### Apollo BBS Archive - March 4 - 6, 1990

    Message: 63671
    Author: Jeff Beck
    Category: Answer!
    Subject: James H.
    Date: 03/05/90  Time: 00:38:16

    Remarkable touch of realism there, James.  Of course, I don't know of any
    hotels in Costa Rica with bars on every floor, or suites containing scaled
    down palm groves and complimentary strippers either, do you, hmmmmmmmm?

    Message: 63672
    Author: Jeff Beck
    Category: Answer!
    Subject: Whitney Clark/63622
    Date: 03/05/90  Time: 00:42:31

    I'm pretty sure there were four calling birds, not eleven.

    Message: 63673
    Author: Silly Putty
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: .
    Date: 03/05/90  Time: 04:11:39

    Here's a story for ye all, it concerns a man both fat and tall, a far away
    princess he did seek, to make this bride his soul to keep, In time she found
    him fine and good, he loved her much and she ate food, reading trash and
    watching soaps, she tossed out all this man's hopes, yet he did not give her
    the dump, in fact he found he liked her plump.

    Gradually she grew to an enormous size, too big for the average eyes, even
    fatter than a mule, she grew too fat for a pool, now this was getting out of
    hand, she was taking up too much land! In confusion our man thought, "What
    if I had the princess shot?" Then he had his servant buy a gun, he was
    looking forward to some fun, A point-blank bullet between the eyes, ended
    the cellulite in her thighs, lunch was over for princess chunk, so the
    widower threw out all her junk, smiling he found a skinny sexy waif, a
    can-a-day and he knew he'd be safe.

    Message: 63674
    Author: $ Ann Oudin
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: Bobby
    Date: 03/05/90  Time: 07:49:43

    Where the heck have you been anyway? You've been missed. -=*) ANN (*=-

    Message: 63675
    Author: $ Ann Oudin
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: Bob on bear
    Date: 03/05/90  Time: 07:50:34

    I don't know about your bear, but mine was alive. He talked to me too. He
    was my true friend. -=*) ANN (*=-

    Message: 63676
    Author: $ Melissa Dee
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: Camping
    Date: 03/05/90  Time: 09:38:13

    Hey, it's national camping week.
    Go out there and DO Arizona.

    Message: 63677
    Author: Hans Glans
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: last
    Date: 03/05/90  Time: 10:03:30

    That will take a lot of effort, wouldn't you say?

    Message: 63679
    Author: $ Shirley Bear
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: ANN & BOB/Bears
    Date: 03/05/90  Time: 12:06:45

    I agree with you Annie.  I collect Bears and they are all alive and talk
    to me.   Uh, Yes they do.      So there Bob...
                                   ***** Shirley *****
    P.S. In fact they (my Bears) are what keep me ?sane!!!!!

    Message: 63680
    Author: $ Beauregard Dog
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: JT on Costa Rica
    Date: 03/05/90  Time: 14:09:04

    Sounds like PJ O'Rourke ...

    Message: 63681
    Author: $ Daryl Westfall
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: Taranto / 63656
    Date: 03/05/90  Time: 22:26:49

    Better than you'll ever be
    *smirk*

    Message: 63682
    Author: $ James Hawley
    Category: Answer!
    Subject: Adkins
    Date: 03/05/90  Time: 23:34:54

    A bar on every floor?  Probably.  Stripers?  Yes.  Complimentary, I doubt
    it.  Perhaps I just haven't seen enough.

    Are you sure you're not talking about New Orleans?

    Message: 63683
    Author: Jeff Beck
    Category: Question?
    Subject: James H.
    Date: 03/06/90  Time: 02:29:15

    If I used the term lexiphanic, would it be hypocritical or merely
    self-referential?

    Message: 63684
    Author: Jeff Beck
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: Beau Dog
    Date: 03/06/90  Time: 02:34:11

    It does a bit, doesn't it?  Would you believe Stanislaw Lem?

    P.S. Know any good Syrian checkpoint jokes?

