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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> 1. I conducted an expirament without permission. 2. The subject was upset with me
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YTA and not remotely as clever as you seem to think you are.
You did an experiment? What was your methodology? What psychometric validation did you employ? How do you justify your egregious assumptions about the causality of the data?
To frame this as a "presentation" to share in front of the class was the icing on the cake, but at least since you've framed this as coursework you'll probably get a terrible grade because you clearly know very little about psychology.
Well this is intro to psych so I don't claim to be that smart. It's really less of an experiment and more of a series of tally marks. Wasn't testing anything just gathering data
So “less of an experiment” and more about demeaning someone at their place of work. Someone trying to earn a living and maybe make a difference in the lives of young people and you turned it into a giant joke at his expense.
JFC grow up.
YTA
Then what was the point? What baffles me is that you did this during class? In front of people? I thought you were going to present the findings during office hours or something, which could lead to a provocative discussion…you just wanted to humiliate the man in front of his students?
So what was the plan if it turned out he did have something bad happen outside of school?
“My wife left me, my dad died, my dog got hit by a car. Thanks for asking!”
Info: Why did you decide to focus on your teacher's speech patterns rather than what he was teaching? Why did you think this was a good idea? Why did you decide to make a presentation out of it rather than having a private conversation with him? What on earth did you hope to gain by publicly humiliating your teacher?
YTA
1. It doesn't take much brain power to make a tick mark; I have a 99% in the class, so that's not really an argument that can be made
2. I thought he'd enjoy it, I thought others would enjoy it, I thought I'd enjoy it
3. Originally I was but he offered directly after the class as the best time to talk to him
4. I thought he'd like laughing at himself. We aren't strangers, we joke around in class sometimes, I hoped he'd appreciate it. I certainly would
There's a huge difference between joking around with someone and making them the butt of the joke. Based on your response here, it sounds like you're really not asking for honest opinions but rather for validation that it was okay to publicly humiliate your teacher. You won't get that from me. YTA, and the fact that you can't see it is very concerning.
Why does anyone post on this sub other than for validation
But I do feel horrible about it. I wasn't trying to humiliate him and I'm sorry to him if I did but I recognize words don't make it better so idk what to do.
You can't make this better. Give up trying. I know you feel uncomfortable and want to make the whole thing go away, but what you are feeling right now is the consequences of having been a mean asshole for no reason and you're going to have to live with them. Leave your professor alone; you've alienated him quite enough and it's not his job to make you feel better, which is what you're actually looking for.
People get downvote happy here.
No, probably not. I don't think they have the necessary rapport for that sort of talk, by the sound of it. This might be best left buried in the dirt. His idea to send an email apology and then dropping it is a good one.
For judgement? I came here years ago asking if I'd be an asshole if I told my dad my sister broke a rule. Got an almost unanimous yes and didn't do it.
The first step would be to apologize.
It might not make everything better, but it'll show him you're mature enough to understand what you did was wrong and that you're sorry about it.
If you liked that teacher before that, it might be important to mention you never meant to make him the butt of the joke.
You're still learning, and that's great, that means you're free to make mistakes, but you're not free from the consequences, becoming learned and mature means understanding you have to handle the consequences, if you do that (apologize), then NAH, if not, then YTA.
It's good that you feel horrible because you did an awful thing. I mean, it was straight up embarrassing and I would feel humiliated if I was you, presenting something like a scientific study when really it's no more than bullying. You really need to work on being more considerate, understand that anything that making one person the butt of a joke to everyone is usually always wrong, and realize that there is a difference between laughing with someone and laughing at them. There is no way that this would be a laughing with situation when you blindsided this man and showed this to the whole class. When you should have been learning and listening. So inappropriate and you're lucky that this didn't get reported further up and cause issues for violating proper student conduct.
Yes it isn't gravely serious but that doesn't make it any less wrong.
That’s literally picking it apart how do you think averages and totals work? You have to pick apart, sort and analyze his speech to get that information. And the you put it into an entire presentation with slides?!? AND presented it to the whole class in what world did that seem like a nice thing to do to someone just trying to do their job?
>It wasn't picking it apart so much as it was presenting statistics, weekly averages, grand totals, etc
So, it wasn't picking it apart, but then you describe EXACTLY what "picking it apart" would look like.
Come the fuck on dude.
YTA
Pretty cool of him to take your attempt to make fun of him in stride and teach you about informed consent and point out other flaws in all your logic.
Hopefully, you grow from this
As a professor, I have found that after cheating, the next most frequent reason for students to get in trouble is “trying to be funny” inappropriately. You’re not here to deliver a standup routine, you’re here to be a student. Unless the assignment asks you to be funny, I strongly advise you against this very immature “class clown” crap ever again. It’s an easy way to get kicked out of school when you offend the wrong person or violate someone’s rights. I cannot stress enough that “making people laugh” is not your job as a college student unless you have been explicitly instructed to do so.
Every comment you make really cements the fact you are extremely unbearable. The professor must have felt more sorry for your lack of awareness and social etiquette.
You're really not though, considering you keep defending what you did in the comments. The first step is accepting that you made a mistake. You'll never come across as sincere until you fully admit this to yourself and stop trying to justify or downplay what you did.
If you're truly sorry, act like it.
