Emotional Intelligence | Stevehein.com
APA Policies, part 2 (part 1)
Here are some notes from my personal journal from May 19, 2004 about APA policies. Peter Salovey wrote me once and said he didn't want me to put a copy of one of his articles on my site because of APA policies. So I was complaining about the letter.... I've taken out a lot of the profanity.
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....a letter that tells me I can't do what I want to do because APA policies don't allow it. Screw APA policies. The APA is the American Psychological Association.
Let me bitch about that for a while.
So what's the problem with putting copies of articles on the Internet? What's the problem besides it not being "allowed?" I am so sick of these PhD's who want to keep all their information to themselves. They are so elitist. Let's see if I have that word on my feeling words list. lol. nope. didn't have it. but i do now. there are no synonyms for it, btw. interesting.
So what's the problem with putting copies of their articles on the Internet?
Now don't fall over in shock if I tell you that I think it has to do with money.
Yes, money. That is what I think it really comes down to.
How so?
Ok, you have a fancy journal like the Journal of Whatever. I can't think of the names of any right now, lol, which I am happy to say, because it means I don't spend much time reading boring as hell academic journals. I used to have to read that crap when I was in school. University. The kiss of emotional death. lol.
Anyhow, so you are the publisher of some fancy journal. Well, you want people to pay a lot of money for your journal don't you? And if they can read the articles on the Internet, why the hell would they pay to buy your journal? Pretty simple, isn't it?
And it is also about filling people's emotional needs. They like to feel important and prestigious. If it is really an honor to get published in their journal, then they feel more whatever you want to call it, depending on how cynical you feel. I could say they feel more pompous or more arrogant or more elitist or more proud or more important, for example.
Now, would I like one of my articles to get published in the Harvard Business Review, like my friend Dan Goleman? Sure. No doubt. But really, big flipping deal. I'd rather make a few kids smile and change the educational system. But wait. If I got my articles published in Educational Leadership or whatever it is called or the Phi Beta Kaplan journal, or what ever it is called, the fancy one on education, more people with power and influence etc would read them and take them seriously. So that is fair enough. I can see some benefit to it being hard to get published in a particular magazine or journal.
But that is a different story issue than how much money the journal makes. Sort of. I say sort of because if you have a reputation for having the best articles, then you can charge more money. And more people will buy your journal. More university libraries, for example. You won't see this stuff in regular libraries, not much of it anyhow. And you won't find hardly any of these journals in countries like the ones I have been in lately, like in Indonesia, Thailand, Peru or Ecuador.
Which reminds me, Jack Mayer and most professors, it seems, is happy to send out printed copies of his articles. The journal publishers don't seem to mind this. But I suspect they would rather get money from that, too, if they could.
So anyhow, if Jack and Peter etc. can send out printed copies, then why the hell can't they send out text copies? Because it would be too easy for someone to put them on the Internet I guess.
But what is the problem with that, really?
I'd say it goes back to people not needing to buy the journals. If all academic articles were available for free on the Internet, then what?
Well, students would be copying things from them all over the place. Cut and paste. But so what? If they don't really care about learning, you can't force them to just by making them do more busy work. So what if they read something then underline it then type it in versus just copying and pasting? Do they really learn that much more? Will they remember more? Maybe but so what? They will remember it for three days instead of two or something. If they don't really care, they don't really care. So they won't remember it. Professors want students to do research. They love research. It keeps them from having to talk about their feelings. lol.
So they want students to suffer through reading a bunch of boring academic journal articles, just like they did. If it was good enough for them, it is good enough for the junior PhD students. Just like if hitting kids was good enough for their parents, hitting their own kids will be okay too. Like everyone says, "I was hit and I turned out okay." But that is bullshit. They aren't okay. They are messed up and the fact that they say they are okay and can't even realize they are messed up just proves how messed up they are. So I will say again, lest anyone think I don't think I was messed up, or aren't still, yes, I was messed up and I still am! lol.
And I resent being messed up. Could you imagine a girl being raped and saying, "Well I was raped and I turned out okay"? I suppose some people might say that and might have all ready have said it.
So what are the issues here? This little bit of bitching is practice because I thinking about writing a letter to EMONET where lots of PhDs share research and debate with each other.