    Message: 63685
    Author: Jeff Beck
    Category: Answer!
    Subject: (F)ill Command
    Date: 03/06/90  Time: 02:58:44

    Not very effective: the inappropriate capitals make the secret message
    obvious, even though they do not hold the initial positions in each line as
    I assume they originally did.

    BTW, perhaps I have become hopelessly jaded, but I fail to see what's so
    shocking about the concealed message.  In fact, it's rather amusing in its
    childish way.

    Message: 63686
    Author: $ Apollo SYSOP
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: last
    Date: 03/06/90  Time: 03:08:00

    Okay... keen eye there Mr Beck.   I have fixed the CAPs.

            The reason is some people find posts like that trashy and are
    offended.   There is no reason to have them on the PUBlic board.
            You can't please ALL the people ALL the time.... sigh! (tm)

    However, for people that are not offended by such things, we do have the
    COSmos SIG where you may express such thoughts....  And Mr Beck, I would be
    more then pleased to have you as a $tatus user so you may access that sig
    and others.

    *=* the 'Mighty' Apollo SYSOP *=*

    Message: 63687
    Author: $ Paul Savage
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: Shirley/bears
    Date: 03/06/90  Time: 05:16:40

     You keep BEARS? And I used to think that German Shepherds were hard to
    clean up after!

    Message: 63688
    Author: $ Shirley Bear
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: Paul/Bears
    Date: 03/06/90  Time: 11:00:47

    Yes, Paul, Dear I keep/collect Bears.  Cute little cuddley soft stuffed
    Bears and they are no trouble at all.  In fact they are a joy.  And as I
    said they keep me ?sane.  You might like to meet my Bears sometime.  You
    might find them a delight to be around they all have their own little
    special look that tells something different about them.   Yes, Paul I
    relize that I have no doubt totally lost IT, but remember I have earned
    that right.

    Catch ya later.
                                  ***** Shirley Bear *****

    Message: 63689
    Author: Jeff Beck
    Category: Answer!
    Subject: Sysop
    Date: 03/06/90  Time: 21:32:25

    Good point.  There is a place for that sort of stuff, and that place is NOT
    the public board. (Gosh, I'm easily manipulated by flattery)

    Seriously though, this board is private property, and if you feel the need
    to prohibit such messages, you'll get no argument from me.  I have found
    that you are pretty liberal with the use of tetragrams and even sexually
    explicit language, when the message content is not purely frivolous, or
    designed primarily to annoy you.  I don't see it as a limit to free speech.

    Message: 63690
    Author: Jeff Beck
    Category: My Dinner with...
    Subject: Idiot Savants
    Date: 03/06/90  Time: 21:45:48

    From real clinical tales from the book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A
    Hat", by Oliver Sacks (Professor of Clinical Neurology at Albert Einstein
    College of Medicine):

    "...But what needs to be stressed -- and this is insufficiently remarked
    upon by their studiers, though perfectly obvious to a naive listener
    prepared to be amazed -- is the magnitude of the twins' memory, its
    apparently limitless extent, and with this the way in which memories are
    retrieved.  And if you ask them how they can hold so much in their minds --
    a three hundred figure digit, or the trillion events of four decades -- they
    say very simply, "We sit it."  And 'seeing' -- 'visualising' -- of
    extraordinary intensity, limitless range, and perfect fidelity, seems to be
    the key to this.  It seems a native physiological capacity of their
    minds . . . But there is no doubt, in my mind at least, that there is
    available to the twins a prodigious panorama, a sort of landscape or
    physiognomy, of all they have ever heard, or seen, or thought, or done, and
    in that blink of an eye, externally obvious as a brief rolling and fixation
    of the eyes, they are able (with the mind's eye) to retrieve and see nearly
    anything  that lies in this vast landscape . . . A box of matches on their
    table fell, and discharged its contents on the floor: "111," they both cried
    simultaneously; and then, in a murmur, John said "37".  Michael repeated
    this, John said it a third time and stopped.  I counted the matches -- it
    took me some time -- and there were 111.