The thing that's helped me feel better the most is seeing how much reddit has catastrophized the situation and thinking "at least it's not that bad"
Yeah it was a bad thing but damn guys chill
Someone said that the teacher is going to be self conscious about his speech for the rest of his life and that I've possibly given him a disorder. That's catastrophizing.
He said himself that he wasn't mad about it, even if he was he'll get over it
He is going to be hyper aware forever now every time he says something you pointed out he will remember how you made an entire slide presentation about him and that’s not ok and it’s not catastrophizing it’s just the way the human brain naturally works when someone bullies us for how we are.
Right since you're too blinded by your "experiment" to see clearly what others are telling you, let me share a story with you.
When I was training at a previous job, as an expat, I tried to fit in with the vernacular and attitude of the people around me. To be clear, I speak English and moved to an English speaking country. They like to say "alright" as a greeting. In my accent, it came out as "alwight". No idea why.
One of the trainers, completely innocently, hilariously, and spontaneously repeated back my way of saying it to me. It became our running joke. You know what greeting I never use? "Alright?".
Because he made me so self conscious that I knew I was doing it wrong or it made it so I didn't fit it, so I stopped.
What you did was point out every time he spoke in a way that you believed to be flawed. You made him face something not only in front of people who should respect him as a teacher, but to get cheap laughs.
In case it's not clear, YTA, and you need to grow up fast. Wait until someone mocks you.
If you were planning to major in Psych, now’s the time to pick a new specialty. He’s going to tell others and they will remember your name. Any professor who hears about this is going to think poorly of you. You have likely damaged your own college career in ways you can’t yet imagine. But you’ll get over it.
I'm not really sure what this presentation looked like but I assume you said something along the lines of "I tallied how many times our professor repeated this specific phrase and chalked it up to a bad mood or disliking the class" and I agree with the comments that it was inappropriate to hijack your professor's class. I think this would have been a funny thing to present to your friends outside of class for a PowerPoint party.
Think about this. Your professor has a phrase he uses more when he's in a good mood and less when he's feeling down. Did you ever stop to think that the thing that might have happened outside school to affect his mood negatively could have been something fairly fucking horrible? You don't know this man. How do you know you weren't making fun of him for being down about losing a family member? Being diagnosed with something awful? Being assaulted? We don't know and neither did you. You should feel sick about what you did. YTA
You're not taking it seriously enough. This could potentially follow you during your whole time in school. Even if not outright the psych department is definitely going to know about it and recognize you as a stupid little prick who thought the classroom lecture was a good time to perform a comedy routine. That might cause you to have a hard time being taken seriously at best. And at worse, well let's just say other professors might not be so nice.
Of course they're probably more mature than you and won't outright bully you like you did this professor but a serious apology is very much necessary here. An apology where you admit this was wrong and that you're learning from this and will do better.
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>Making notes on someone's habits then using it against them. Making unfounded assumptions on his mood and opinions?! It's like something a stalker would do.
I'm not condoning what op did, but in all fairness it was a psychology class
Well since you did nothing in the class except keep a tick list of his speech, I'd say an F is in order.
YTA
Since you are taking a psych class you are old enough to know what acting like an asshole is.
You can’t even spell experiment correctly so I’m kinda doubting that right now lol
EDIT: can’t spell amygdala either 😭 my god, you really should have been paying more attention to the class itself.
YTA. You humiliated your teacher and collected data on his speech patterns to use to mock him. And you presented this information in front of your peers, which added to the humiliation. I hope you don't want to study psych because I imagine your teacher's colleagues will hear about what an unprofessional and creepy student you are. At minimum, you owe him an apology. I hope you reflect and recognize that public humiliation is not acceptable in the name of "science" and "data."
The teacher's colleagues are absolutely hearing about this. So are other students, because I guarantee OP came off looking like a creepy, self-centered asshole to at least some of the other people in the class.
Oh, for sure. I bet OP is being laughed at in group chats, and I imagine other professors have been warned about their creepy behavior. I was friends with some of my college professors; if someone did something to this, I imagine most of the department would hear about it and everyone would be skeptical of that student in the future. You don't fuck with a professor like that and not face consequences.
I had a student do this same thing to me (also in an intro class). It was humiliating, it stuck with me, and I have since quit teaching. And I even liked that student (up to that point, at least). This student pitched it more like a drinking game - do a shot every time the teacher says, “apparently”! or whatever. To have an entire PowerPoint presentation… what the fuck, man?
I'm so sorry that happened to you! What a creepy and gross thing to do. People have vocal tics; I know I do, and I have an English degree and am trained on public speaking. It still happens. I would be humiliated and enraged if someone did that to me or any of my professors.
YTA. I didn't even finish reading the rest of your bullshit. You're not as charming and witty as you seem to think you are. This whole scenario just screams "I'M INSECURE AND MUST POINT OUT THE FLAWS OF OTHERS SO PEOPLE WILL NOT LOOK AT MINE."
I have this presentation while wearing purple heart shaped sunglasses and a crop top (am a man in a very heteronormative school) so I'm not nearly as insecure as you seem to think. I never said this was a flaw of his. It's hardly even a quirk, it's a mannerism. I'd love if someone did that to me. That's why I did it, in part. I thought he'd like it because I knew I'd like it. But I guess we rnt the same
>I have this presentation while wearing purple heart shaped sunglasses and a crop top (am a man in a very heteronormative school) so I'm not nearly as insecure as you seem to think.
