On Sat, 2 Feb 2002, Jeff Bartel wrote: > > > According to Rymer (1993), Psamtik I was an Egyptian king in the 7th century > B.C. who desired to know which language was the origin of all others. As > Gary noted, to test this, he used an experiment: > > two infants were taken from their mothers at birth and placed in the > isolation of a shepherd's hut. The shepherd was instructed not to speak > to them. They were reared thus on a diet of goat's milk and silence until > one day two years later <snip> > > In addition to the obvious ethical issues to which Gary alluded, there are > also a few methodological problems students might be able to pick out.
Not only that but Herodotus, who seems to be the source of the story, had a reputation for a certain flexibility with the truth in his publications, peer review not being what it is now. But returning to our original thread, if this story provides support for the claim that the Egyptians invented psychology and the scientific experiment, doesn't it also support the claim that they invented child abuse and unethical treatment of subjects? -Stephen ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at: http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
