SCOOP: WHO ARE THE WHINY KIDS?

michellemalkin.com ^ | March 23, 2006 | Michelle Malkin

[the anti-liberal]

SCOOP: WHO ARE THE WHINY KIDS?

By

Michelle Malkin

  ·   March 23, 2006 04:11 PM

An anonymous tipster sends some intriguing information about the "whiny kids grow up to be conservatives" study conducted by left-wing UC Berkeley prof Jack Block.

Wondering where the nursery school kids who were the subjects of the study came from? Check this out:

I know exactly which "nursery school" was used as the basis of this study. It is not mentioned anywhere in the text of the 16-page pdf you provided for downloading, but I know because -- well, because I know people who were some of the subjects of this study (and of other similar studies). And an extremely important fact about this school renders the entire study false.

The nursery school cited is actually the "Harold E. Jones Child Study Center," on Atherton St. in Berkeley. It used to have a different name if I remember -- I think it used to be called the "Atherton Child Study Center."

Go to this URL to see their Web site.

If you want proof that this is indeed the school used for the study, go to this URL.

This page is part of the "Institute for Human Development," which is the department at Cal which runs the school. It is part of and connected to the Child Study Center site link above. About halfway down on this page (search for "Jack Block") you'll see that they mention that the data gathering part of this study was done at the Center:

"A renowned longitudinal study of development originated by Jeanne and Jack Block began with children at three and followed them at 4, 5, 7, 11, 14 18, and 23 years of age."

Compare that to this text from the final study (in the pdf):

Pre-school children subsequently relatively conservative at age 23

What is so significant about this? Well, the Harold E. Jones Child Study Center is only open to children of U.C. Berkeley faculty and staff:

The University Preschool offers full-day developmental child care for preschool-aged children of UCB faculty and staff.

(The "Preschool" is a subset of the "Child Study Center.")

In other words, ALL of the children in that study were the offspring of U.C. Berkeley professors, lecturers, and staff members.

The reason the Child Study Center is so popular is that they offer free/cheap child care/nursery schooling in exchange for the parents allowing their kids to be "studied" by psychologists all day every day.

And here's the clincher (you probably already saw it coming):

UC Berkeley faculty was rated the most left-wing in the country: 91% of teachers there were classified as liberal:

"University of California, Berkeley (91 percent liberal)."

So, we have documented proof that the "whiny babies" in this study were basically ALL the children of liberal parents.

With this fact in hand, we can completely turn the study around:

Firstly, it was the liberal parents that made their kids whiny to begin with.

Secondly, it could just as easily be argued that, even at a very early age, some kids don't get along with their parents, and so become "whiny." Then, when those kids grow older, they rebel against their parents, as a way of disassociating themselves from their parents' influence. And if your parents are liberal (as they all were in this study), then you rebel by becoming a conservative!

That's it for the documented-facts part of the scoop. But on a more informal, anecdotal level: I have personally witnessed what goes on at the Child Study Center (or what went on there several years ago - I'm sure it's the same today, as its mission has not changed):

Toddlers and young children (generally aged between 2 and 5) frolic around and do activities as in any day care/nursery school/kindergarten setting. But the difference is there are adult researchers (some even with the proverbial clipboards) hovering around at all times, monitoring the kids, "observing" their behavior, writing down little notes and filling out charts about the kids' personalities and activities and so on.

And here's the key, from my personal observation: the researchers get it all wrong! They often have some esoteric psychological/behavioral academic fad they're trying to prove, so they ascribe the most bizarre and ludicrous motivations for the kids' actions, scribbling notes about "ego resilience" and "crypto-sexual manifestations" and blah blah blah. It would be comical if if wasn't taken so seriously. I can assure you that whatever data they gathered in the '60s or '70s about how "whiny" these kids were was totally bogus and off-the-mark.

Maybe they were whiny because they were more intellectually developed than the other kids and were frustrated in an overly infantile environment. Maybe they were whiny because the "counselors" detected early indications of independent thought and action in these kids, and forced them to conform to their Socialist ideals, causing the future conservatives to feel resentful.

Someone should follow up with the UC Berkeley guinea pigs and ask them.

***

Previous:

Document drop: The whiny study
Psychoanalyze this

[cgk]

Malkin ping!

Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to, or removed from, the Michelle Malkin ping list...

[the anti-liberal]

"I hadn't met my husband and gotten knocked upside the head."

Grace touched your life!

If only Grace would reach out and touch these liberals, healing them of their (mental) illness...