Okay so what are the issues? What are the reasons for not posting full text copies of articles on the Internet?
a) The journal publishers are afraid of losing money.
b) The professors are afraid, no they are sure, the students will just copy and paste. But so what? Will making it harder for them make them care more about the subject? Or, perhaps will it make them more resentful of the work they have to do when they know they could be just copying and pasting? Now let's take that further. Let's say someone is really interested in a subject. If they are then they want to get as much info as possible. And their time is limited. If they are a student they have a lot of work to do already. So say they really want to put together a good paper. They want it to be well supported by previous research. And they want to use a lot of references because that always impresses the professors who grade their papers. I'd venture to say that such a thing impresses them more than actual original thinking. But this depends on the professor of course. But anyhow, if they really are interested they can spend their time doing original thinking and posing questions rather than typing in quotations and citations.
So what if the professors who write the journal articles said "we won't agree to your rules"? I'd say then the journal publishers wouldn't have anything to publish.
What if people like Mayer and Salovey said "Screw your your rules. We want people all around the world to have access to our ideas, not just the ones who can afford to go to well-funded universities."?
So here is my idea. Have the articles be posted on an EMONET site. No one is making any money off of that site. A lot of PhDs are using it already to post messages, so why not start posting articles there?
Forget the printed publishers. They will be put out of business if they don't adapt to the new reality.
What's the purpose of academic research? To make money for the publishers of journals?
Why did people start publishing academic articles? To make money? I doubt it. I believe it was because they wanted to share their research.
What was the purpose of the rules which don't allow giving away copies? If profs can give away individual copies, at their own expense by mailing them out, then why not let them put their articles on the Internet?
Now I think Jack told me he could put his articles on his own website if he wanted. I think he said he was thinking of it. But far as i know he has never done it.
(April 2006 note - Jack has since then started putting many copies of his articles on his site, this page in particular.)
So anyhow, about peer-reviewed. This is a good enough concept. It means people like Goleman and BarOn who just want to make money and a name for themselves can't write crap and have everyone reading it thinking it is actual research.
But wait!!
Isn't that exactly what has happened!?
Goleman read a bunch of journal articles, then "took things out of context" and made a fortune. He greatly misrepresented things and no one stopped him.
Mayer tried to, but he was late and he didn't get into the popular press. I was his biggest ally in the fight to keep Goleman honest.
By the way, had Jack posted his articles on my site, or on his own site, maybe we could have stopped some of the people from believing all the crap that Goleman has been making money off of. So actually, by Jack following the APA rules, more people have been misled.
And BarOn is a strange combination. He claims to be doing scientific work and wants to be accepted by the academic community, but he is pissed off because no one is calling his test a test of Ei -- except him and his publishers at MHS who are making money off of it, and probably a lot of consultants around the world and a lot of naive PhD students and undergrads, and newspaper reporters etc.
So back to peer reviewed... A group of people at EMONET could review the articles. EMONET could get a reputation for having the best articles first. If you want to check the sources, check EMONET. If the article isn't there it is probably no good. That is how it could work.
Then the printed journals would have to adapt. They would have to play catch up. They would have to figure out their own way to make money. They wouldn't have power over the professors anymore.
S. Hein
May 19, 2004
Quito, EcuadorI cut a bunch of personal stuff out but saved it below for historical purposes.
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Not all professors are pompous assholes. lol. My brother in law, for example, was a pretty cool guy. He was the chair of the theatre department at Butler University. Dan Warrick. He died of liver cancer a few years ago. My brothers and sisters have a way of killing their partners. My sister in law, Annette, died of cancer a few years before that. Is it a coincidence, or did my sister and brother actually contribute? They won't like this if they read it, but I think after I told my sister to leave me alone, I don't think she is reading this stuff anymore. lol.
My family doesn't share my sense of humor. Or should I say humour? For my pommie friends. lol. I do actually still have one pommie friend. Anna R. The sick British culture hasn't totally destroyed her yet. But she has a few more years in it till they release her. But probably by then she won't leave. I don't want to hurt someone's feelings, but this reminds me of someone, Nicole, who I tried to help get out of the USA a few years ago, when she was finally legally able to get out. I came very close to succeeding. But her school, family and "friends" convinced her she was crazy and I was a murderer etc. so she still hasn't left the USA.
