The most shocking thing about your story is that someone at the newspaper
actually knew to call a psychologist on something like this. Was this one of
your graduates? I think most times the media would be more likely to call
Ghostbusters than a psychologist when people think they see something.
Rick
Dr. Richard L. Froman
Psychology Department
John Brown University
Siloam Springs, AR 72761
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
phone and voice mail: (501)524-7295
http://www.jbu.edu/sbs/psych/froman.htm
-----Original Message-----
From: Gerald Peterson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 3:24 PM
To: tips
Subject: seeing satan
Got a call from a local newspaper regarding them showing a picture
of
the WTC tower going down in a plume of smoke. Apparently, people are
calling them about seeing the face of satan in the plumes. Good
opportunities to talk about memory, emotional context, expectancy,
pattern-seeking, etc. If you find such a picture, you could show it to
your class and have half told what people are seeing and the other half
not informed. Nice class activity methinks. Anyone else hearing about
such "sightings"? Also are opportunities to talk about aspects of
sympathy, emotional contagion, volunteers, altruism, etc. Gary
Peterson, Saginaw Valley State
