Heard on the street

'It's our time to practice what we've learned, and it's our time to do something for our country.'
-Honduran psychology student Gracia Caseres on providing counseling to victims of Hurricane Mitch (CNN Interactive, Nov. 14).

'I think kids have adapted themselves to a much higher level of stimulation. They have to do more to get excited, which just makes it more likely that people will go out and do stupid things.'
-Col. Johnston Beach, psychology professor at West Point, on the effects that violent video games have on children (Boston Globe, Nov. 9).

'For some, the huge salaries you see today become a pair of golden handcuffs and probably contain athletes for longer than they have to.'
-Sports psychologist Don Beck, Denton, Texas, on why professional athletes avoid retirement (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Nov. 27).

'Anything one says about tickling tends to be taken frivolously. But it's deadly serious.'
-Psychologist Alan Fridlund, University of California, Santa Barbara, on his studies of humor, facial expressions and tickling (Knight-Ridder Newspapers, Nov. 24).

'They're guinea pigs. As parents, we practice on them. '
-Psychologist and radio personality Kevin Leman on first-born children (CBS This Morning, Nov. 2).

Heard in the Monitor

'It can't only be the nicotine that women are responding to. Women to some extent are reacting positively to the way they take nicotine in through smoking.'
-Kenneth Perkins, University of Pittsburgh, on the different factors that lead each gender to smoke, page 15.

'The timing is perfect for a psychologist to become chief mental health consultant because the VA is trying to reassure people that everyone has an equal shot at leadership positions. We want to make sure lots of well-qualified psychologists throw their hats in the ring for the job.'
-Randy Phelps, APA assistant executive director for professional issues, page 21.

'One of the nice things about this modern racism, if you can say anything nice about it, is that people truly want not to be prejudiced. If they can become aware of their biases, they can become motivated to change their behaviors.'
-John Dovidio, professor at Colgate University, has explored the evolution of prejudice from the pronounced bigotry of the pre-Civil Rights era to a modern phenomenon he calls 'aversive racism,' page 26.



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