It's about four AM now, in case anyone cares. lol. I have a little fire going. yes, there is a little fireplace in this hostel. In my room even. Rmo canada, australia. I miss both. Haven't found the ideal location yet. don't think it exists. cuz you have to always be in someone else's "country" and follow their bullshit fucking rules. Or they will put you in jail or not let you into "their" country.
I am a weird mother fucker. I say that because I am thinking about putting all this stuff on the Internet. Like I am thinking of how Victor and I sat there for hours and typed in references from these journal articles. Why did I do that? Why did Victor help me? Neither of us made any money from it.
If you are not trying to make money, people think you are odd, weird, different. They don't understand. Many of them question your motives. Well fuck them. I have had my motives questioned so many times. I am pretty fucking sick of it. Why am I writing this for example? People used to think that I did everything I did so I could get teenage girls in bed. Now that is not a bad goal, and I wouldn't complain if a teenager, of legal age of course, lol, decided she was so inspired by my writing she wanted to show her admiration by well, you can use your imagination. lol. But is that why I write? Actually I am writing partly for two people now. Adam and Nicole. They both read my writing. And Mandy seems to read it sometimes too. I spent about four or five hundred dollars trying to get a hug out of her the last time I was in Australia. lol. She felt offended because I didn't get up of the park bench I was laying on to shake her hand or something. She comes from a pretty stiff family. lol. But she is trying really hard to improve herself, and I have to admire her for that. I wish I could hop on a plane and go around the world and see a few people like her. In Australia I'd go see Shayla and Anna and her.
I talked to Anna Z. again the other day. I asked her if her sister had an email address. She said she didn't want her to know that she was talking to me again. Now that is kind of compliment I guess. I guess she doesn't want her mom to find out we are talking again. So I guess that means she kind of wants to be able to keep talking to me. Or maybe it just means she is afraid her bitch of a mother would take away her Internet if she knew we were talking so she wouldn't get to talk to her other 100 boyfriends. Anna has changed so much. And not for the better. She used to care about others. I'll just leave it at that.
Schools destroy souls.
If souls, exist, schools destroy them.
Anna has to wear a school uniform now. She is going to something they call "Grammar school." I think that means they try to kill whatever last bit of individuality is left in a female. To make her totally fake so she will fit into a society where feelings have no importance whatsoever. Where appearances and tradition and keeping a stiff upper lip are all that matter. And don't forget God and country. Yes. I am talking ....oh wait. Sorry. God country and the king! Or Queen
So, yes, I am talking about one of my FAVORITE countries! ENGLAND!!
Yep, that is where the idea of grammar schools came from. I can pretty much bet on that one.
So Anna in Australia, not to be confused with Anna in England, who is still sweet, by some fucking miracle, even though she will be 15 in about three months. Actually, Anna in Australia was still pretty sweet at 14 and three quarters, so that scares me... but Anna R is way more sweet I think at the same point in her life. Her father might be sexually abusing her or at least harassing her, but at least he isn't a fucking preacher.
So anyhow, this sucks. It is about four thirty now. I want to go to Maribel's school tomorrow. Maribel is the one who helped me with my Spanish translation a little for my site. Unlike Daniela who has disappeared, at least temporarily. That is sad, but is understandable given everything. Sad that she is so needy though. Fuck, schools and shitty parents really make people needy. She needed to win the fucking speech contest. That was so fucking important to her. Then she resents me cuz she didn't win and I didn't help her enough she says. So that is her perception. No use in debating or trying to talk her out of it. I am worried about her. What will become of her. If she could be that hurtful towards me, that unappreciative, that obsessed (I don't like that word...) with winning, then I am really worried. If she goes to a university, it will be all over. I'd care more but I am getting used to seeing what is happening to people like her. But there weren't many people like her that I have met. N. still hasn't gone to a university. I like to think I helped a little in keeping her out of there. She isn't doing much right now to help the world, but she isn't being brainwashed in a university at least. So if someone said you are the reason nicole didn't go to university, I'd say, "I take that as a compliment."
I'd keep everyone out until they change. (the unis i mean)
Which takes me back to journals.