Hey, Stephen -- I found a link to that early this morning, and was astonished. I like to think I know the sound of a Strad in the hands of a maestro, but really wonder: would I have stopped? I know that several times when I lived in Brooklyn I heard someone playing in the subway and stopped in awe -- some of them are truly accomplished -- but I wonder: what if I had been late? What if I had been distracted by something at work, at home? I have waited through several trains many times just to keep listening to a street musician -- but if it meant missing my connection in Penn Sta, I probably would not have stopped -- but I would have thought about it all day.
I'm not sure the writers got the right message; I don't think it's so much about people not recognizing things when out of context. I think it's more an illustration of the power of the situation. Note the man who had three minutes to spare; note the kid who was not in a hurry (although the mother was). All in all, though, a very provocative article. m ------ "There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about." -- Margaret Wheatley -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 11:04 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] A psychological experiment, possibly profound Forget religion. Um, sorry, Jim Guinee, I only meant forget arguing about it on TIPS, at least for a while. Try this one instead. It's a long article but provocative, and I think it merits a full reading from start to finish. There are three short videos interspersed within the text. I suggest you watch the first two of them (not the third) before moving on to the text, so you can get an idea of your own reaction before you find out what's going on. The headlines at the start are admittedly difficult to avoid, though. I use the term "experiment" not in the sense in which it's usually taught in psychology, as a study involving randomized assignment of subjects to groups, but in the more general sense of a systematic investigation of a particular issue. Such as the Stanford prison experiment, or Milgram's obedience experiment. http://tinyurl.com/2273gm And I thank my googly daughter for drawing this one to my attention. [Googly: noun. A bowled ball that swerves in one direction and breaks in the other.] Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Department of Psychology Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 0C8 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang= english --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
