If you think Sara Ann Lederman knows what you're thinking, you could be wrong. Or maybe not. Confused? You are not alone.
The graduating senior spent three years at Cornell conducting psychology experiments to learn why people are often wrong about what other people think about them. Plumbing the depths of human uncertainty, Lederman worked with Thomas Gilovich, professor of psychology, and his graduate students to explain such phenomena as pluralistic ignorance, illusions of transparency and the spotlight effect.
At first she was nearly as confused as her experimental subjects, but at least she knows what's next: a coveted position in the clinical psychology Ph.D. program at Yale. And after that? Teaching? Maybe. Research? Probably.
One thing is for sure, Lederman learned. Cornell's reputation as major research institution, where undergraduate students can work with nationally known professors to conduct meaningful research of their own, is absolutely valid.
She was there with Gilovich, conducting the famous un-cool T-shirt experiments to examine the spotlight effect. That's when subjects who probably prefer someone like Bob Marley are clothed in Barry Manilow shirts and sent into a group of peers. Mortified shirt-wearers in the "spotlight" are asked to estimate how many people notice their uncool shirt, and almost everyone guesses wrong. Hardly anyone notices. The same goes for bad-hair days.
Lederman's experiments with pluralistic ignorance should strike a chord for anyone who ever sat silently though a professor's befuddling explanation of an impossibly complex topic. "Everyone is trying to play it cool," Lederman said, "but everyone is thinking, 'My ignorance is leaking out! They all must know I don't have a clue!' And we would ask: 'How confused do you think other people thought you were?'"
And the illusion of transparency? "That's when you think other people can tell more about what you are feeling and thinking than they really can."
Not every psychology experiment worked as well as Lederman hoped; that's life in the science lab, she learned from the faculty members and more experienced graduate students. "I was amazed at the quality of teaching at Cornell," said Lederman, who transferred after one year at M.I.T., "about how much the professors care about teaching and about the students."
And the faculty was equally amazed at the quality of her work. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as well as Golden Key, the national honor society, and Psi Chi, the psychology honor society.
When she wasn't conducting psychology experiments or earning top grades in her classes, Lederman volunteered as a telephone counselor for EARS, the Empathy, Assistance and Referral Service. After the required year of rigorous training for that service, she talked a lot of students through their bouts of depression, thoughts of suicide and problems with sexuality. Lederman also served as a fieldwork coordinator for Cornell psychopathology students who assist troubled elementary school children.
Troubled kids will be the focus of her clinical psychology research at Yale, Lederman expects. She is particularly interested in children diagnosed with "conduct disorder." She wants to find better ways to help parents improve parenting skills before conduct-disorder kids, who typically set fires or hurt animals, get into real trouble.
But first, there could be another experiment or two in store for Lederman, who plans to spend one more summer at Cornell. It seems there is a little problem conducting psychology research at an institution where professors discuss their ongoing studies in class: It's hard to find uninformed subjects who haven't heard about the latest work. But each summer session brings a fresh crop of potential subjects, including high schoolers, who think illusions of transparency are some kind of sunglasses.
"I'm hoping," Lederman said, "to try a couple experiments with high school students. They're not as suspicious as Cornell students."
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