i'm reading this book for being a physics ta. there's a lot of psychology that goes behind our physics program, and we will be conducting some clinical interviews. i came across some good insight in the chapter "guidelines for conducting a clinical interview" that i think apply to a much broader audience than the students in the class i ta for:
- good things are often hard to do. <preach>
- assume instead that you are dealing with [somebody] who like all [somebodies] is engaged in an attempt to construct a view of the world and means for dealing with it. <you mean, we're all different?!>
- the open mind cannot be an empty mind. <counterintuitive, i know>
- whatever you say, make it simple and honest. <just like this sentence>
- even the most willing and cooperative [person] may have difficulty in talking about thinking. <how did you know?>
- the moral is that you never know what will work; be flexible enough to try almost anything. <almost being the key word in this statement>
it may seem very idealistic, and in-sync with the post-modern worldview, but i delight in the fact that i can extract some meaning from these late-night, last-minute study sessions.
