Revised and submitted to Psychology Today. Doubt it will show up on their virtual pages, but you never know until you try.
I am not familiar with you or your blog but there are few things I enjoy more than seeing some blowhard taken to task. Seeing an argument or position deconstructed point by point in a logical manner with supporting evidence is a thing of beauty. As I was reading the blog I thought, “This person should be a lawyer”. Duh.
If nothing else, they should hire you as an editor.
Your comments would have sent that author back to the drawing board to start over, or at least do some additional research.
The problem with articles like the one you nicely dissected, is that others take them at face-value fact. Psychology Today has long had a reputation of putting stuff out there that pisses off serious people working in the psychological field. Most college psychology departments consider the magazine to be the National Enquirer of psychology.
You aptly ripped the psychobabble apart. Nice job.
Years ago, a poem that a group of us written on some a mothers’ website went viral. I’ve seen it all over the internet. It’s not good good; it’s merely modestly clever. But it was annoying to all of us that our little ditty was so freely plastered everywhere.
(It was about nursing babies on the theme of Green Eggs and Ham — I will nurse him anywhere, etc. We’re probably lucky the Dr. Seuss conglomerate didn’t try to sue us.)
Thanks guys!
Sadly, lawyering is often more about obstructionism and being a good bullshit artist than about precise thinking. If the whole writing thing falls through, I’m considering looking into real estate work, hoping that with no juries or discovery, my talent for intellectual rigor might actually be of use.
DMark, so many people discussed that article at PT’s website, or shared it on message boards with the comment, “This is a great study!” Each time I saw that, I died a little.
I almost stopped reading right there because I loathe the phrase “hate on”, but then I read your blog post and I can see why it went viral. It’s a very good piece. Well done. From now on, I shall avoid being so quick to judge people who use that phrase. 