Psych Profs Rhetorically Manipulating the Psych of Psych Profs

Katie Johnson already posted an excellent breakdown of what it is like to be a teacher in front of a class and how delivery and style are utilized to keep students attentive and learning. Even though her post was for English teachers, doing a similar post for psychology professors would just be repetitive. Luckily for those reading these posts, a professor's job is not restricted to solely teaching. Sometimes a professor, or a teacher, has to appear in board meetings.

Professor Goodapple showed up for her board meeting ten minutes early, wanting to talk to Professor Strait A. Student about any updates concerning the proposed MRI machine purchase that would be the highlight of the day's meeting. Some of the psychology professors and board members felt as though the machine would be too costly to consider purchasing for the department. Goodapple was confident that she would be able to persuade them as to the necessary of the machine.

The meeting started and logistical business was taken care of. Professor Goodapple was presented with the Psychology Professor of the Year Award; which she was pleased to realize would serve to boost her ethos in the upcoming debate. When financials were being discussed she brought up the issue of the new MRI machine. Of course Professor Wormycore objected to the idea of upsetting the currently balanced budget of the department. However. Professor Goodapple had done her research and knew exactly how to handle his objections.

She confidently presented the floor with information regarding the unsafe condition of the current equipment, emphasizing the students' health and inability to complete many of the university's recommended studies for psychology students. By presenting this issue first she was able to make her cause the valiant and just one, while subtly making her opposition seem uncaring and uncompassionate towards student wellbeing and success. She then discussed the need for functional research equipment for professors and graduate students, appealing to the frustrations that other professors have had doing their research with insufficient equipment. Since the board meeting was for the Psychology department she did not need to bore them with explanations of how important this piece of equipment would be; they all could have supplied many reasons. However, she did imply that there were many reasons and let the audience use their imaginations and personal experiences supply them. Then, in the rebuttal of Wormycore's argument, she focused on the success of last year's fundraiser, predicting similar results for this year, which allowed her to end her argument on a topic that left the listeners in a sentimental and uplifted mood. She delivered these three points with a thoughtful and professional demeanor, appearing capable but not aloft. She then sat down, calmly forcing herself not to smile at the enthusiastic chatter from her audience.

There was a rush of agreement and conversation that spread over the board members seated at the table as they recounted times when it would have been extremely useful to have an MRI machine. The president of the board endured the chatter for just a minute before calling the room to a vote. Even Professor Wormycore approved the change to the budget in favor of the new equipment.

Conflict Issues and Special Topics of Invention in Psychology Professoring

A Point of Conflict in College Psychology Professoring:

              It seems like college students are always trying to boost their grades and they often do this by trying to talk the professor into giving them extra credit or being more lenient on a current score. Of course the professor can’t be too liberal with giving good grades or the class will not accurately reflect the effort and learning that respective students put into the class. However, the professor also wants to help his or her students achieve what they can in the class.

Topics of Invention in Professoring:

              The typical situation is that the student comes into a professor’s office and talks to him/her one-on-one. Let’s say that the student did absolutely miserably on the last test and is worried about losing a scholarship due to the failing grade (just to up the stakes a little). The professor wants to help, but also has to make the situation fair to other students.

              “I did notice that your test score was very low, much lower than I would expect given your attendance and participation. I notice that you usually sit in the front of class and, according to your grades, it seems like you always turn your homework in on time and well done. I can’t give you any additional points since that wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the class. However, I think I will offer an optional extra credit assignment and allow students to write up a case study analyzing the psychiatric condition of other students as they enter and exit the testing center. Based on the length and quality of your reports I will offer appropriate points of extra credit. How does that sound?”

Analysis:

Rebellious and rude students are less likely to
win their professors' sympathy. Good thing I'm neither...right?

              When professors are approached by students they have to use a variety of topics of invention to seem both fair and just. Worthiness/Unworthiness of the student is a big point because a professor won’t help a student who doesn’t deserve the help. This is often based on past fact/future fact because the professor must account for how the student has worked before and how they are likely to act in the future. The Degree of help has to be decided because the balance of fairness and Justice must be maintained. Often the gradebook acts as a testimony of being both a document and a witness against/for the student.

