Psyched out.

• Author: Rundles, Jeff
• Position: RUNDLES wrap-up - Viewpoint essay

My sister and I were discussing children the other day and what to do as parents about troubling situations. She said she fears saying anything about her 20-year-old's love life. To say what she thinks--that the boyfriend is a scumbag--might push the daughter even closer to him, but trying reverse psychology might backfire. My sister is a lawyer, not a psychologist.

Then I heard a radio news report about the recent election in Iraq, and I found one Iraqi's predicament interesting. He said he voted for current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki instead of his favored choice, former Prime Minster Ayad Allawi, because he assumed there would be widespread voting fraud--switching of ballot boxes--so his vote for "A" would end up being counted for "B." It struck me that this kind of reverse psychology might backfire, too.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Then I had to laugh at a recent news article that said women who drink a moderate amount of red wine are skinnier than those who don't drink red wine. The first thing I thought was that the red wine industry, figuring women represent a sales growth opportunity, got some scientist to do an "authoritative'' study on red wine and weight, and would let psychology take its course. A pretty evident sham, I thought, until soon after my vehemently white-wine-only wife tried some of my red wine and pronounced it "tasty."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

A similar thing happened a few weeks ago when some of the major banks in the U.S. announced they were eliminating overdraft fees on their debit cards. They made it sound like the deal of the century for prospective customers, but, of course, underlying it all was simply a new way for the banks to charge-even more fees and make more money, not less. Some people call it "spin," but it's merely psychology.

For the first time in my life, and some 34 years after graduating from the University of Denver, I finally understand why all the people I knew in college who majored in psychology are so successful. I thought they were just trying to get out of foreign-language requirements or otherwise coasting in an "Easy B" curriculum, turns out they were planning to rule the world. The "smart" people, like me, went into journalism and now, of course, need psychologists--and head hunters, who mostly were...