The Monster Study

The Monster Study was conducted by Wendell Johnson and his graduate student Mary Tudor at the University of Iowa. The experiment included 22 orphaned children from the Iowa Soldiers' Orphans' Home. The study highlighted the effects of positive and negative reinforcement in speech therapy. Children in the negative reinforcement group were majorly criticized, which led to psychological and emotional distress. The stress and anxiety caused a development in speech issues for some participants despite speaking normally before the experiment. The experiment was originally hidden and then later uncovered in 2001. Some of the key ethical violations highlighted in this experiment was lack of informed consent and psychological harm.