Communication and Persuasion in Psychology Professoring

Sorry you guys, another post about an educator. Hopefully I'll be able to make this unique so it will be an asset to be able to compare the educationally-based posts instead of mine just sounding repetitive.

I have always been interested in going into education. As I have gotten older I have changed from wanting to be a fifth grade teacher, to a high school AP teacher, to finally wanting to be a college professor, either at a junior college or at a university. (Notice I never wanted to be a middle school teacher... for a reason. Those teachers definitely have my respect because I would not be able to put up with middle-schoolers every day.) I am still technically trying to choose which subject to teach, but for the purpose of this assignment I chose psychology. Most of the information in this post comes from my own observations, things my psychology teacher has mentioned, and information I gathered in a career explorations class last semester.

So a professor has a slightly different job than a teacher because they deal with adults instead of children or teenagers. This means they relate to their students on a different level. When teachers get respect from their students it is often because they are older and in the authoritative position. As the students get older they tend to respect their teachers less and less because they start to think of themselves as being intelligent. This perception is usually crushed freshman year of college when students realize they do not know as much as they thought they do. Professors are respected because they are knowledgeable in a field the students are usually interested in and because the students actually want to be in school. A professor just has to be fair and students will usually respect them. Professors also usually work with a different class size than a normal teacher; either much larger or much smaller. The size of the class will affect how a professor addresses his students and whether he/she will often work with students one-on-one.

Psychology adds a different twist because some of its concepts are theoretical. A psychology professor has a couple of options for what they could persuade their students; and the decision between them is often subconscious. The professor can either persuade the students that his/her option toward the theoretical side is accurate or he/she can try to be as impartial as possible and let the students decide for themselves. Most of the rhetoric a psychology professor does would fall under the epideictic and legislative forms of oratory since a professor is either exposing students to new information or defending why scientists have come to the conclusions they have about certain things. 

Professors are also unique in that they also have to communicate with the intellectual world through research, discussions, and publishing. Researching and publishing, since they are written down, add an aspect of persuasion that teachers do not have to experience. The audience also changes since a published work is addressed to people who are just as competent in the field as the professor is. In some ways that makes it easier, the professor doesn't have to rely on definitional rhetoric and can instead focus on interpretation. However, defending an interpretation in the intellectual world can be difficult in and of itself. Especially for a psychology professor who has slightly different views than other psychologist; such as a Mormon who believes in altruism. (Religion and self-sacrificing natures do not mix well with popular psychology.)

Feedback and research studies are important to psychology professors in both of the above sides to their jobs. As an educator, a professor should try to improve his/her teaching methods by listening to both what the students and the grades say. If many university students complain about a single professor then that professor is usually doing something to warrant such wide-spread dissatisfaction. If grades are too low or too high then either the professor's grading or the teaching style needs to improve. Among the intellectual community professors have to pay attention to how they are perceived by their peers to make sure they are still seen in a respected light because a discredited psychology professor will have a hard time keeping his/her job.

Decorum Necessary for Teaching

I want to highlight the form and function of Elder Bednar’s speech and some of the monologues that Socrates has in Plato's Gorgias. In my attempt to identify and better understand the use of decorum, I also learned about Roman levels of style and their purposes.

Elder Bednar began in a reverent tone, saying thank and speaking clearly and slowly to his very large audience. The Marriott Center had transformed into a formal auditorium-style lecture hall, and all of the audience that I could see was dressed nicely and were paying close attention to his words. I think it is clear that Elder Bednar used decorum to effectively respect the people and the place where he was speaking. 

This use of decorum put Elder Bednar in a perfect position to teach effectively.  The reverence and mutual respect in that setting allowed him to effectively use several numbered lists and examples to teach the audience how "To Sweep the Earth as with a Flood." That being said, the fact that he is an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ with power from the Holy Ghost made his remarks very moving, which is one of the purposes of a high level style of speech.

In contrast to Elder Bednar’s great use of decorum in order to teach, I don’t believe that Socrates, as he somewhat disrespectfully scrutinized rhetoric, was able to teach effectively. However, I found that this forced him to rise to the high level of style where he could effectively move Gorgias to further explanation and discussion. Socrates asked lot of questions and even proposed a role-play (p. 36) in an effort to invite and move Gorgias to discuss with him, and their discourse went on for many pages!