An expert suggests that psychological experiments conducted at Harvard University on a young Ted Kaczynski may have contributed to his later actions as the Unabomber. Kaczynski, aged 16 when he enrolled at Harvard in 1958, participated in a three-year study led by psychologist Henry A.
Murray. This experiment involved students writing essays on their personal philosophies, followed by being subjected to intense, personally abusive interrogations while wired to electrodes.
The study's purpose was to explore interrogation techniques for national security agents. Participants were not fully informed about the experiment's nature.
Dr. Ann Wolbert Burgess, a pioneer in the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, stated that Kaczynski, being young and vulnerable, was likely affected by the demeaning treatment, which violated modern ethical standards even though it did not contravene conduct codes of the time.
While Murray's research did not technically violate any rules then, Burgess argues that such experiments cannot be harmful and that devaluing students' academic pursuits during a critical developmental period was injurious. Investigators later focused on these experiments after Kaczynski was identified as the Unabomber, responsible for three deaths and 23 injuries.
His defense attorneys at the time argued that the experiments affected his thinking, a possibility that remains a subject of speculation. Kaczynski was arrested in 1996, pleaded guilty in 1998, and died in prison in 2023.
