal of Fluency Disorders suggested that the results were not published due
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to embarrassment over this experiment's results. Right.
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Which is fair i would say so 62 years
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after the experiment jim dyer as stated earlier
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was able to shed light on the disgusting study he
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happened upon information about the study while in the basement of
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the university of iowa he was rightfully horrified when he read the study and
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began to reach out to test subjects to find out how they were now and how they
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were then and how they had been impacted by the experiment right he then compiled
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and released a series of articles which led to the experiment making national news.
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The article told of how several of the children had long-lasting psychological
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effects that stemmed directly from the sadistic experiment.
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One participant expressed her
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horror when she finally discovered the true reason behind the experiment.
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She had gone almost her entire life thinking she was a stutterer,
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stating that the negative feedback she had received from Tudor had also caused
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her to withdraw from many aspects of her life.
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Children of one of the subjects stated that their parent had been very quiet
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and self-conscious about their speech.
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After the release of the articles, a spokesman for the University of Iowa said
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that while the standards of experiments were different in 1939,
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the experiment was regrettable under any circumstances. I'd say so.
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Yeah, it was very disgusting. He is. Speech pathologists later condemned the
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experiment and stated that the orphan's speech and behavior were adversely impacted
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by the negative conditioning they had received.
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Other therapists felt that the study had been poorly designed and executed by a tutor.
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As a result, the data that was offered had no definitive proof of Johnson's
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subsequent hypothesis and that
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the stuttering began not in the child's mouth, but in the parent's ear.
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So basically, that theory had no weight at all. Right.
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So he just did this because he did it. Yeah, just because he felt like it.
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That's just what it sounds like to me. Yeah, a lot of these,
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that seems to be what the case is. There's really whatever comes of them.
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And a lot of them just seem to be because they want to cause suffering.
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It feels like in some cases it does.
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Like, particularly, this brings to mind the last episode I did about the,
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God, I forget what it's called now.
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I'm going to have to go back and rewatch that myself. I can't remember.
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I can't think of it right now.
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It's been a long since we recorded this, so. So, anyways, just go check it out.
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The Tuskegee experiment. Yes, the Tuskegee experiment. That was just awful.
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Right. It was bad. But anyways, moments of stuttering did not change notably.
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However, moments of speech hesitations,
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interruptions, and non-stuttering disfluencies increased for Group 2A.
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Many defend Johnson in the official apology that came from University of Iowa.
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It was asked not to tarnish his positive legacy over the experiment.
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Many claim that no harm was intended in the study, and most write-ups about
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him include the study as a minor point. Whatever.
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The surviving children and the families of those who had passed away filed a
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joint lawsuit against the state of Iowa.
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The state attempted to dismiss the case, however, in September of 2005,
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Iowa's Supreme Court justices agreed that with the lower court in rejecting
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the state's claim of immunity and the petition for dismissal.
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So, yay! The advanced age of three of the surviving members of the experiment
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helped to expedite a settlement with the state.
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And on August 17th of 2007, seven of the children were awarded a total of $925,000
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by the state of Iowa for the lifelong psychological and emotional scars that
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were caused by the study.
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It was also revealed that while none of the children developed a stutter,
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they did become very self-conscious self-conscious about
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their speech which led them to be reluctant
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to speak i guess so that's so sad
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it's just abhorrent right what they did
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to these children i read about that and not people they
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were talking about like a lot of them they were they wouldn't talk hardly
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ever and yeah it was this is just sad it's awful that children had to go through
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that yeah and orphan children at that so like they're not already suffering
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enough so to speak then let's do this too well that that's it for this episode is particularly.
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Disturbing experiment it is perfect fit
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for this series definitely and i got a
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feeling it's just going to get worse from here it
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pretty much is so we hope you enjoyed this episode
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as usual i did not don't forget
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to like follow subscribe do all that
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stuff depending on whatever platform you're listening to this on right
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and like i said feel free to go
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back and check on that tuskegee experiment episode it is
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very disturbing it is i apologize for
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ever speaking about that it is awful it
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is bad i mean jesus i felt bad just reading
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it but yeah that's gonna
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end it for this episode and i'll turn
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it over to the bell so she can tell you about hers we're continuing on talking
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about some more of the most disturbing experiments throughout history we've
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all you know we've already got a few up the little albert experiment the tuskegee
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experiment and we're going to have several others uh don't forget to like follow
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and subscribe as we said and don't forget to stay disturbed.
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Music.