The experiment with electrodes in the brain
In the 1960s, Jose Manuel Rodriguez Delgado was a professor at Yale University who did the craziest experiments. He worked on mind manipulation, but unlike some of the others in this article, he did not resort to drugs. Instead, he preferred to use implanting electrodes into the brain. Considered a pioneer in brain implant technology, Delgado began his professional career in an era when no firm ethical standards existed, allowing him to conduct all manner of crazy experiments. It is known that in 1965 he managed to stop an attacking bull by means of a radio signal fed to an implant in his brain. The scientist also created a "stymo-receiver," a device on electrodes with which he could manipulate the brain, stimulating various emotions in both animals and humans.
Unfortunately, when Delgado actually tested his device on humans, the results were not at all satisfactory. Over the years of research, Delgado installed his stimulators in the brains of about 25 people, mostly schizophrenics and epileptics at the State Hospital for Mental Illness in Howard, Rhode Island. It was as ethical as circumstances allowed, since everyone who received the implant saw it as a last resort, slightly more humane than the lobotomy offered as an alternative. Nevertheless, the pacemaker proved to be an unreliable tool for the human brain. Although Delgado could affect patients' levels of aggression and even induce uncontrollable movements in their limbs, he was (perhaps fortunately) unable to play the human brain like a violin. Some, mostly calm patients, became agitated and began to flirt with the researchers. Some became happy and chatty, but the results were not permanent. In one case, a perfectly calm patient suddenly became angry after her temporal lobe was stimulated.
"Monster Study" - "Monster Experiment"
This study, originally conducted in 1939, had no such name. The sole purpose of the experiment was to study stuttering and other speech problems, but the cruel methods of Dr. Wendell Johnson and his staff earned the experiment that nickname when the world learned of it in 2001. Dr. Johnson had a theory that stuttering was caused by value judgments and could be artificially produced in children. To this end, he took 22 children from an orphanage and divided them into two groups.
The control group was treated as normal children. The 11 children in the other group were treated badly. For six months Johnson and his staff constantly berated, humiliated, and harassed the children about their speech disorders, even though only half of them showed any signs of stuttering. This negative attitude had no real cause, but as a result many of the children became extremely sensitive about their speech, experienced a loss of self-esteem, and developed psychological problems for the rest of their lives. Perhaps the University of Iowa was aware of the enormous ethical problems of this experiment and that is why it kept it a secret for decades, until one of Johnson's subordinates told the story to newspapers in 2001. The university then issued an apology, and the state settled the inevitable lawsuits from the survivors, paying them $925,000 in compensation. The $925,000 was paid to each of them.
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