PhD

I am currently trying to get into a doctorate program at my local university.  It is a little-known field called Prevention Science.  Basically, they do research into societal problems and prevention strategies.

Coolness.

To prevent societies. Much needed:)

That sounds fascinating. Do you have anything in mind already for your dissertation?

Use the Babel Generator and have it done in five minutes.

^Lol, cheater.

Blue Stranger wrote:

That sounds fascinating. Do you have anything in mind already for your dissertation?

I want to work on preventing gender-based discrimination and abuse through women's empowerment.  My goal is to identify potential victims and help them to avoid harmful people and situations.  One idea I had for a potential dissertation topic is researching whether dogs could be trained to identify people who are trying to conceal violent tendencies.

Hmm; there could be some problems with training dog to detect people who are trying to conceal violent tendencies. I suspect a dog that sensitive to people could be dangerous. Having a traditional family guard dog and a can of pepper spray should be sufficient; have to be careful about not trying to reinvent the wheel so to speak. I don't mean to be discouraging; I'm not sure either what level of stuff the people you give your dissertation want or are expecting. Best of luck to you in your endeavors.

J Doe wrote:

Having a traditional family guard dog and a can of pepper spray should be sufficient;

The purpose is not to have a guard dog to detect immediate threats.  The purpose is to detect that a person who is trying to incorporate himself into your life is concealing violent tendencies.  Such as a "charming" new boyfriend who ends up becoming physically abusive after making it nearly impossible for his partner to escape the relationship.

J Doe wrote:

have to be careful about not trying to reinvent the wheel so to speak. 

I disagree entirely.  I believe that reinventing the wheel is the whole point of becoming a scientist.

How will you get the dog sensitive enough to detect violent tendencies in people pretending to be normal? And how will the dog know what kind of violent tendency signs to look for/what if it mistakes a superhero or a cop for a bad guy/predator? 

This sounds like a dangerous idea; I think the dog would have to be almost as smart as a human. That's a bit of a scary thought. 

Personally, I feel the whole point of science is to create something better than the wheel; improve on designs. It kinda sounds like this idea is a bit too complicated with too many variables. It would be a lot easier to teach a human how to detect possible violent tendencies in people than a dog. And humans would be able to make judgment calls; dogs run on instincts and are hunters by nature....

J Doe wrote:

How will you get the dog sensitive enough to detect violent tendencies in people pretending to be normal? 

How the Hell should I know?  I have not gotten into the program yet.  I have never really even conducted actual scientific research before.

Anyway, I am perfectly comfortable with the idea of being considered a crackpot.



[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Mr. Burns wrote:

That fellow at RadioShack said I was mad... well who's mad now?!

Okey doke; didn't mean to start anything. Just pointing something out/providing constructive criticism. 

Knock 'em dead.

Dogs can pick up a lot about people, including changes in behavior. Of course, you have therapy dogs that are already trained to pick up on things like when their owner is about to have a seizure, and dogs that work with the elderly have shown great sensitivity to how they feel. Dogs are very expressive creatures, and can read expressions as naturally as they can pick up on changes in weather or health.

It's not that dogs have the ability to sense "bad" people--it's that we do, and dogs are particularly sensitive to their masters' emotions and pick up on the cues we're giving.

This is important to remember mainly because not knowing it can lead you to assume false positives. When your dog acts in a friendly manner toward someone, that doesn't mean they're trustworthy--it means you are inclined to trust them.

If your dog seems wary of somebody, conversely, stop and ask yourself how you feel about the person and their behavior, and what it might be that's bothering you about them. Too charming? Trying too hard? Not respecting boundaries? It's true that dogs have a great capacity to read and respond to humans, but their focus in most situations is going to be on their human, and taking cues from you.

(In the grand tradition of the Learn Legit thread--this is information that comes from Gavin de Becker in The Gift of Fear as well as articles/interviews by Cesar Millan.)

Nicely said, Blue Stranger.

Blue Stranger wrote:

If your dog seems wary of somebody, conversely, stop and ask yourself how you feel about the person and their behavior, and what it might be that's bothering you about them. Too charming? Trying too hard? Not respecting boundaries? It's true that dogs have a great capacity to read and respond to humans, but their focus in most situations is going to be on their human, and taking cues from you.

That is why I became fascinated with the idea.  People will say that they do not trust someone if their dog doesn't like that person.  So, it leads me to a hypothesis that dogs are capable of identifying a person who is hiding some sort of sinister motives.  I would like to research the extent to which that is actually possible, the reasons for it, and how it could be utilized.

I am intrigued by the idea that the dogs are responding to the owner's emotions rather than anything the potential threat is doing.  Perhaps the owner already subconsciously does not trust the person, and that is why the dog doesn't like them.  The cause and effect might be reversed.  Whatever the case, I still think that it would make very interesting research.  If I ended up coming to the conclusion that my hypothesis was incorrect, that does not make it bad research.  Negative results are still valuable.  And it could still make for a good doctoral dissertation.

Absolutely, test it. The only experimental difficulty I can see coming would be the element of people with actual violent intentions. I know a lot of "would your dog protect you from a mugging" tests fail because the "mugger" does not actually have violent intentions and the dog's owner is not actually alarmed.

Blue Stranger wrote:

Absolutely, test it. The only experimental difficulty I can see coming would be the element of people with actual violent intentions. I know a lot of "would your dog protect you from a mugging" tests fail because the "mugger" does not actually have violent intentions and the dog's owner is not actually alarmed.

Yeah, I think that would be the trickiest part.  Somehow I would have to be able to get people that I know for a fact to have violent tendencies to see if the dog could pick them out of a lineup, if you will.  And I would probably need quite a few such people to train the dog in the first place.

I'm the most violent person I know, and dogs love me.

What happened to the good old days of heroes like Doc Savage operating on criminals' brains to remove their violent behaviour?

CB, what makes you "the most violent person" you know?

I believe that. I'm more doubtful about a dog's ability to smell a completely calm psychopath who's trying to charm you to conduct a premeditated offense.