FEMALE PROFESSOR:Hi Eric, how are things going?

MALE STUDENT:Oh, I’m really busy with my workload.

Some professors assign so much reading that… it’s like they think we have no other homework.

FEMALE PROFESSOR:One of the most important things you’ll learn in college is how to manage your time. How to, you know, prioritize. When to say no to a social engagement if you have a paper due, that sort of thing.

MALE STUDENT:I guess so.

FEMALE PROFESSOR:So, how are you finding the material we’re covering in class?

MALE STUDENT:I’ve actually come to talk to you about it.

I have a six-month-old niece, so I find early childhood development really interesting.

Piaget—that Swiss psychologist you told us about—his development theory is really cool.

FEMALE PROFESSOR:Yes—his theory that cognitive development in children occurs in four stages that you can, ah, actually observe.

MALE STUDENT:Yeah, um, so my niece, she’s in the, um, sensorimotor stage now, right at the part where she thinks things disappear when they’re out of sight.

FEMALE PROFESSOR:Very good. She probably won’t understand that objects continue to exist even when they’re out of sight until she’s a month or so older.

MALE STUDENT:Yeah. Yesterday, we were knocking a little ball around, and it rolled under the couch.

She immediately lost interest and reached for something else.

FEMALE PROFESSOR:Because to her, the ball ceased to exist.

MALE STUDENT:Yeah. I’ve actually been taking notes on her behavior because I’d like to write my term paper about her, if it’s OK with you.

FEMALE PROFESSOR:Your term paper?

MALE STUDENT:Yeah, I’d like to do a case study or something.

Piaget watched his kids and, like, changed the whole world of psychology.

FEMALE PROFESSOR:Wait a minute. Piaget didn’t just observe his own children.

He did exhaustive research over thirty years to develop and test his theory.

And anyway, your assignment isn’t to do a study; it’s to research the literature on a particular psychological topic and write about it.

And I gave you a list of suggested topics to choose from.

MALE STUDENT:Well, what if I researched something like: is it possible to speed up, uh, cognitive development?

Like, if I reached under the couch to get the ball while she watched me, would she learn earlier that objects don’t disappear?

Or can’t six-month-old babies think that way yet?

FEMALE PROFESSOR:Uh, umm… I do applaud your initiative, Eric.

However, I sincerely doubt you could get any kind of valid or meaningful information from such an experiment.

MALE STUDENT:But I already put so much time into watching my niece.

FEMALE PROFESSOR:Remember, this is only a freshman psychology class. You aren’t trained in carrying out an original research project.

I wish you had come to me earlier, but, you know, there’s still some time before the due date.

I suggest that you recheck the list of topics.

Then come see me again if you have any questions.

MALE STUDENT:OK.