Can You Guess? Professor Asks Students What Group is Known for “Violence, Deceit, Irresponsibility, and a Lack of Remorse”
19th April 2023
We recently discussed how Wake Forest Psychology Professor S. Mason Garrison described conservatives as “guilty, anxious, and unable to handle stress well as children.” It was indicative of the overt hostility often encountered by Republicans and conservatives on our campuses today. Now, another psychology professor is under fire for a quiz that matter-of-factly explained that white men are characterized as a group for their abuse of others and lack of remorse for their violence and deceit. Like Professor Garrison, the resulting outcry reportedly led Professor Kirsten Bradbury to rescind the quiz. However, the incident reflects both the orthodoxy and hostility that now characterizes higher education. It also follows a familiar pattern when academics are called to account for such biased attacks.
Professor Bradbury gave a quiz as part of her “Personality Psychology” class and included a question that stated “[n]either race nor gender is determinative in Antisocial Personality Disorder.” It then asked:
“However, if we must go there, which sociodemographic group is most likely to repeatedly violate the rights of others in a pattern of behavior that includes violence, deceit, irresponsibility, and a lack of remorse?”
Bradbury then added an addendum stating “Hint: They also happen to hold the most social power and because of that they can get away with the most wrongdoing.”
She gave four choices with three obviously absurd choices of middle class Latino families, female dentists and Asian men of all economic groups. The correct answer was, of course, wealthy white men.