Jane Elliott's Experiment Summary

The use of labels in Jane Elliott’s exercise influenced the self-concepts and the self-esteems of the children in a dramatic way. In regard to the self-concepts of the children in this experiment, all of the kids perceptions of themselves did not remain stable once Elliott used labels to separate the worthiness of each child. When Elliott put a positive label on some of the students, their self-concept of themselves stayed relatively the same. These kids felt happy and confident in themselves. But when the kids in the minority group were given a negative label, their self-concept destabilized. These children were not confident in their actions. In regards to the self-esteems of the children, labels had a similar effect. The self-concepts and

In one example, a child in the minority group put his head against his desk and would not even look up at his teacher and the other kids. Social comparisons contributed to the great divide between the two groups. The majority group, which was told they were superior, had a positive experience when they compared themselves to the minority group. On the other hand, the minority group felt insignificant compared to the majority group. Social comparisons could be seen even before the experiment started as the students felt that black people in America were treated worse than white people. Contingencies of self-worth is explained as how one’s self-esteem is affected by social comparisons to others. As kids in the minority group compared themselves to other kids in the majority group, their self-esteem became lower. Kids in the majority group reacted in the exact opposite

Distorted perceptions, when a person’s vision of something is not accurate, was clearly seen in how the children in the two contrasting groups interacted with one another. Elliott talked about how black people are treated unequally than white people in the United States. Next, when the children were assigned to act out the way black people are discriminated against in America, the majority group both time acted in an ignorant way to the minority group. They viewed the group wearing the brown collars as lesser even though they were the same. This showed that these kids based their perceptions off of physical attributes such as skin color, or in this case, eye color.

D. I believe that Jane Elliott succeeded in her experiment to educate her students about the negative effects of discrimination and need for empathy when dealing with other people from various backgrounds. I also think that it can gradually disappear by talking about it. Ignoring this issue will only make it worse. It affected these kids within minutes, what can a lifetime do to a human being? These kids clearly learned a valuable lesson about why it is necessary to act with respect when talking to or about any