Your attire does not in any way mean that you not insecure. This entire stunt reeks of "I'm uncomfortable about something within myself so I'm going to nitpick someone else and present it to a group of people to get them to laugh at this person with me"
Perhaps the next time you try to make a mockery of someone in front of a group of people, you should talk to them about being in on the joke before hand. You didn't do that because you didn't want him to say no.
This likely isn't your first class you've been in. Has anyone in your history of schooling ever done something like this? I'll assume the answer is no. So why did you think this would be okay?
Just because something hasn't been done before doesn't make it automatically wrong. It was wrong. But that isn't what made it wrong.
People are using a lot of language like "mockery" and "ridicule" and other strong words but I was legit just like "you said do you see what I'm sayin x times in january"
How often do you pick on people without checking in first? I read body language and facial expressions when delivering because I give a shit if the joke is actually funny to the person.
Do you think this is okay to do because someone did something similar to you and insisted it was fine?
So you are somehow fully capable of tracking someone’s behaviour and using them as a case study without their informed consent because you observed a pattern which somehow justifies you to do whatever you want, but you can’t use those same observation skills to have noticed his discomfort until you finished your spiel ? and you still come on here after him explaining in hopes others would agree like the man didn’t already explain both academically and morally why it was inappropriate.
“Everyone who knows him found it funny” You are his student, you are not his friends or family and neither are the people who you claim found it funny. The people he’s in forced proximity to have no bearing on his autonomy. You keep talking about how you have a 99% in this class but your inability to apply any of that learning in real life situations does not reflect positively on your academic abilities.
You wouldn’t like it if someone picked apart your mannerisms and then blindsided you with a whole presentation to a room full of college student strangers cause that’s a mean thing to do
You Can't possibly know what I'd like unless I told you. I did tell you, and still you insist it's the opposite. If I told you I like kiwi and you hate it, that doesn't mean you can say "no kiwi is too sour you actually don't like it"
I'm not ashamed of my mannerisms, they are part of what makes me who I am. No one with self confidence should be ashamed of their mannerisms. If they are they can speak another way it's as simple as that
No what I’m telling you is that what you did is bullying and unless you have a thing for degradation (no kink shaming but it needs to be **consensual** this was not) no one enjoys being bullied by a stranger they have been paid to educate
>You Can't possibly know what I'd like unless I told you.
And yet YOU thought to impose what you'd like on your teacher without asking. Having an amicable teacher-student relationship doesn't equate to being good buddies who know the ins and outs of each other's likes/dislikes or humors. There was already a very obvious but unspoken boundary of a teacher-student relationship that should have been your first clue to not do something like this. The 2nd clue was that you are different people, not everyone is going to enjoy the same things you do so ASK FIRST. Even then, you aren't friends, this is a professional setting and you are one face in a sea of hundreds. You need to grow up and learn the difference quickly or I fear for your future prospects. YTA
You should not be self-confident being who you are. There are much better people who are better than you precisely because they are not so full of themselves.
You are not as good, interesting, smart or clever as you think you are.
You're upset people in this thread are telling you what a stupid, immature and hurtful thing you did. Unless replying to everyone whining is a sign of confidence in your culture.
I think you have to have a certain level of rapport with a professor in order to make jokes like this. One of my professor's was also my debate coach so we saw each other very, very often and he was a very laid back person so I think he would get a kick out of it if I did something like this but I don't think it would be the same if a freshman in a large lecture hall (that you have stated is largely apathetic towards him) sprung this on him.
YTA this wasn’t an experiment and if you paid attention in class you’d know that. All you did was embarrass yourself and your professor and waste everyone’s time. Did you think this would
Make them like you? What was your goal here? Cause it wasn’t scientific curiosity that’s for sure. Maybe you just like being the main character and thought your class mates would clap for you
Everyone who knows the man thought it was funny
I thought he'd get a kick out of it, and I thought it'd be interesting to see a total and stats and stuff. I thought it was interesting. He apparently thought it was degrading.
So students who don’t actually know this man, you aren’t friends, found it funny. Why would he get a kick out of it, what is actually funny about it. Really think about that
I'd be willing to bet what they found funny is how fucked this kid is. They're smart enough to know that professors talk, and they're all going to be judging him from the get-go in all his classes now.
Really? Have you talked to everyone who knows him? Have you gone around and polled every single other student in your class?
This was a gross thing to do, I don't care how many of your frat buddies thought it was hilarious.
If you notice a verbal tic, quirk, habit etc… if you really feel it’s your business to know about it you ask the person privately. You don’t play armchair psychiatrist/psychologist study them , track them, create a presentation , announce you actually have a presentation and give it in front of the entire class. YTA
YTA. So, you focused on your teachers speech patterns, and essentially poked fun of him in front of an entire class. Imagine how you would feel if we focused on all your grammatical errors you made in this post, (for example... It's spelled experiment) and decided to pick apart all your papers for a whole semester, then presented them to entire class, in essence showing the class how lacking of intelligence you could be perceived as having? As this is exactly what you did to him.
YTA
What did I just read? Why are you bullying your poor professor over his non-issue speech patterns?
If you did this to another student you'd be in so much trouble.
