The premise of the ABC's 'reality' show Wife Swap is to take families from opposite ends of some extreme spectrum (e.g., one family wears clothes all the time, even in the shower; the other founded a nudist colony), have them switch moms for two weeks, and film all the fighting that ensues. The usual formula involves finding one family that loves red meat, goes to hoedowns for fun, and only wears plaid, and finding another family that believes in fairies, likes séances, and only eats things that start with the letter S.

I wasn't surprised, then, to see that one of the former wives is in the news because she stabbed her husband. What caught me off guard, though, was to see that the woman who did the stabbing was not the "tattooed freak show performer" (quote from the episode description) but instead was the former Miss Teen New Jersey.

I suppose this means I am some sort of a bigot.

In a different study, the same psychologist mentioned in the last post asked a group of Americans and a group of French to say what word comes to mind when they hear the term "chocolate cake."

The most common word for Americans: guilt.

The most common word for French: celebration.

A psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania named Paul Rozin posed the following scenario to the participants in a research study:

"Assume you are alone on a desert island for one year, and you can have water and one other food. Pick the food that you think would be best for your health."

(a) Corn
(b) Alfalfa sprouts
(c) Hot dogs
(d) Peaches
(e) Bananas
(f) Milk chocolate

Choose your answer, then head to the comments section where I'll provide some information about what your choice might mean for you.

I have two weeks left to finish teaching my last introductory psychology lab section, and I've come to the definitive conclusion that this particular section is, by far, the worst I have ever had. Today, one student came on time. ONE. (I started lecturing anyway).

Normally, I don't take too much offense at tardiness. It's really only detrimental to the students themselves, and I don't have a problem allowing them to fail when they miss important topics. What irked me today, though, was the student who arrived 35 minutes late and then asked me to repeat the lecture for her after class.

On the inside, I screamed something about stupidity and insolence; on the outside, I said something about perhaps asking a classmate because I'm only paid to give each lecture the first time. Either way, I'll be happy when this one is over...

After spending the last few days on the floor, my back is feeling better. That is all for now. I said good day.