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Even Then They Knew [ The Happy Hour Archive | obereed.net ] [C&P Happy Hour - Charley's 4pm, you should really go ] EVEN THEN THEY KNEW ANN ARBOR - The nature vs. nurture debate took on a new, more heated ferver this week when the first meta-analysis of the early years of many of the most eminent psychologists was published. The findings, published in the British journal Nurture are quite striking. A town meeting will be held at 4pm at Charley's to discuss these findings. These claims range from the shocking to the (hopefully) humorous, for example: PHIL JOHNSON-LAIRD was known as quite a cardshark at a very young age. As a lad on the streets of London, Johnson-Laird would hustle passersby with a friendly game of the Wason card task, which he liked to call "Four Card Monte" Until age 12, ELENOR ROSCH called every animal "doggy," and every piece of clothing "shirt." ELIZABETH LOFTUS was an incouragible tattle-tale. She was hated by her nursery school classmates for her eyewitness testimony in Juice-gate. While a young IRV BEIDERMAN took an instant liking to building blocks, ZENON PYLYSHYN was known to write words on his, and reorganize them frequently. As a Little League batboy, STEVE PINKER was remembered for his almost continuous questions about why people "Flied out" rather than "flew out." His baseball career never took off, as he often struck (or is it striked) out. ANNE TREISMAN only had an 8 color set of crayons. It is said that she relied heavily on color, shape, size, and orientation in her drawings. ROSS QUILLIAN didn't even know what a mammal was until he was 22. A young engineering prodigy, DAVE MEYER invented the neckless bottle. STANLEY MILGRIM often burned ants with a magnifying glass, telling other ants that they had to continue working. R. DUNCAN LUCE was a confused young man. He often spend hours, unable to make even the most simple decisions. As a boy, BOB ZAJONC was the scourge of the playground, as he kept falling in love with girls after seeing them for only a few seconds. GARY OLSON had a complex network of tin cans and string designed to communicate with friends and neighbors. As a child, PAUL FITTS was rather uncoordinated. A young AMOS TVERSKY loved to talk politics with his bank teller mother, Linda. K. A. ERICSSON took piano lessons as a youngster, but refused to practice. NOAM CHOMSKY was raised by wolves, and didn't learn to speak until age 12. As a boy, IVAN PAVLOV was deathly afraid of dogs. A young ALAN BADDELEY invented the technique of covering one's ears and repeatedly saying "I can't hear you, la la la" when asked to do chores. GERD GIGERENZER used to get very angry if someone tried to play a trick on him. He often rationalized his activities with the phrase, "I meant to do that." Dan Horn |