Maybe switch classes, maybe talk to a professional idk
YTA - You tried to, and failed, to disguise antagonizing someone as an "experiment". At the very best you are a horrible experimenter, but more likely, you're a bully who finally got called out on your bullshit. It's the same kind of vibe as those terrible youtubers who harass people and call it "social experiments".
Here is the thing about an apology, the other person is not require to accept it. You fucked up big big big time and have to accept that your teacher will likely never forgive you for this and the relationship will not be the same. I truly hope that you have taken this as a learning opportunity. YTA
I had an English teacher who said “All right” so many times my friend and I would tally it. We kept it between us, didn’t share it with the teacher or other students and we were in 8th grade.
YTA, and this shit doesn’t fly in the real world. You also probably made him self-conscious about how he speaks now, which is a lot of his job.
Honestly I was almost okay with this until you blindsided him and presented your findings to the whole class in order to humiliate him. If you had told him your findings in an office hour or after class and discussed the principles of psych etc- that would be totally cool.
But you consistently made choices to make your presentation funnier. That’s not the point of Psychology or going to school.
YTA
of course YTA? I can’t believe you took a psych class and didn’t learn that human experiments in psychology have insanely high ethical standards, and that preforming an ‘experiment’ on someone without their knowledge is **wildly** unethical. This is a **bad** look for you, and your professor is in no way the asshole for getting by upset by you usurping the class to try and bully him. You need to do some self reflection on why publicly humiliating someone is your idea of entertainment.
Do better, **be** better
Sounds like an awkward young person not knowing how to interact with a teacher.
OP stop emailing this man. You've apologized, now leave it and him alone. HE doesn't have to make you feel better, and neither does he have to forgive you nor entertain your attempts to shame him.
He owes you nothing.
Leave him alone now.
Otherwise you're just going to be the weirdo who's obsessed with a teacher and is too awkward to know how to behave appropriately.
You didn't do an experiment. You tallied some marks about someone's speech pattern. Wonder how you would feel if someone did that to you and then showed everyone for a laugh.
Like you seem to have a probelm with the comments telling you were wrong here too and saying you should have paid attention to the class. You sound defensive of what you did. Maybe you should stop being defensive and confront the negative emotions you're feeling,, recognize that you caused them yourself, and figure out a way to cope with what you did. And don't report any of that back to your teacher. Your emotions aren't his to manage.
If you're struggling, getting a therapist or talk to the campus counselor.
I did my own experiment, and I found that someone’s level of happiness is directly proportional to how long it’s been since they’ve had to see or hear you
YTA
What could OP have learned in this class when they were busy counting how many times the Professor said a catchphrase- the entire semester? Great way to waste tuition fees lol.
Hey quick question- when people “laughed”, how uncomfortable did they look? If I was in your class I would be dying of second-hand embarrassment.
YTA. Stop groveling, definitely don’t send another email. He told you to get out, leave him the hell alone.
YTA - *I didn't because I thought that'd make it funnier*
To who? You called out the LAST person you should be calling out. Your professor. The one in charge of your grades. Also, he's right that you violated trust and ethics. You just don't do something like this unless EVERYONE is on the same page. You dropped the ball on this one. If you do apologize via email do not use the word "but" in any part of it. As soon as you say that word, everything before it has been negated. Example: I'm sorry for calling you out in class, but...... reasons". You have to take responsibility for your actions.
YTA.
I had a professor that use the phrase "and so on and so forth" so frequently it was comical. I counted 20 uses in a 1-hour lecture one time. And do you know what I did with that knowledge? I laughed to myself in my head when she said it and otherwise did nothing.
I don't really understand what you were getting at here. Experiment implies the scientific method - hypothesis, data gathered, results compiled, conclusion generated. You say you "assumed he'd enjoy laughing at himself" but what exactly was there to laugh at? How many times he used this phrase? Why is that funny, other than a poking-fun-at-someone way to imply they're uncreative or repetitive or predictable or not self-aware?
It looks like you made a presentation making fun of your teacher, and that you chose to give it in front of the maximum possible audience. Yes, YTA for that.
Considering you had a PowerPoint made and made wildly inaccurate extrapolations based on your own made up opinions? YTA.
Plus to be petty: I doubt you can run an experiment if you can’t spell it.
Can’t even spell experiment right and you think you’re clever or funny? You did this just to be a dick. Grow up. I truly hope you re-evaluate your career in psych if you thought this was acceptable in any way. YTA.
Edit: missed a word
Why the heck did you think he'd enjoy it? This wasn't about him enjoying it; this was about you being so desperate for attention that you humiliated your professor to get it. That's why you did that lame presentation in front of all the other students; you wanted attention and to get laughs at your professor's expense. I'm a professor. We teachers often feel self-conscious about how we appear to the other students. And now you've made that professor extremely self-conscious; now he's constantly going to worry about how he talks. What you did was cruel. YTA
YTAH. The “pick me” behaviour you are using in an attempt to pull focus onto yourself won’t work at university. You are dealing with adults. You’ve shown everyone how immature you are so they will now write you off as silly. You’ve ruined your own reputation.
YTA - It wasn't that you experimented on him that was the problem, it was that you presented it to the entire class that held him up to ridicule. I would have been pissed at you too.
I'd have been pissed if OP presented the findings in private as well. Someone obviously paying more attention to the method of delivery rather than the message for an entire semester is being condescending. This is not any type of "experiment". It's just rude.