    "How could you count the matches so quickly?" I asked.  "We didn't count,"
    they said, "We saw the 111" . . . "And why did you murmur '37' and repeat it
    three times," I asked the twins.  They said in unison, "'37,37,37,111".
    And this, if possible, I found even more puzzling.  That they should see
    111-ness in a flash was extraordinary . . . But then they had gone on to
    'factor' the number 111 -- without having any method, without even knowing
    (in the ordinary way) what factors meant.  Had I already not observed that
    they were incapable of the simplest calculations, and didn't "understand"
    (or seem to understand) what multiplication or division was?  Yet now,
    simultaneously, they had divided a compound number into three equal parts.
    "How did you work that out?" I said, rather hotly.  They indicated, as best
    they could, in poor, insufficient terms -- but perhaps there are no words to
    correspond to such things -- that they did not 'work it out', but just 'saw'
    it, in a flash.  John made a gesture with two outstretched fingers and a
    thumb, which seemed to indicate that they had spontaneously trisected the
    number, or that it came apart of its own accord, into these three equal
    parts, by a sort of spontaneous numerical fission.  They seemed surprised at
    my surprise -- as if I were somehow blind; and John's gesture conveyed an
    extraordinary sense of immediate, felt reality.  Is it possible, I asked
    myself, that they can somehow 'see' the properties, not in a conceptual,
    abstract way, but as qualities, felt, sensuous, in some immediate, concrete
    way?  And not simply isolated quantities -- like 111-ness -- but qualities
    of relationship?

    "...I thought about the matter, but it hardly bore thinking about.  And then
    I forgot it.  Forgot it until a second, spontaneous scene, a magical scene,
    which I blundered into, completely by chance..
    This second time they were in a corner together, with a mysterious, secret
    smile on their faces, a smile I had never seen before, enjoying the strange
    pleasure and peace they now seemed to have.  I crept up quietly, so as not
    to disturb them.  They seemed to be locked in a singular, purely numerical
    converse.  John would say a number -- a six figure number.  Michael would
    catch the number, nod, smile and seem to savor it.  Then he, in turn, would
    say another six figure number, and now it was John who received, and
    appreciatedly it richly.  They looked, at first, like two connoisseurs
    wine-tasting, sharing rare tastes, rare appreciations.  I sat still, unseen
    by them, mesmerised, bewildered.
    What were they doing?  What on earth was going on?  I could make nothing of
    it.  It was perhaps a sort of game, but it had a gravity and an intensity, a
    sort of serene and meditative and almost holy intensity, which I had never
    seen before in any ordinary game before, and which I certainly had never
    seen before in the usually agitated and distracted twins.  I contented
    myself with writing down the numbers they uttered -- the numbers that
    manifestly gave them such delight, and which they 'contemplated', savoured,
    shared, in communion.  -to be continued

    Message: 63693
    Author: Fonda Boyes
    Category: Answer!
    Subject: larry michaels
    Date: 03/07/90  Time: 02:56:53

