---- Original message ---- >Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2008 17:04:24 -0700 >From: "Shearon, Tim" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: not RE: [tips] Two failures - a tangent and a "I wish we didn't >believe it" >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > >That reminds me of a well known psychological hypothesis I >wish would vanish!! The profile or characteristic >background of the campus shooter- that "We could have seen >it coming". Even after it was pretty clear that this young >man had friends, a good family, no violent history, etc. >and violated the mythic profile, the press had to find >something to fit the theory (off his meds, a time in an >institution, etc- see the crazies are dangerous!!). >Ooouuuuuhhhhh. I was livid. That takes us back to K&T I >guess- confirmatory bias. Sad. Also, I think, it >illustrates how such erroneous theories and belief in them >can hide us inside a convenient mis-perception.
To some extent there is also the public's extreme desire to have an answer or reason for everything, even when there is really isn't one. This relates to the recent serious outbreak of measles in San Diego (six children died in a similar outbreak in 1991)--parents are not vacinating their kids for fear the will become autistic--there MUST be a reason for why we are having this "autism epidemic" and there well might be--but probably not from vaccinations. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