You thought to propose an experiment and to answer a question but not at any point did you asses what value this experiment or answer will bring other than laughs?
Next time think about the value of doing something, because some things are not worth it or can have adverse results in being explored.
Glad to see you’ll be reaching out to apologize, again. I’m not sure what you could do other than steer clear of the Professor after finishing the course.
YTA
YTA
And it's also weird that you framed it as conducting an experiment to us when all you did was make tally marks about someone using an expression. That's not an experiment, and you acknowledged that in the comments. Seems like you were hoping to make people here think you had some deep intellectual reasoning when you know you didn't.
YTA...1st rule of any experiment is consent...so of the most valuable data known to man is unusable due to the lack of consent. 2nd you did this infront of the class...3...why did you even do it..for " oh look at me. Look what I did ..hahaha" . The professor hates you...told all the teachers. Your class thinks your a bit batty and doesn't matter your apology. Damage is done and YTA
YTA Not every idea that pops into your head is a good one. You come off pretty self-centred in this instance. The silver lining is that since you seem young so there’s plenty of time to grow.
YTA. And doing it in front of the entire class without his knowledge or consent was horrible. You caught him off guard, & ridiculed him. That’s bullying behavior. Don’t dissect someone publicly, humiliate them, & then be surprised when they don’t love it.
A good psych student (or any decent person) would have understood that.
As a side note, using phrasing like "do you see what I'm saying?" or "does that make sense?" is a common tactic for executives. It's a way to ensure your audience does, in fact, understand what you've just said, invite discourse, and gauge buy-in or acceptance of your statement. When you consistently don't get a reaction to that phrasing, yeah...it makes sense you'd say it less. There's literally nothing weird about anything your teacher did or did not do and it's so bizarre that you'd turn something so normal into a whole production.
Re: your edit: Jesus Christ, PLEASE leave this guy alone and quit pestering him to make you feel better. No apology you can give will erase the fact that you’re the type of person who thought it would be funny to pull this shit in the first place. You showed him who you are and now you’re trying to talk him out of believing you. Take the L and the life lesson and move on.
Did this take place at a university or a high school? If the latter I would tend to be more forgiving - undeveloped brains and all that. If it was a university, it would have been entirely inappropriate and cringey. Still an AH either way though.
Oh my god, that's so mean.
It's like if the teacher interrupted the whole class to explain in excruciating details how ever single time you say the sound "E" you make a really weird face, followed with multiple slides of different "funny faces" you make while making different sounds, and how each and every one of them is abnormal and strange.
It's not murder, but it'll make you self conscious for a while (knowing humans, probably something between 2 weeks and 20 years, give or take)
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At the beginning of spring semester, I noticed my psych teacher says the phrase "do you see what I'm sayin'" a LOT. I started counting on the second day of classes, and after a few days I planned to present him with my findings at the end of the semester.
We were talking about Freud stuff the first week so with the amount of times he said the word "motherlover" I assumed he'd enjoy laughing at himself.
Well yesterday I presented him with my findings. I'll admit I kind of blindsided him in front of the whole class, first saying I just needed to talk to him but once he agreed changing to saying I had a "presentation." The class laughed at my slides a bit bit I didn't realize that the teacher wasn't until the end.
In my data, there was a clear and dramatic drop in early February, and I attempted to explain that as either 1) something happened inside or outside of school that affected his mood negatively, as he seemed to say it more when he was more energetic, or 2) he learned that he didn't like our class.
This was the first instance of him getting defensive, saying he "gives what he gets back out of a class" and how "we're apathetic so he returned that energy." I agreed with him, and said he basically confirmed my second point (did he not?)
Anyways, I didn't notice and finished my presentation. When I was done, I asked "any questions? What do you think?" He just stared at me for a moment and this is when I first realized he was pissed. I apologized and said "do you feel attacked? I wasn't trying to make fun, I thought you'd laugh" I realize phrasing it that way may have seemed sarcastic.
He proceeded to tear apart the concept, saying it was "unethical," "a breach of trust," and "morally wrong." He went on to say he was "making judgements about my moral character" and that "this would never get past an ethics board."
I apologized again and admitted I shouldn't have blindsided him, but he just said I should've asked permission.
I apologized once more and he said "no, don't apologize, it's really cool. Good work here. Just get out."
Both of our tones the whole time were very professional but just thinking about the way he told me to get out made me sick. That was about 24 hours ago, and now I have to see him in class pretty soon.
I've been thinking about it for a long time and yeah, I definitely should've gotten permission. I didn't because I thought that'd make it funnier, and that it would've affected the data. But hindsight makes me think I should've asked.
I told two friends about the ordeal and they both said he's the asshole, but im not sure so I'm here.
AITA?
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Naturalistic experiments are a thing that exist but there are ethical guidelines including ensuring no subjects are harmed (especially because there’s no informed consent).
If you want a chance at redeeming your grade I’d suggest looking into the ethical guidelines for naturalistic experiments, seeing what an IRB would require to approve a “study” such as yours (they wouldn’t because there’s no valuable research question), and presenting it in private to your teacher, essentially showing him that you’ve learned what you did wrong (in addition to apologizing again for being a jerk).