    It seems to me that Mr. Michaels argument regarding value systems and
    brainwashing of children is one that is rooted in a person from a strong
    christian backround being that they, the christians, are always trying to
    pass the responsibility on someone else.  in the most general sense, they
    are always blaming satan for all the bad they do. I remember my catholic
    school teacher always yelling out loud: "away satan!" for the errors she
    made.  another one, sister lucia never admitted to making a mistake. Larry
    is basically saying the samething, it isn't his fault for being "what" he
    is, it is mommy and daddy's fault.  obviously this creates a vicious circle.
     Larry, can you tell me who brainwashed your mommy and daddy? and so on and
    so on and so on.  I empathize with you larry because i once blamed my
    parents for making me an idiot but I tried a little excercise which i would
    recommend to you:  say to yourself, three times and out loud: "it is my
    fault that i am an idiot!"  there is so much to learn from that.  Once, and
    you will be able to, accept it you will hopefully recognize who you are and
    why you are that person and then try and change yourself rather than sitting
    in a cesspool of crap with excuses like "mommy and daddy did it to me"
    Don't be afraid to accept responsibility for your own mistakes, it isn't so
    bad.  That not only goes for you but anyone else who uses that manipulative
    techniques of claiming; "it's not me!"  I do agree that parents should
    accept responsiblity for who their  children are, however, the child (what
    you see as a victim) and society also has to accept responsibility as well.
    It is society's responsibility to make sure that this "brainwashed" person
    doesn't harm anyone else. The child, through education and personal
    through education and personal growth will develop their own values.  How
    many times did you promise to never hit your kids after mommy and daddy beat
    you for doing something wrong? we have all done it and that is how we mold
    ourselves therefore if our kids grow up to be problems of society are we
    going to let them get away with the argument: "it is my mother and fathers
    fault that i am in jail, they never hit me for punishment, harsher
    discipline would have made me a better person!"  If you let this sort of
    argument permeate your emotional pouch then I give up. As parents, many do
    what they can and they shouldn't be punished for every mistake their
    children make especially when the child is older and taking away their
    allowance won't work very much anymore. it is my recommendation to these
    people who like to scream: "but my parents ..." is for them to become
    alcoholics because they can still blame something else, in this case the
    bottle, and yet still help the economy by buying alcohol with their dollar
    votes.  with all of this I have a couple of requests:  please don't blame me
    for any response you may give.  please don't tell me the other costs of
    alcoholism in this society (let me brush it off as a hypothetical example)
    and when writing your messages don't use phrases like "although in my mind
    and I suspect in yours too..." because their is always the creep like me who
    will show you that you are wrong.  More advice: if they did it to you then
    "brainwash" yourself out of any misery or find someone to "unbrainwash" you
    simply for the sakeof passing the responsibility to someone else, even if it
    is Big Brother or Geraldo Rivera! s

    Message: 63695
    Author: $ Paul Savage
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: Shirley/bears
    Date: 03/07/90  Time: 05:35:52

     I saw a Kodiak Grizzly bear a few weeks ago at the fairgrounds. He weighed
    somewhere around 1600 lbs. He didn't look very cuddly, even though he and
    his owner thought differently. Now you take his owner. THERE'S a man who has
    lost IT!

    Message: 63696
    Author: $ Roger Mann
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: Idiot Savants (cont)
    Date: 03/07/90  Time: 08:05:46

    Jeff, please continue. Fascinating story.

    Message: 63697
    Author: Hans Glans
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: Posts on Responsabil
    Date: 03/07/90  Time: 08:34:07

    No one wants to acknowledge the fact that consciously, and unconsciously,
    they choose how they want their life to be. All of it. This is a hard
    concept for most people to understand, because living up to the fact that
    some part of you chose what and where you are for you, even though, in your
    conscious thought, you don't want to be there.
    The spiritual part of all of it is that you choose what life to live. If you
    don't like it, you must choose to change it, not wait for some omniscient
    force to change it for you. You are all powerful within the confines of your
    own being.

    Message: 63698
    Author: $ Ann Oudin
    Category: Question?
    Subject: Cliff
    Date: 03/07/90  Time: 09:00:56

    What's happening here?? I dialed Apollo - LOTS of line noise and it
    connected! Do you have a new modem perhaps? Never has there been line noise
    have I connected! What a treat to not have to wait and wait for a clear
    sounding line. -=*) ANN (*=-

    Message: 63699
    Author: $ Apollo SYSOP
    Category: Answer!
    Subject: Ann on Modem
    Date: 03/07/90  Time: 09:50:37

            The NEW modem was installed yesterday afternoon (3/6/90).....
    Let me know if the problem you were having with yours connecting has gone
    away.

            Again, thank Hawley by golly, the Mobile Locksmith with a HEART.
    For lock problems such as a lock-out from your car, call 277-9595, and tell
    them you saw this ad on Apollo.... he will treat you right!

