Wendell Johnson

Wendell Johnson (1906 – 1965) was an American psychologist, speech pathologist and author and was a proponent of General Semantics (or GS).

Related Topics:
American - General Semantics

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His book Living With Change, a collection of various pieces he wrote over many years, is a good introduction to GS.

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He was born in Kansas, and died in Iowa.

Related Topics:
Kansas - Iowa

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One of his main areas of interest was the cause of stuttering, and he was convinced stuttering was brought on by psychological pressure. In pursuit of answering this question, in 1939 Dr. Johnson came up with an experiment. 22 orphans were separated into two groups: The first group were labeled as "Normal Speakers" and given positive speech therapy. The second group were labeled "Defective" and subjected to harassment, haranguing, and generally belittled for their speech patterns. The first group developed normal speech abilities. The second group developed stutters. The results were published and helped to bolster the professional reputation of the scientist and enabling all of his grad student assistants to receive their advanced degrees. Half of the test subjects suffered lifelong psychological damage in the form of speech defects.

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Patricia Zebrowski, University of Iowa assistant professor of speech pathology and audiology, notes, "The body of data that resulted from Johnson's work on children who stutter and their parents is still the largest collection of scientific information on the subject of stuttering onset. Although new work has determined that children who stutter are doing something different in their speech production than non-stutterers, Johnson was the first to talk about the importance of a stutterer's thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. We still don't know what causes stuttering, but the 'Iowa' way of approaching study and treatment is still heavily influenced by Johnson, but with an added emphasis on speech production."

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After a report appeared in the San Jose Mercury News in 2001, Iowa University issued a statement regretting what had happened 60 years before, saying they had taken steps to ensure "experiments of this nature cannot happen again." When the orphans began their efforts to seek justice in the courts, even those who might be termed advocates cautioned the study be viewed in an historical context. Jane Fraser, president of the Stuttering Foundation, said, "I don't think anybody today likes the idea of seeing orphans, children, used that way... it's really important to keep things in historical perspective."

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The published results are often referred to as The Monster Report.

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