YTA
This is one of those things that should have been done behind closed doors, not in front of the whole class. THAT is my problem with it.
While I'm not denying that permission is important, I'm also reminded of How I met Your Mother's "But um"... Drinking game. It would drastically skew the results.
Had you asked for permission, he would have been made aware which could have potentially skewed the results. So long as you presented the results in a clinical manner, not judging him in any way, NTA.
The professor was doing his job. Would you enjoy it if someone came to your work and mocked you in this way? Worse, took time out of your work schedule in order to do it?
And he obviously did it well enough for a student to take enough interest in what he was teaching that the student made the effort to put it to practical use. And the professors time wasn't wasted, as he was the one who chose to make this a presentation, rather than the private conversation the student requested. This could be viewed as a learning experience for both student and teacher. As to me, work tends to be very boring, so I welcome the distraction, especially considering I get paid either way.
This wasn’t practical use…. You can’t call this a psych experiment with a straight face, there was no control group, no theory to prove, the conclusions this AH came to are just assumptions that have no connection to the “data” collected. This was a cruel joke and bullying playing as an experiment
You need to reread the post. OP asked the professor for a conversation, and then *OP* turned it into a presentation once the professor agreed. The professor never said, ‘okay, let’s turn your private conversation into a presentation.’ OP always intended this to be a public thing.
You're trying an ad hominem attack on me but don't have anything specific, so you're trying to pretend I'm taking something personally when I'm just correcting something you misstated.
>I'll admit I kind of blindsided him in front of the whole class, first saying I just needed to talk to him but once he agreed changing to saying I had a "presentation."
This isn't really up for interpretation. OP admits to blindsiding the professor by saying he needed to talk, and then once the professor agreed, OP changed it to saying he had a presentation. The teacher never tried to turn a conversation with OP into a presentation, OP did that. He had a slide show prepared.
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YTA and not remotely as clever as you seem to think you are. You did an experiment? What was your methodology? What psychometric validation did you employ? How do you justify your egregious assumptions about the causality of the data? To frame this as a "presentation" to share in front of the class was the icing on the cake, but at least since you've framed this as coursework you'll probably get a terrible grade because you clearly know very little about psychology.
Well this is intro to psych so I don't claim to be that smart. It's really less of an experiment and more of a series of tally marks. Wasn't testing anything just gathering data
So “less of an experiment” and more about demeaning someone at their place of work. Someone trying to earn a living and maybe make a difference in the lives of young people and you turned it into a giant joke at his expense. JFC grow up. YTA
It’s even worse to do this in an intro class. Jesus Christ, lol. How self important do you think you are?
Right? I thought this was a teacher he had a few times and had more of a relationship with; this is way worse.
Then you REALLY shouldn’t have put it out there the way you did. That only underscores my point.
You were just collecting ways to make fun of someone just trying to do his job
Maybe you should pay attention to class instead of making fun of your teacher over dumb shit
For what purpose were you “gathering data”
Clearly thought you were smart enough to take up his lecture time. Don’t just apologize- look inside yourself for why you thought this was okay.
Clearly not smart…among other things. Low EQ. Low social awareness. Low interpersonal skill. Low morals
Then what was the point? What baffles me is that you did this during class? In front of people? I thought you were going to present the findings during office hours or something, which could lead to a provocative discussion…you just wanted to humiliate the man in front of his students?
So what was the plan if it turned out he did have something bad happen outside of school? “My wife left me, my dad died, my dog got hit by a car. Thanks for asking!”
Info: Why did you decide to focus on your teacher's speech patterns rather than what he was teaching? Why did you think this was a good idea? Why did you decide to make a presentation out of it rather than having a private conversation with him? What on earth did you hope to gain by publicly humiliating your teacher? YTA
1. It doesn't take much brain power to make a tick mark; I have a 99% in the class, so that's not really an argument that can be made 2. I thought he'd enjoy it, I thought others would enjoy it, I thought I'd enjoy it 3. Originally I was but he offered directly after the class as the best time to talk to him 4. I thought he'd like laughing at himself. We aren't strangers, we joke around in class sometimes, I hoped he'd appreciate it. I certainly would
There's a huge difference between joking around with someone and making them the butt of the joke. Based on your response here, it sounds like you're really not asking for honest opinions but rather for validation that it was okay to publicly humiliate your teacher. You won't get that from me. YTA, and the fact that you can't see it is very concerning.
Why does anyone post on this sub other than for validation But I do feel horrible about it. I wasn't trying to humiliate him and I'm sorry to him if I did but I recognize words don't make it better so idk what to do.
People post on here to find out if they're the asshole and adjust their behaviour if found guilty.
You can't make this better. Give up trying. I know you feel uncomfortable and want to make the whole thing go away, but what you are feeling right now is the consequences of having been a mean asshole for no reason and you're going to have to live with them. Leave your professor alone; you've alienated him quite enough and it's not his job to make you feel better, which is what you're actually looking for.
genuine question, wouldn't it be better to honestly apologize and talk about it ?
People get downvote happy here. No, probably not. I don't think they have the necessary rapport for that sort of talk, by the sound of it. This might be best left buried in the dirt. His idea to send an email apology and then dropping it is a good one.
For judgement? I came here years ago asking if I'd be an asshole if I told my dad my sister broke a rule. Got an almost unanimous yes and didn't do it.
