I've been reading Tavris and Aronson's (2007) _Mistakes were Made (but Not by Me)_, a book which could be called _Cognitive Dissonance for Dummies_ (and I don't mean that disparagingly).
Towards the end of the book (p. 227), they refer to a "young psychotherapist" posting on an "online discussion for psychologists working in the field of trauma research". In response to the criticisms of his on-line colleagues, the therapist admits that he may have been mistaken in his enthusiasm for a new therapy, noting "I used my own practice as validation and allowed my thrill to overtake my critical thinking". Surprisingly, the reference given is to a post to us (that is, TIPS) despite the inaccurate description of our group. The date is given as May 1, 2003. Out of curiosity, I tried to retrieve this post from the archives (http://www.mail-archive.com/tips%40acsun.frostburg.edu/) to see who it was who reduced his cognitive dissonance in this uncommon way. No luck. So I wonder if anyone else can locate it, or perhaps remembers who it was who posted that message of humility gained. As an aside, I note that TIPS remains difficult to find. If someone tried to find us on the basis of Tavris and Aronson's mention, a google would take them only to a broken link. Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [email protected] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
