Beth and others- Thanks for your caring thoughts re: the family's losses. I fear also that many of us are living in the 1950s in terms of understanding human behavior- not least of all those reporting the news- but more, I fear our legislators are as well. It seems likely we'll get another easy answer that does nothing to help those with mental problems. There are so many tragedies here! Stay close to those you love and I hope you all have a very happy Holidays (and a Merry Christmas tomorrow - if you are so inclined). :) Tim _______________________________ Timothy O. Shearon, PhD Professor, Department of Psychology The College of Idaho Caldwell, ID 83605 email: [email protected]
teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and systems "You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." Dorothy Parker ________________________________________ From: Beth Benoit [[email protected]] Sent: Monday, December 24, 2012 9:23 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] the 27th and 28th victims in Newtown I am also very annoyed by people saying there must have been something the parents - particularly the mother - were doing wrong to make Adam behave as he did. It sounds like the mother was known to be a caring, kind and generous person. NOT someone with a lack of affect, isolation and withdrawal of attention, lack of meaningful supervision, etc. We know a lot about behavior and mental illness that don't have causes rooted in the person's homelife. In hindsight, of course, the gun ownership was a bad thing, but reading about the boy's extreme social withdrawal, it may have been the only thing she could do with him that he enjoyed doing with her - going to a shooting range. And knowing how socially withdrawn he was, the idea of him going out and doing what he did probably never occurred to her. Whatever the background information, I'm still stunned that so many people still sound like we're living in the 1950's, when everything was Mommy's fault. Beth Benoit Granite State College Plymouth State University New Hampshire On Mon, Dec 24, 2012 at 11:09 AM, Carol DeVolder <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: But still, to Beth's point, a mother and her son were also lost. The son--to what terrible cause? The mother, simply by being. There are people who will miss them. At the least, a father, brother, son. As terrible as it is for the 26 others, and it IS unimaginably terrible--it is also terrible for the shooter's family. They must be having a very hard time in the face of unspeakable guilt (which is probably quite unwarrented but there anyway). There were 28 losses to mourn. Carol On Mon, Dec 24, 2012 at 9:29 AM, Paul Brandon <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: You might also discuss why a hundred times as many people are killed in car crashes as in plane crashes, but plane crashes get more publicity. On Dec 24, 2012, at 8:26 AM, Mike Palij wrote: > Cullen's main point is that in situations like Columbine and Newtown, most > of the initial information about what happened is just wrong. As the Guardian > article above points out, journalistic rules get tossed and "gossip" serves as > "news". What actually happened in Columbine or Newtown or Aurora or > other places involving gun violence takes a long time to figure out as well > as getting the details right. But an "infotainment"-driven news media has > no patience for such things because it works in "news cycles", that is, > limited > time periods that can be devoted to one story until the next big story > appears. > > In my methods class, I point out that when an airplane crashes the National > Transportation Safety Board (in the U.S.) it usually take 18-24 months for > them to conduct an investigation, reach conclusions, and present their report > for why the crash occurred. Sometimes the reasons are clear, sometimes no > definitive conclusion can be reached, and all the other incidents fall > somewhere > in between. But the news media may only spend a couple or few days on > a plain crash, depending upon spectacular or newsworthy it is considered, > and people will learn and remember what they heard on these broadcasts and > NOT on the report that is issued maybe two years later. People will think > that > they know what happened but this is just the illusion of knowledge. We should > not be surprised that similar things happen to other big news stories like > mass > shootings. People have their own lives to live and unless they are directly > involved in the incidents will not really care to get the story straight > (i.e., do > the hard work of following up what is learned and ultimately concluded). Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=177920.a45340211ac7929163a0216244443341&n=T&l=tips&o=22546 or send a blank email to leave-22546-177920.a45340211ac7929163a0216244443...@fsulist.frostburg.edu<mailto:leave-22546-177920.a45340211ac7929163a0216244443...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> -- Carol DeVolder, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology St. Ambrose University 518 West Locust Street Davenport, Iowa 52803 563-333-6482<tel:563-333-6482> --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. 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