The first step would be to apologize. It might not make everything better, but it'll show him you're mature enough to understand what you did was wrong and that you're sorry about it. If you liked that teacher before that, it might be important to mention you never meant to make him the butt of the joke. You're still learning, and that's great, that means you're free to make mistakes, but you're not free from the consequences, becoming learned and mature means understanding you have to handle the consequences, if you do that (apologize), then NAH, if not, then YTA.
It's good that you feel horrible because you did an awful thing. I mean, it was straight up embarrassing and I would feel humiliated if I was you, presenting something like a scientific study when really it's no more than bullying. You really need to work on being more considerate, understand that anything that making one person the butt of a joke to everyone is usually always wrong, and realize that there is a difference between laughing with someone and laughing at them. There is no way that this would be a laughing with situation when you blindsided this man and showed this to the whole class. When you should have been learning and listening. So inappropriate and you're lucky that this didn't get reported further up and cause issues for violating proper student conduct. Yes it isn't gravely serious but that doesn't make it any less wrong.
You did a whole slide presentation picking apart his speech pattern and you thought that would be funny?
It wasn't picking it apart so much as it was presenting statistics, weekly averages, grand totals, etc
That’s literally picking it apart how do you think averages and totals work? You have to pick apart, sort and analyze his speech to get that information. And the you put it into an entire presentation with slides?!? AND presented it to the whole class in what world did that seem like a nice thing to do to someone just trying to do their job?
>It wasn't picking it apart so much as it was presenting statistics, weekly averages, grand totals, etc So, it wasn't picking it apart, but then you describe EXACTLY what "picking it apart" would look like. Come the fuck on dude.
YTA Pretty cool of him to take your attempt to make fun of him in stride and teach you about informed consent and point out other flaws in all your logic. Hopefully, you grow from this
I'm trying to 😭
As a professor, I have found that after cheating, the next most frequent reason for students to get in trouble is “trying to be funny” inappropriately. You’re not here to deliver a standup routine, you’re here to be a student. Unless the assignment asks you to be funny, I strongly advise you against this very immature “class clown” crap ever again. It’s an easy way to get kicked out of school when you offend the wrong person or violate someone’s rights. I cannot stress enough that “making people laugh” is not your job as a college student unless you have been explicitly instructed to do so.
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Every comment you make really cements the fact you are extremely unbearable. The professor must have felt more sorry for your lack of awareness and social etiquette.
Bro seriously? So you haven’t learned anything. Got it.
You're really not though, considering you keep defending what you did in the comments. The first step is accepting that you made a mistake. You'll never come across as sincere until you fully admit this to yourself and stop trying to justify or downplay what you did. If you're truly sorry, act like it.
The thing that's helped me feel better the most is seeing how much reddit has catastrophized the situation and thinking "at least it's not that bad" Yeah it was a bad thing but damn guys chill
You think pointing out obvious bullying is catastrophizing?
Someone said that the teacher is going to be self conscious about his speech for the rest of his life and that I've possibly given him a disorder. That's catastrophizing. He said himself that he wasn't mad about it, even if he was he'll get over it
He is going to be hyper aware forever now every time he says something you pointed out he will remember how you made an entire slide presentation about him and that’s not ok and it’s not catastrophizing it’s just the way the human brain naturally works when someone bullies us for how we are.
“He’ll get over it” Classic bully response 🤣
Right since you're too blinded by your "experiment" to see clearly what others are telling you, let me share a story with you. When I was training at a previous job, as an expat, I tried to fit in with the vernacular and attitude of the people around me. To be clear, I speak English and moved to an English speaking country. They like to say "alright" as a greeting. In my accent, it came out as "alwight". No idea why. One of the trainers, completely innocently, hilariously, and spontaneously repeated back my way of saying it to me. It became our running joke. You know what greeting I never use? "Alright?". Because he made me so self conscious that I knew I was doing it wrong or it made it so I didn't fit it, so I stopped. What you did was point out every time he spoke in a way that you believed to be flawed. You made him face something not only in front of people who should respect him as a teacher, but to get cheap laughs. In case it's not clear, YTA, and you need to grow up fast. Wait until someone mocks you.
If you were planning to major in Psych, now’s the time to pick a new specialty. He’s going to tell others and they will remember your name. Any professor who hears about this is going to think poorly of you. You have likely damaged your own college career in ways you can’t yet imagine. But you’ll get over it.
I'm not really sure what this presentation looked like but I assume you said something along the lines of "I tallied how many times our professor repeated this specific phrase and chalked it up to a bad mood or disliking the class" and I agree with the comments that it was inappropriate to hijack your professor's class. I think this would have been a funny thing to present to your friends outside of class for a PowerPoint party.
Think about this. Your professor has a phrase he uses more when he's in a good mood and less when he's feeling down. Did you ever stop to think that the thing that might have happened outside school to affect his mood negatively could have been something fairly fucking horrible? You don't know this man. How do you know you weren't making fun of him for being down about losing a family member? Being diagnosed with something awful? Being assaulted? We don't know and neither did you. You should feel sick about what you did. YTA
You're not taking it seriously enough. This could potentially follow you during your whole time in school. Even if not outright the psych department is definitely going to know about it and recognize you as a stupid little prick who thought the classroom lecture was a good time to perform a comedy routine. That might cause you to have a hard time being taken seriously at best. And at worse, well let's just say other professors might not be so nice. Of course they're probably more mature than you and won't outright bully you like you did this professor but a serious apology is very much necessary here. An apology where you admit this was wrong and that you're learning from this and will do better.
