As a follow-up to the Chronicle article with all that feel-good rah-rah about lecturing…
Reshared post from +Laura Gibbs
As a follow-up to the Chronicle article with all that feel-good rah-rah about lecturing (e.g. "If the messenger is excited and passionate about what they have to say, it leaves a good impression" – http://chronicle.com/article/A-Tech-Happy-Professor-Reboots/130741/), I would like to remind everybody about the DR. FOX EFFECT – quote from Wikipeda: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Fox_effect –
The experimenters created a meaningless lecture on 'Mathematical Game Theory as Applied to Physician Education,' and coached the actor to deliver it 'with an excessive use of double talk, neologisms, non sequiturs, and contradictory statements.' At the same time, the researchers encouraged the actor to adopt a lively demeanor, convey warmth toward his audience, and intersperse his nonsensical comments with humor. … The actor fooled not just one, but three separate audiences of professional and graduate students. Despite the emptiness of his lecture, fifty-five psychiatrists, psychologists, educators, graduate students, and other professionals produced evaluations of Dr. Fox that were overwhelmingly positive. … The disturbing feature of the Dr. Fox study, as the experimenters noted, is that Fox’s nonverbal behaviors so completely masked a meaningless, jargon-filled, and confused presentation.
Google+: View post on Google+
