This is starting to sound like Dr. Laura's complaints
against the child sexual abuse article:
"Those studies of child sexual abuse and self-esteem
are meaningless because they're based on self-reports!"
Uhhhh....how else do you measure self-esteem?
> Again, a lot of reliance on self report without direct validation.
> We do not _know_, in fact, what the effect of pledging is on
> the subjects'
> future behaviors.
So, in order to evaluate the effect of pledging, self-reports
are meaningless and we need "direct validation."
I think you mentioned random physical exams in another post.
Might work for females, but what about males? And how will
we obtain truly random physical exams?
I don't think it's likely that such direct validation will
ever happen (if it's even possible).
Since self-reports are meaningless I guess we're stuck with no
evidence either way; and without evidence we go back to screaming
arguments based on religious/political/emotional beliefs.
May the loudest person win!
TT
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Thomas A. Timmerman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Psychology Department
Austin Peay State University
Clarksville, TN 37044
931-221-1248
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