Introduction
Although numerous methods are used nowadays to fight against the issues of discrimination, violence, and unequal rights, people cannot eliminate them completely. Many individuals continue to suffer merely because the color of their skin “is not right,” while the gender or other external characteristics of others make them “supreme.” Several decades ago, third-grade teacher Jane Elliott conducted a life-changing and somewhat controversial experiment, and its flow and effects are discussed in a documentary named A Class Divided.
Identifying the Stage of Piaget’s Development
Not only the age of the kids involved in the experiment but also specific traits of their behavior allow for the identification of the stage of development they are in. Thus, according to Cherry (2022), the children in the video are in the concrete operational stage of cognitive development. Most kids in the video demonstrate better logical and advanced thinking (Cherry, 2022). For example, they easily understand the logic of some statements related to “slow thinking” or other traits of those with a certain eye color (Frontline PBS, 2019). These children also have the skills of reversibility, sociocentrism, and observation. In other words, they can accept the existence of different views and the fact that some actions they take can be reversed.
Learned Helplessness and Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Next, in this video, one can see how the kids base their behavior on the concepts of learned helplessness and self-fulfilling prophecy. For instance, a child claims: “The way they treated you, you felt like you didn’t even want to try to do anything” (Frontline PBS, 2019, 00:07:19-00:07:24). This statement demonstrates the low motivation of the children with the “wrong color eyes” (Frontline PBS, 2019). They learn and accept the fact that they are slower, sillier, worse, and underprivileged and begin to act accordingly, showing how helpless they are. These kids merely agree with a poorly argued idea and do not even try to prove that they are not worse than their classmates with a different eye color.
The Children’s Self-Esteem
During the two days of the experiment, the kids’ self-esteem was affected quite differently. It became either severely lower or much higher depending on whether the color of their eyes was claimed to be good or bad. Thus, a child notices: “It seems like when we were down on the bottom, everything bad was happening to us” (Frontline PBS, 2019, 00:07:25-00:07:30). Indeed, this statement shows that a group of brown-eyed kids felt awful on the first day, but their self-esteem improved greatly on the next day. They heard bad or good facts about themselves and allowed such judgmental phrases to affect how they perceived themselves.
The Children’s Test Scores
An unexpected effect of the experiment can be noticed in the student’s academic performance. Thus, Ms. Elliott states: “Almost without exception, the students’ scores go up on the day they’re on the top, down the day they’re on the bottom, and then maintain a higher level for the rest of the year” (Frontline PBS, 2019, 00:26:55-00:27:07). The reason why the kids performed better or worse was in their perception of their skills and abilities. If they were told they were supreme and smarter than their classmates, the kids believed in this statement and acted accordingly. However, if they were assured that their eye color meant they were stupid, these children did not have the motivation or determination to put in the effort. After the experiment, students learned that their external traits were unimportant and they all were worthy and great, which gave them the energy to perform better.
Explaining the Children’s and Adults’ Behavior
It is possible to apply Piaget’s theory to explain the differences between the behavior of adults and children in the video. Firstly, since they are not in the same stage of development, the third-graders and the prison system employees had varied attitudes during the experiment (Cherry, 2022). Thus, the adults in the “group of supremacy” were asked to cooperate and discriminate against the other group because they would unlikely do that if not warned before the experiment (Frontline PBS, 2019). What is more, the blue-eyed people did not accept the fact that they were worse than the brown-eyed people, and some tried to oppose Elliott’s statements. On the contrary, the children accepted their teacher’s claims as a universal truth and acted according to her judgment (Frontline PBS, 2019). This difference demonstrates how adults in the fourth stage of development have more enhanced logical thinking.
Applying a Theory of Personality
Several personality theories can be applied to the experiment, and one is Eysenck’s theory. According to Eysenck, based on people’s inherent nervous system, their actions can be assessed in accordance with two dimensions: Neuroticism / Stability and Introversion / Extroversion (McLeod, 2021). For example, some children reacted calmer and did not show any aggression towards others or Elliott herself. They did not openly support or oppose her actions, and these kids are likely to be introverts with stable nervous systems. Similarly, there were those who reacted violently during the experiment, teasing others or expressing dissatisfaction. These kids can be called extroverts and are most likely high in neuroticism.
Conclusion
To conclude, the experiment conducted by Jane Elliott is an invaluable study that demonstrates children’s and adults’ reactions to hurting others and being hurt by them. This experiment shows how discrimination relates to learned helplessness, self-fulfilling prophecy, and self-esteem. When assured of being unworthy, stupid, or worse than others, many accept this claim as true and do not strive to act positively. However, when learning how one feels in such situations, many people reevaluate their actions and become more tolerant and welcoming toward others.
References
Cherry, K. (2022). Piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive development explained. Verywell Mind. Web.
Frontline PBS. (2019). A class divided (full documentary) [Video]. YouTube. Web.
McLeod, S. (2021). Theories of personality. Simply Psychology. Web.