Newsgroups: bit.listserv.psycgrad
Date:         Tue, 12 Jan 1993 15:01:01 -0800
              <PSYCGRAD@UOTTAWA.BITNET>
From:         Unabashedly Egregiously Prolix <tbn@UTXVM.CC.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Curiousity

>Hi,
>
>Just to throw my 2 cents into the ring....yes, psychologists tend to be
>rebellious and question authority....and yes, this shows up on the MMPI
>and the MMPI-2 by elevations on scale 4.  You ever wonder why most
>psychologists are registered Democrats and the paucity of Republican
>psychologists?

Hmm....whom do you mean by "psychologists"? Research-oriented
psychologists? Counseling/clinical psychologists? Both?
Industrial/Organizational psychologists? All of the above? This is not
quite the hair-splitting question it may appear at first blush. The reason
why I ask this will become apparent below.

>  And how many psychologists do you know who are highly
>involved in "tradional" religions?   Now, please don't flame me with
>objections.  I do believe that there are probably some very qualified
>psychologists who are deeply religious and Republicans--I just have not
>met any to my knowledge.

I actually know some--and I've met quite a few in my program, which tends
to be more oriented towards basic research. That is, they are not only
mildly (though I've met a few fundamentalist types) religious, they also
don't question authority much at all, and they are quick to anger when
someone else prompts them to do so.

> Another question:  Don't you think that the
>process of graduate school leads one to be more rebellious and liberal
>socially, philosophically, and politically?

No. Not at all. It *can* lead one to rebelliousness (or at least the
questioning of authority) *if* one has some type of social conscience and
past history of questioning authority a priori going into grad school and
if one has a bad experience with totalitarian and controlling advisors,
procrustean bureaucratic regulations imposed by school administrations,
etc.  in grad school--that can exacerbate the phenomenon, I think, but
here's where I've personally found the time-honored maxim of "past
behaviors predict present and future behaviors" to be appropos. I myself
have been incredibly disappointed with many grads at UT who do research
simply because it's simply "something interesting and potentially
prestigious to do" and who actively avoid discussing issues, not only about
the state of the world, but about the state of our field and related
philosophy of science issues as well. Of course, my bias is towards
discussing such matters almost endlessly, so my bias is pretty much the
other way, so who knows?

In any case, a *very* interesting post! Thanks for writing it...

>
>Rodney Timbrook
>MMPI Project
>Kent State University

cheers,

Tor



Tor Neilands
Systems Analyst
Statistical Services Group
Computation Center
University of Texas at Austin

Internet:  TBN@Utxvm.cc.utexas.edu
___________________________________________________

"Should they whisper false of you,
    Never trouble to deny;
 Should the words they say be true,
    Weep and storm and swear they lie".
                                                   --- Dorothy Parker

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and I, I took
 the road less traveled by, and that has made all the
 difference".                                 --- Robert Frost
___________________________________________________

Disclaimer:  All of the views expressed above are solely
those of the author. Any relationship between my own
views and those of the University of Texas and/or The
Computation Center at the University of Texas are
due merely to regression to the mean.
____________________________________________________
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