“The Coolidge Effect” in the field of biology is named after the following anecdote:
The President and Mrs. Coolidge were being shown [separately] around an experimental government farm. When [Mrs. Coolidge] came to the chicken yard she noticed that a rooster was mating very frequently. She asked the attendant how often that happened and was told, Dozens of times each day. Mrs. Coolidge said, Tell that to the President when he comes by. Upon being told, President asked, Same hen every time? The reply was, Oh, no, Mr. President, a different hen every time. President: Tell that to Mrs. Coolidge.
To clarify: the American Psychological Association (www.apa.org) does not “produce” “psychiatrists”...Dr. Cummings is a psychologist, holding Ph.D. & Sc.D., not M.D.
But the American Psyciatric Association does have a similar problem.
For example:
“Believe it or not, Judge Sing actually inexplicably released a twice convicted felon with extensive recent history of extreme domestic violence, resulting in the brutal slaying of his estranged District 1 girlfriend within a month — one of less than a dozen total murders in the Richmond district in the last 10 years! In addition, Judge Sing’s indefensible failure to poll the jury allowed yet another brutal murderer back on the streets for no more than time already served.”
I recall a case like this in Virginia, where the repeat offender was let off...and then proceeded to rifle through the judge’s coat outside and lift the wallet foolishly left there.
It would have been a better story if the beat cops hadn’t been there, and she’d gotten to feel the pain of being a crime victim like so many others.
Then again, even my relatives have been compassionate judges—but they did it intelligently. One made a judgement for $25 to a well-known defendant who obviously couldn’t pay. Then the $25 was given to the defendant with the words: “Listen, Willie...I know that you don’t have the money, and even when you get it, you’ll drink it away and ‘Ill just see you back here...but now you owe that $25 to me, and I know you won’t let a personal debt to me go unpaid, right?” Sure enough, Willie stayed out of trouble and paid it back. Imagine the uproar these days if a judge did that!