Tipsters who read the New Yorker, the NY Times, and some of
the pop psych book will be familiar with the name Maria Konnikova
who wrote on article in the NY Time magazine this past weekend
about her decision to leave academic psychology (can you find the
rationalizations?) for a life of writing for a popular audience; see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/opinion/sunday/the-joy-of-psyching-myself-out.html?emc=edit_th_20160110&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=389166&_r=0
She starts the article with he following questions:
|IS it possible to think scientifically and creatively at once?
|Can you be both a psychologist and a writer?
These are, of course, absurd questions for the researcher who
cannot think scientifically AND creatively is just a hack but the
one that can both elegantly are small in number -- but they
demonstrate that both can be abilities are not mutually exclusive
(don't you just hate false dichotomies? The world is made up of
two types of people: those that do and those that don't ;-).
The second question is astonishing in its vagueness and
elicits the natural question: "What are you talking about?"
Well, the rest of the article tries to provide more context and
substance but I did not find it either convincing nor interesting
in tone (the only reason I bring attention to this article is
because it is possible that people might think that she is
speaking for academic psychologists; frankly, I don't know
who she is talking about [i.e., her generalizations lack
external validity] outside of her own personal opinions.
The simple answer to the question of whether a psychologist
can be a writer, the obvious answer is Yes. One just has
to look at the output of Robert Sternberg, both academic
and popular, as one piece of counter evidence -- if we are
talking about popularizing psychology.
If we are talking about popular fiction, Jonathan Kellerman
called and said you should check out his Wikipedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Kellerman
His wife Faye Kellerman is also a popular fiction writer (though
she has the degree "Doctorate of Dental Surgery", yeah, she's
a dentist or at least was).
I am sure that there are many other psychologists who have
written fiction (that is, intentionally as novels and short stories
or plays/screenplays and not accidentally in journal articles)
but who have not achieved the success of the Kellermans
(incidentally, they are Orthodox observant Jews, so, in addition
to all of the regular work they do, there are the daily religious
observations they must maintain). So, why is this question
being asked?
Konnikova also seems to be somewhat "fixated" on Freud and
appears not understand his historical standing in academic
psychology -- she seems to describe a popular stereotype.
She also mentions William James and says:
|...he did establish one of the first psychological laboratories
|in the United States.
This statement is potentially misleading in several ways:
(1) Billy J was not a researcher in sense that Wundt or Stanley
Hall was, so it really is correct to imply he used a lab for
research instead of demonstration (which is what is was;
Chris Green or others can correct me on this if I am wrong).
(2) J. Stanley Hall's establishment of a lab in academic psychology
at Johns Hopkins would have been a better example but Konnikova
wants to compare and contrast the James brothers for literary
purposes -- brothers, one an academic psychologist and the
other a professional writer/author, and the confusion that is
appears to exist because some consider Henry James to be
a psychologists because of his portrayal of people in his writings
and Williams James as a writer because his writings went beyond
the dry academic posts most psychologists learn to use (if for
no other purpose to "appear" psychological in their writing).
Well, Konnikova does mention that she has a new book coming
out which might explain why she wrote the NY Times article
(gotta publicize) and the use of topic, that is, scientific
writing/thinking
and popular writing/thinking.
But don't take my word for this, read her article and reach your
conclusions.
-Mike Palij
New York University
m...@nyu.edu
P.S. A minor historical note: William James was in NYC on
January 11, 1842 at the "Astor Hotel" which was located not
far from the NYC city hall; see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astor_House
(NOTE: the photo in the second link has St. Paul's chapel to the
left of the Astor House; the World Trade Center was/is located
behind, to the west, of St Paul's -- a spire can be seen dimly
where the WTC would be).
Shortly, after William's birth, his father moved the family to
No. 2 Washington Place where Henry James would be born
on April 14, 1843. The address of the home is noteworthy
for a couple of reasons:
(1) The house would be located three short blocks away from
the new building for the undergraduate college of NYU which
was located between Washington Place on the south and
Waverly Place on the north, and Washington Square Park
on the west.
(2) The James' house is long gone, ultimately replaced by
buildings belonging to NYU. Today, the Physics department
is located at 2 Washington Place but they are being moved
out to another location. The psychology department and the
Center for Neural Science (both at 4-6 Washington Place)
will take over the space. Oddly enough there is no plaque
or indication of Henry James birthplace or that the James
family lived there.
Source:
James, W. (1920). The Letters of William James (Vol. 1). Little, Brown.
The above book is available on books.google.com; see
https://books.google.com/books?id=txDcnrbXo90C&pg=PT14&dq=inauthor:%22William+James%22+biography+%22washington+place%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiqifvxkKLKAhUDGT4KHV03DNkQ6AEIIjAB#v=onepage&q=inauthor%3A%22William%20James%22%20biography%20%22washington%20place%22&f=false
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