Interviews with Emory Professors
Dr. Scott Lillienfend, Dept. of Psychology
Dr. Marshall Duke, Dept. of Psychology
Irwin Waldman, Dept. of Psychology
Interviews with Emory Students (in mp3 format)
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Lauren Becker - "Wolfgang von Beethoven
is a genius."
Joanna Weiss - "William Shakespeare
is a genius."
Larry Oji - "Albert Einstein is a genius."
Nishan Patel - "Michael Jordan is
a genius."
If time was not a constraint, we wish we could have had the opportunity to interview more professors in different fields. The results of the interviews showed that three professors in the same field had different viewpoints on genius. Therefore, we would have liked to trace the evidence of their beliefs in order to determine which professor was the most well-supported and current. At the onset of the interview, we were anticipating to find out that the professors in the same field would have similar beliefs on genius. However, their opinions were very different: the people whom they chose to be geniuses, what factors determined to be a genius, their definitions, etc. This made us realize that the topic of genius is more of a personal belief rather than a universally accepted fact.
We wish for future students studying this subject to continue searching for a more clear understanding of the nature vs. nurture conflict and to try not to accept those beliefs of higher people without agreeing with their evidence and reasoning. Many current issues in Science are not completely one way or the other. Thus, this gives students a lot of leeway in choosing what belief they want to agree with.
Interviews conducted by Cecilia Jung, Sara Siegel, and Arielle Olicker