    *=* the 'Mighty' Apollo SYSOP *=*

    Message: 63700
    Author: $ Shirley Bear
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: Kodiak Bear
    Date: 03/07/90  Time: 11:05:42

    Yes, Paul that owner HAS LOST IT....  No doubt about it.  I just like the
    soft small to medium size, cuddly, stuffed Bears.  Maybe there is hope for
    me after all.  Maybe I haven't lost IT.
                                           ***** Shirley *****

    Message: 63701
    Author: $ Bob Thornburg
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: Annie
    Date: 03/07/90  Time: 13:50:16

    Re:  "Where the heck have you been anyway? You've been missed."

    My work has been keeping me busy.  Not to mention my kids and wife and a
    dozen other things.  I've been trying to log on at least every 2 to 3 days
    and do a zip download to read off line.  I miss you guys too.  (some of you!
     Ha!)

    Your Teddy bear talked to you?  I remember talking to my Teddy, but I don't
    remember him talking back.  He was indeed a comfort to me at times.  We
    bought each of our kids a nice bear when they were babies and put next to
    them in bed from the beginning.  Without exception, they all were quite
    attached to their bear.  They lost interest about the time they were in 1st
    grade.  Jon, the 4th son, developed an attachment to a blanket which we were
    able to convert to a diaper.  It was easy to give him a clean diaper every
    morning.  A clean blanket every morning is a little tougher.  I've seen some
    kids dragging around a blanket that looked like a breeding ground for dirt
    and germs.

    Re:  "I collect Bears and they are all alive and talk to me.   Uh, Yes they
    do.

    Who am I to argue?  I imagine that with the last name of "Bear", one could
    develop a close relationship with a Teddy that had the same last name.  :-)

    Message: 63702
    Author: $ Ann Oudin
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: Cliff
    Date: 03/07/90  Time: 15:13:51

    Yes! Absolutely yes - my line noise problem has gone away. I logged on twice
    today - there was line noise and it still conntected. Hoorah!! Thanks.
                              -=*) ANN (*=-

    Message: 63703
    Author: $ Zak Woodruff
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: Jeff Beck on PSYCH
    Date: 03/07/90  Time: 16:02:25

         It's interesting that a guy who contends that psychology is totally
    non-scientific would fill three messages with excerpts from a book by a
    clinical neurologist.

    Message: 63704
    Author: $ Zak Woodruff
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: Oliver Sacks
    Date: 03/07/90  Time: 16:09:14

    [from _The Clothes Have No Emperor_ by Paul Slansky.]

    4/6/86 -- Oliver Sacks' _The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat_, an
    examination of bizarre neurological disorders, begins a 26-week run on the
    *Times* best-seller list.  One highlight is an account of oppositely
    impaired patients -- aphasiacs who can't understand spoken words, but do
    take in information from extraverbal cues, and tonal agnosiacs who
    understand the actual words, but miss their emotional content -- watching a
    speech by President Reagan.
         "It was the grimaces, the histrionisms, the false gestures and, above
    all, the false tones and cadences of the voice," writes Sacks, which caused
    the word-deaf aphasiacs to laugh hysterically at the Great Communicator,
    while one agnosiac, relying entirely on the actual words, sat in stony
    silence, concluding that "he is not cogent...his word-use is improper" and
    suspecting that "he has something to conceal."
         "Here then," writes Sacks, "was the paradox of the President's speech.
    We normals -- aided, doubtless, by our wish to be fooled, were indeed well
    and truly fooled...And so cunningly was deceptive word-use combined with
    deceptive tone, that only the brain-damaged remained intact, undeceived."

         I contend that Jeff Beck's assertions about psychology are wrong.  When
    Jeff says "You cannot deduce thought or emotion from behavior," and "You
    can't tell what I am feeling when I smile, frown, ejaculate, or whatever,"
    he is missing the whole point.
         It's not easy for me to argue, because my knowledge of psychology is
    nothing more than the basics, but I do have a strong belief that there is
    more to psychology than quackery, and that scientific methods and valuable
    research are intregral components in the world of psychology.
         But enough of what I think.  Here are a few excerpts from a
    college-level introductory textbook, _Psychology_, by David G. Myers.

