----- Original Message ----- > Subject: Re: Things you can do with a psychology degree > From: Scott Lilienfeld <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 11:02:22 -0400 > X-Message-Number: 16 > > As a teen, Bundy was shy and sensitive. At a Seattle crisis center, he > counseled the depressed, the alcoholic, the suicidal. He graduated with > a University of Washington in 1972, [I made some spelling/gammar corrections in the text above -- no points taken off ;-) ]
> ......University educated serial sex killer whose good looks and charm > enabled him to lure at least 30 young women to their deaths. Handsome, > intelligent, socially recognized, Ted Bundy had been a law student, Boy > Scout, a college degree with a major in psychology, involved in a > Washington State party politics, and even served as a counselor at the > Seattle Crisis Center. The public personality of Ted Bundy suggested > nothing of the serial killer he truly was. I had read a few books on Bundy about a decade or so ago and there were a couple of things that stand out in my memory (unless these are now false memories): (1) Bundy was a member of the UW campus' "Young Republicans". When I had read that and thought about some of the people who I had known as "Young Republicans" (both in high school and college -- this was a long, long time ago during the Nixon era), I wasn't surprised. The YRs I had known/been exposed to were somewhat fanatical (e.g., expressing a desire to nuke Vietnam to win that war), were proud of political "dirty tricks", had a great interest in guns (which was somewhat wierd given that these were White NYC youths who didn't go game hunting, and the kinds of guns they were interested wouldn't be used for hunting), and they thought that the kind of political assasination currently recommended by Pat Robinson for the President of Venezuela was a reasonable "tool" for dealing with "annoying people". I always wondered whether Bundy "felt at home" in such a group or whether he quickly tired of them because, unlike them, he wasn't "all talk and no action". (2) In one of the books (it may have been Robert Keppel's "The Riverman") there is a section from a letter of recommendation for Bundy (for either grad or law school) reprinted. My memory is that it was written by one of Bundy's psychology professors and it commended Bundy for his intelligence and good manners (so much for the claim that psych profs have any greater insight into who their students are). After that, in my own letters of reference for students, I have made sure to make the point that I know a student primarily/exclusively in a particular context, such as a classroom and/or research capacity and/or similar situations, and my comments should be reflective of the student's behavior only in these contexts. Bundy's case highlighted for me the point that students in an educational/research context may work hard to present a particular persona which may have little or nothing to do with what they're like outside of those contexts. I think it may be too easy for a professor or a research supervisor to make the fundamental attribution error and to think that they "really know" someone because they have spent time with them in a single or limited number of contexts. (Takeshi Miike's film "Audition" provides a very good if grisly example of how difficult it is know another person and how easy it is to think one knows someone else). Anyway, to return to the point of the thread and to end on an upbeat note: John Ritter, star of "Three's Company" & "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" is identified as having been a psychology major (see his CNN obituary: http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/12/ritter.obit/ ) Natalie Portman, was a psychology major at Harvard (see: http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800020300&cf=biog&intl=us ) I guess that this might mean that a psychology degree might prepare one for being a Queen in galaxy far, far away. ;-) Another point: though famous psychology majors seem to have been drawn into the entertainment field (with the odd serial killer here and there), it may be difficult to argue that a psych major really prepares one for this area because major actors and performers have come from different major areas, as Kaplan test preparation so nicely tells us. (see: http://www.kaptest.com/repository/templates/ArticleInitDroplet.jhtml?_relPath=/repository/content/College/Apply_to_College/Special_Features/CO_life_ivies.html or http://tinyurl.com/dgxve ) Is the next offshoot from this thread "How many psych majors does it take to change a lightbulb?" or "Three psych majors walk into a bar... [complete the rest, 5 points, spelling and grammar count :-)]"? ;-) Mike Palij New York University [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ...Scott --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
