Monster Study

The Monster Study was a non-consensual experiment performed on 22 orphan children in Davenport, Iowa in 1939 about stuttering. It was conducted by Wendell Johnson through the University of Iowa with the physical experiment being performed by his graduate student Mary Tudor. Wendell Johnson, a former student at the University of Iowa, dedicated his life’s work to identifying the causes of stuttering and discovering a cure. Johnson, who had a severe stutter himself, wanted to understand where it originated and how it could be stopped, largely because he had been teased throughout his life. When he began studying speech pathology, he tested his own speech patterns, and the leading theory at the time suggested that stuttering had genetic origins. Johnson, who understood the impact that early stuttering could have on a child’s mental state, once stated, “The stuttering child is a crippled child.” The study was never published, and as a result was relatively unknown until a 2001 San Jose Mercury News article conducted by an investigative reporter, Jim Dyer. He revealed the details and followed up with the former test subjects who were still living – none of whom were told it was an experiment. A lawsuit took place and the seven test subjects from the "positive punishment" group (i.e., they were given negative feedback; they had an added stimulus that was undesired) were awarded $925,000 by the State of Iowa for lifelong psychological and emotional scars. The nickname "Monster Study" was coined in the 1940s and 1950s by those associated with the Stuttering Research Program at University of Iowa. Some assume it was due to Johnson's peers being horrified that he would experiment on orphan children to confirm a hypothesis, while others suggest it is due to what was said to the children themselves that was considered monstrous....