The Blue Eyes vs. Brown Eyes Experiment in Social Psychology

The Blue Eyes vs. Brown Eyes experiment was conducted by Jane Elliot to eliminate racism in America. The experiment involved dividing students into two groups based on the color of their eyes and marking one group as inferior. The experiment showed the effects of discrimination on behavior and attitude, and the concept of group polarization. This article discusses the experiment and its implications in social psychology.

Running head: THE BLUE EYES VS. BROWN EYES EXPERIMENT
The Blue Eyes vs. Brown Eyes Experiment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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THE BLUE EYES VS. BROWN EYES EXPERIMENT
Social psychology is a scientific study that defines the process by which the thought,
feelings and behaviour of the people changes in the presence of other persons. Jane Elliot
pioneered the experiment in order to respond to the assassination of Martin Luther Junior, which
took place around thirty years ago. The famous experiment “The Blue eyes vs. the Brown eyes”.
marks the participants as inferior or superior based only upon the colour of their eyes. The
experiment was conducted to eliminate the problem of racism prevalent during that time in
America. When a person or group is discriminated that group does not discriminate others.
Jane Elliot, a primary school teacher, prepared the exercise while teaching a class of
students who were eight years of age. While teaching the students, one of the students asked her
about the death of the Dr. Martin Luther King. The teacher was thinking about the way to
explain the event to her students and ended up preparing the exercise. She divided the students
into two groups – the blue eyed and the brown eyed. She told the students that the blue eyed
people are not as good as the brown eyed people. In order to provide a scientific explanation to
the students she stated that the brown eyed people had more melanin which makes them smarter
and more hard-working.
The blue eyed students were separated from the other students and were given extra time
as their recess. Every one of them gave their own explanations. When the blue eyed students
were asked to consume their drinks using paper cups the other students opposed against them
and stereotyped that the former would be infecting the whole class. The group of students having
brown eyes decided to bully the other group. It was found that the blue eyed students were
banned by the brown eyed students and they also changed individually. The blue eyed students
forgot all the skills they possessed and the brown eyed students were found to be of very
dominative in nature. Elliot reversed the experiment the very next day in order to eliminate

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biasness or prejudice on the blue eyed students. She found that the situation of the class did not
completely change like the day before. Elliot went on to continue the experiment with the student
of the same ages for about a decade. She then performed the experiment with the students of the
middle school and the adults.
She had changed the form and structure of the group. She started to make the blue eyed
people the centre of the group. The brown eyed people were made to keep eyes and follow the
former. She stopped switching between the groups that faces degradation the second day of the
experiment, though it is not the case with the young children. In order to restore the self-esteem
and to put the class back in order Elliot switches between the groups of students.
The video shows the change of behaviour and attitude among the people when they are
discriminated on the basis of their appearance. Elliot was against the act of racism that was the
main problem in the United States of America at that time. Dr. Martin Luther King was
assassinated because of the practice of racism prevalent in the country. According to my view in
order to remove the concept of discrimination from the minds of the people, Elliot conducted the
experiment among the students. She did so to make them realize how one feels and to see the
change in the behaviour along with the level of aggression in the people when discriminated.
In the first case when the blue eyed students were discriminated, the brown eyed students
pointed at them and banned against them making the former feel inferior to the later. When the
opposite happened and the brown eyed students were discriminated, the blue eyed did not revolt
against them. I have observed that when a group of students is pointing out at the other, not even
a single student is opposing the members of the group, indicating group decision making or
group polarization. This was perhaps due to the fact that the blue eyed students developed some

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empathy towards their classmates. It can also be that the experiment was not repeated properly. I
think that the best way to make people realize the reactions and feelings of the others while being
discriminated is to put them into the shoes of the people who are being discriminated.
Group polarization is an important concept in social psychology. It involves the tendency
of a group to take decisions. The group as a whole takes the decision to overcome any situation.
The attitude of the group changes with the passage of time and realising certain issues. In this
case, when the brown eyed students stereotyped the blue eyed ones, the former was not
stereotyped. As the blue eyed students were discriminated they did not want their peers to face
the same situation. Both the groups had taken decision as a whole group but the decisions taken
by both the groups were different from each other.
I have found that the people are who have faced discrimination sometimes in their life is
less likely to perform the same action to the others as compared to the people who have faced
this dark side. I have noticed that the act of discriminating others is a behaviour that is learned at
a small pace of time. The person who has been or being discriminated is facing inferiority
complex and beginning to themselves incapable of other person in all respect.