         Psychology is a young discipline, with roots in many disciplines, from
    physiology to philosophy.
         With current research that ranges from recording nerve cell activity to
    studying the effects of psychotherapy, and with prspectives that range from
    basic science to philosophy, psychology is a difficult field to define.  In
    its early years, psychology was defined as the science of mental life.  Its
    major focus was on the *internal* ("covert") experiences of consciousness --
    sensations, feelings, and thoughts.  Psychologists of this era therefore
    relied upon people's reports of their conscious experiences in response to
    various stimuli.  Then, from about 1920 to 1960, American psychologists
    redefined psychology as the science of *behavior*.  After all, they said,
    science is rooted in observation.  You cannot observe a sensation, a
    feeling, or a thought; but you *can* observe how people's *external*
    ("overt") behaviors are affected by external stimuli.
         Since the 1960s, psychology has recaptured its initial interest in
    conscious and unconscious mental processes.  Today, many psychologists study
    how our minds process and retain information.  To encompass psychology's
    historic concern with both internal and external factors, we can define
    PSYCHOLOGY as the science of behavior and mental processes.  The terms
    "behavior" and "mental processes" are meant to include just about every
    experience of humans and other animals -- experiences that the ancient Greek
    philosopher Aristotle (who has been called the first psychologist)
    indentified as growing, sensing, remembering, desiring, thinking, and
    reacting.

    ...Psychology's specialties:

    PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS -- psychologists who explore the links between
    biology and behavior.  Such psychologists study hereditary influences on
    behavior, investigate the influence of brain chemistry on our moods and
    behavior, and indentify the psychological functions of various regions of
    the brain.

    DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGISTS -- psychologists who study the processes of
    physical, mental, and social changes throughout the life cycle.  One group
    of developmental psychologists have used eye-tracking machines, pacifiers
    wired to electronic instruments, and other such devices to reveal the
    surprising abilities of newborn babies.  Other developmental psychologists
    study how young animals and humans become attached to their parents, and
    what happens when a closely attached parent and child are separated.  Other
    developmentalists debate which aspects of intelligence change as we age.

    EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGISTS -- research psychologists who study, among other
    things, sensation and perception, learning and memory, motivation and
    emotion.  Some experimental psychologists flash syllables, words, and faces
    on a screen to see how and how much people remember, and why they forget.
    Others study the elements of learning by teaching animals to perform simple
    acts.  Others present various problems to people and record the speed and
    accuracy of their responses to discover how the mind processes information.

    PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGISTS -- psychologists who study how
    individuals are influenced by enduring inner factors (personality
    psychology) and how they influence and are influenced by other people
    (social psychology).  Such psychologists might be found observing people in
    a variety of situations to see whether their behavior reflects a consistent
    personality or whether it varies, depending on the people they are with and
    the situation.

    CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS -- psychologists who study, assess, and treat people
    with psychological difficulties.  Along with training in psychological
    research and theory leading to a graduate degree such as the Ph.D., clinical
    psychologists also receive several years of training and supervision in
    assessing and assisting those with psychological disorders.  Unlike
    *psychiatrists*, who have earned an M.D. degree and only then undertake a
    residency in psychiatry, clinical psychologists do not diagnose physical
    causes of psychological disorders and prescribe drugs.  But they are trained
    to administer tests, provide psychotherapy, manage a mental health program,
    or do research and training.

    Within these subfields of psychology there are differing perspectives.  Each
    influences the question psychologists ask and the kind of information they
    consider important.
         The *biological perspective* helps us understand how the body and brain
    work to create emotions, memories, and sensory expriences.
         The *psychoanalytic perspective* assumes that behavior springs from
    unconscious drives and conflicts.
         The *behavioral prspective* is not concerned with our inner biology or
    emotions.  Rather, it studies the mechanisms by which observable responses
    are acquired and modified in particular environments.
         The *humanistic perspective* arose as a reaction against the
    psychoanalytic view, which tends to see people as driven by unconscious
    inner forces, and the behavioristic view, which sees people as shaped by our
    environemt.  Humanistic psychologists emphasize our capacities to choose our
    life patterns and to grow to higher levels of maturity and fullfillment.
    [Funny how this ties in with some of the current discussion.]  They
    therefore seek to understand behavior more subjectively, in terms of its
    meaning to the individual.
         The *cognitive perspective* explores how the mind processes, retains,
    and retrieves information.  *Cognition* refers to thinking and knowing, both
    of which are important as aspects of our experience and as determinants of
    our actions.