OTOH, perhaps Grace has tried, but they've been too narcissistic to notice.

[denydenydeny]

My blog entry on the subject:

The study is total crap, of course, because it's full of subjective analysis under the guise of scientific impartiality. What is "visibly deviant," anyway? And the idea of labeling toddlers as "deviant" is in any case a little bit appalling.

But let's take the study on its own merits. Look at the child behaviors the study views as "bright" and "non-conforming," and, more to the point, correlative with future liberalism:


Behaves in a dominating manner (Note that this is the second-highest correlative with liberalism, after "talkative")
Is aggressive physically or verbally
Attempts to transfer blame to others (This is a positive trait?)
Tends to be judgemental of others
Can admit to own negative feelings (We all know this one: The child whose favorite phrase is "I hate you!")
Tends to exaggerate, dramatize mishaps


I don't know about you, but I find it difficult to spin these personality traits as desirable. These are the behaviors, to put it plainly, of bullies.

On the other hand, the traits that the study correlates with future conservatism are quite different:


Appears to feel unworthy
Has a readiness to feel guilty
Anxious in unpredictable environment
Tends to brood and ruminate or worry
Is shy and reserved
Is fearful and anxious


These are the behaviors of, to say the least, children who can be described as sensitive and thoughtful. Note that the Star story that introduced the study to the world summarizes the future conservatives as "whiny." Since when does "shy and reserved" equal whiny? "Tends to exaggerate, dramatize mishaps"--a prime liberal correlate--sounds a lot more whiny to me.

But the biggest problem I have with the study is that it politicizes four year olds, which feels like child abuse. I can't help thinking that people are going to take this study seriously, and are going to punish or ridicule children for being "little Republicans" if they're at all quiet and sensitive. And that infuriates me.

[TexasCajun]

Yo!! Drudge!!

Need a follow up dude!

[Kaylee Frye]

Thanks! I call him Chris, but you can call him Grace if you like! ;)

Seriously, though, I am always praying for my parents and family. They are the reason I was almost a liberal - my whole family is. It's like a disease - it even infected my once normal Sister-In-Law. I stay quarantined on the other side of the country. ;)

[Right Cal Gal]

I was a Psych major so I'm well acquainted with the IHD. I was a conservative then, still am, and just focused on my studies and ignored the proffers of Kool-aid from the Left.

This study is interesting in that apparently all the subjects, even the WHINEY kids, were the children of LIBERALS, weren't they? See? They were smart enough to be annoyed by dumba$$ moonbats even then!

[the anti-liberal]

"And the idea of labeling toddlers as "deviant" is in any case a little bit appalling. "

Given what's happening in our public schools today it won't be long before there's a recognized division among toddlers in that sense.

Of course, what we consider 'deviant' is what liberal socialists what to be considered normal...

[mathurine]

Possibly offspring of some of them, but until the DNA tests come in, I'm suspecting Bill.

[the anti-liberal]

"It's like a disease - it even infected my once normal Sister-In-Law. I stay quarantined on the other side of the country."

Recent events, such as the release of the 'Iraq papers', may make a kind of truth pill which may or may not help cure them of their disease... at least you escaped!

[munchtipq]

or, another possible conclusion could be that people's political proclivities are set at a very early age, and these children were born conservatives stuck in a liberal environment, and so whined about it, as children do.

[Publius6961]

What is so significant about this? Well, the Harold E. Jones Child Study Center is only open to children of U.C. Berkeley faculty and staff:

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ROFL!!!!

The Lefties nailed again......

Keyword .....Whiny Kids

[the anti-liberal]

Yep, I think you've summed it up rather nicely.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I'm now suspicious of Malkin using steroids, because she just blasted this study out of the stadium.

ROFL!!!!

I love it!!!!

[Kaylee Frye]

Honestly, with my family, the best I can do is pray! I do thank God every day that I escaped and came to my senses! :)

[Erasmus]

The following claim, which I heard long ago, seems to be true:

"The conclusion of almost all sociological studies are either (a) self-evident or (b) false."

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

You had to go to Seattle to escape....?

[Erasmus]

As I said yesterday, look to the parents. Whiny liberals have whiny little kids which grow up to be conservative when they find out whiny does not work.

And maybe they're whiny because even at a tender age they realize their parents are politically full of $h1t.

[planetpatrol]

...of course no one notices the irony of conservatives whining about a study that suggests they're whiners.

[Erasmus]

Thanks for beating me with that idea.

At least you stated it more diplomatically.

< ]B^)