> -----Original Message----- > From: Mike Palij [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[snip entire context to make this more mysterious] > Then again, how many topics in psychology fall into the "Holy War" > category? > > > I don't know that it would happen in history, but I could certainly > > see it happening in psychology: If anyone can come along, > believing > > him- or herself possessed of True Knowledge about the > subject, change > > entries, I'm not sure it's worth the time. > > Well, which topics would inspire such zeal and persistence, > outside of the Memory issues I've pointed out above? The > validity of psychoanalysis? > ESP? Perhaps we should reconceptualize providing entries to > Wikipedia as being "teaching moments" but for a classroom > that involves the whole world. Wouldn't that make it worth > the effort? *I* think so, but then, I have tenure. I just wonder if the costs are worth the benefits. If there were some way to include work on wiki entries as part of one's work duties, I'd be all for it, and I would take it as a serious responsibility. So I do agree that in an ideal world it's absolutely worth the effort. Maybe you're right, too, that there aren't that many controversial topics out there that would inspire a great deal of zeal -- but judging by the misconceptions of the students in intro psych classes, there're plenty of false beliefs floating around out there. I wonder, though, if it isn't just those sorts of false beliefs that are going to inspire the most zeal and are most likely to be read by uninformed people? I'm thinking of things like ESP, facilitated communication, repression of traumatic memories, dissociative identity disorder, and like that: ideas with dubious empirical support (or none) but that people may be strongly motivated to believe. But I'll defer and start thinking about the high-school grade inflation thread.... Take care, m ------- "Whatever power the United States Constitution envisions for the Executive in its exchanges with other nations or with enemy organizations in times of conflict, it most assuredly envisions a role for all three branches when individual liberties are at stake." --- July 20,2006 US District Court for Northern California --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