         The starting point of any science is careful observation that
    accurately describes events of interest.  In psychology, too, all evidence
    involves some type of observation of perceivable events.
         THE CASE STUDY METHOD -- Psychologists sometimes use a *case study*
    approach, in which individual cases are studied in great depth and detail
    and used to suggest what is true of us all.  Much of our early knowledge
    about the function of different brain regions came from case studies of
    individuals who had suffered damage to a particular region of the brain and
    also had suffered a particular impairment.  The great developmental
    psychologist, Jean Piaget, taught us a great deal about children's thinking
    through the careful questioning and observation of his own three children.
         THE SURVEY -- The *survey* method of observation studies more cases in
    less depth.
         NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION -- Another type of observation is
    *naturalistic observation*, which involves watching and recording the
    behavior of organisms in their natural environment.  It ranges from the
    study of chimpanzee societies in the jungle to observations of parent-child
    interactions in different cultures to observations of students' self-seating
    patterns in the lunchrooms of desegregated schools.
         EXPERIMENTS -- Experiments enable a researcher to focus on the possible
    effects of a single factor or two by holding constant those factors not
    being tested and manipulating the one or two being studied.  If behavior
    changes when the manipulated factor is varied, while everything else remains
    the same, then that factor is having an effect.

          Sorry for putting so much up, but I wanted to get it over with.  The
    point I'm trying to make is that psychology covers a wide range and conducts
    itself scientifically.  Excerpts from the first chapter of a very basic
    textbook are the least I could do to show this, and I could easily come up
    with specific examples.  Jeff Beck's assertion that we can never know what
    goes on in the mind because it is not directly observable is a superficial
    way of looking at it.  He presupposes that psychology's purpose is to
    explain exactly what goes on in every instance.  Rather, psychology only
    tries to explain what it can without overstepping the bounds of science and
    assuming too much, and simply records the observations it does make and goes
    from there.
         Meanwhile, there are conclusions we can draw about what goes on in our
    minds in connection with our physical brains.  Finneas Gage is a man who
    accidentally had a spike slammed into his frontal lobe, and who was forced
    to live the rest of his life with the spike in place there, for fear that
    removing it would cause further damage.  The results were that his friends
    and coworkers observed him frequently flying into a blind rage for no reason
    at all.  Psychologists conclude from this one study, rightly so, that
    hostility is connected to physiological events occurring in the frontal
    lobe.  From what Jeff Beck has been saying, he would say this is in anvalid
    conclusion, but clearly it is entirely logical and valid.

         So much for making a long story short.  Hope those of you bored by this
    avalanche of messages had the good wisdom to use your [S]kip command.

    Message: 63712
    Author: $ Zak Woodruff
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: psychology
    Date: 03/07/90  Time: 17:28:49

    DIALOG HEARD AT RESTAURANT

    Business Man:  So, what was you major in college?

    Business Woman:  I got a degree in business.

    Man:  Oh, business.

    Woman:  A degree in business...and a degree in psychology.

    Man:  Psychology?

    Woman:  Yes, that's right.  Psychology.  I could analyze the way you're
    sitting right now, what you're feeling.

    Man:  Is my body language that obvious?

    Woman:  It is to me.

    Message: 63713
    Author: $ Roger Mann
    Category: Chit Chat
    Subject: Responsibility
    Date: 03/07/90  Time: 21:26:53

    Self responsibility is the beginning of wisdom. Many people fear the
    consequences of controlling their own destiny and prefer the myth
    that others are to blame for their circumstances.

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