Monster Study

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For six months, Mary Nixon and 10 other orphans were relentlessly belittled for every little imperfection in their speech to test the theory that children become stutterers because of psychological pressure.

Sixty-four years later, the experience still stings.

Nixon, now 76, and some of the other test subjects sued the University of Iowa earlier this year over lifelong psychological problems they say stem in part from the 1939 experiment.

The case has not only thrown a spotlight on an experiment some participants bitterly call the ”Monster Study,” it has also illustrated the way research ethics have evolved over the years.

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