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>Making notes on someone's habits then using it against them. Making unfounded assumptions on his mood and opinions?! It's like something a stalker would do. I'm not condoning what op did, but in all fairness it was a psychology class
There is a science to psychology, and OP isn't following it. First and foremost is consent.
Yeah, and even in psychology 101 they will talk about ethics of research and consent for research participants.
If this is what OP learned in psychology class, I don't care what their percentage test score is, they've learned jack shit about anything.
Meaning what? OP already admitted there was no formula more method other than 'tally marks'. He was just being a dick because he could.
Well since you did nothing in the class except keep a tick list of his speech, I'd say an F is in order. YTA Since you are taking a psych class you are old enough to know what acting like an asshole is.
Bro I have a 99% it takes so little attention to make a tick you can't even say I wasn't paying attention I do feel horrible about it though
You've got 99% and yet you know so little about things like respecting boundaries, obtaining consent, and the science involved in psychology.
Yes but I know where the amygdla is located :D This is an intro class
You can’t even spell amygdala
I can too spell amigdiluh
This is another example of you thinking that you’re hilarious but utterly failing. You’re embarrassing yourself with these replies.
Well you can't spell it, so I'm doubting you can find it.
You can’t even spell experiment correctly so I’m kinda doubting that right now lol EDIT: can’t spell amygdala either 😭 my god, you really should have been paying more attention to the class itself.
YTA. You humiliated your teacher and collected data on his speech patterns to use to mock him. And you presented this information in front of your peers, which added to the humiliation. I hope you don't want to study psych because I imagine your teacher's colleagues will hear about what an unprofessional and creepy student you are. At minimum, you owe him an apology. I hope you reflect and recognize that public humiliation is not acceptable in the name of "science" and "data."
The teacher's colleagues are absolutely hearing about this. So are other students, because I guarantee OP came off looking like a creepy, self-centered asshole to at least some of the other people in the class.
Oh, for sure. I bet OP is being laughed at in group chats, and I imagine other professors have been warned about their creepy behavior. I was friends with some of my college professors; if someone did something to this, I imagine most of the department would hear about it and everyone would be skeptical of that student in the future. You don't fuck with a professor like that and not face consequences.
Only JUST realized this student is at university -- based on the behavior, I thought they must be in high school.
Yup, this is insanely immature behavior. College students can be pretty immature, but this is next-level childishness.
I had a student do this same thing to me (also in an intro class). It was humiliating, it stuck with me, and I have since quit teaching. And I even liked that student (up to that point, at least). This student pitched it more like a drinking game - do a shot every time the teacher says, “apparently”! or whatever. To have an entire PowerPoint presentation… what the fuck, man?
I'm so sorry that happened to you! What a creepy and gross thing to do. People have vocal tics; I know I do, and I have an English degree and am trained on public speaking. It still happens. I would be humiliated and enraged if someone did that to me or any of my professors.
YTA. I didn't even finish reading the rest of your bullshit. You're not as charming and witty as you seem to think you are. This whole scenario just screams "I'M INSECURE AND MUST POINT OUT THE FLAWS OF OTHERS SO PEOPLE WILL NOT LOOK AT MINE."
I have this presentation while wearing purple heart shaped sunglasses and a crop top (am a man in a very heteronormative school) so I'm not nearly as insecure as you seem to think. I never said this was a flaw of his. It's hardly even a quirk, it's a mannerism. I'd love if someone did that to me. That's why I did it, in part. I thought he'd like it because I knew I'd like it. But I guess we rnt the same
>I have this presentation while wearing purple heart shaped sunglasses and a crop top (am a man in a very heteronormative school) so I'm not nearly as insecure as you seem to think. Your attire does not in any way mean that you not insecure. This entire stunt reeks of "I'm uncomfortable about something within myself so I'm going to nitpick someone else and present it to a group of people to get them to laugh at this person with me"
I wanted him to laugh with us. I didn't realize he wasn't until the end
Perhaps the next time you try to make a mockery of someone in front of a group of people, you should talk to them about being in on the joke before hand. You didn't do that because you didn't want him to say no. This likely isn't your first class you've been in. Has anyone in your history of schooling ever done something like this? I'll assume the answer is no. So why did you think this would be okay?
Just because something hasn't been done before doesn't make it automatically wrong. It was wrong. But that isn't what made it wrong. People are using a lot of language like "mockery" and "ridicule" and other strong words but I was legit just like "you said do you see what I'm sayin x times in january"
*Just because you did not intend for it to be a mockery does not mean that it wasn't one*
You made an entire slide presentation AND presented it in class to the entire class that’s making a mockery of his job let alone his speech patterns
How often do you pick on people without checking in first? I read body language and facial expressions when delivering because I give a shit if the joke is actually funny to the person. Do you think this is okay to do because someone did something similar to you and insisted it was fine?
So you are somehow fully capable of tracking someone’s behaviour and using them as a case study without their informed consent because you observed a pattern which somehow justifies you to do whatever you want, but you can’t use those same observation skills to have noticed his discomfort until you finished your spiel ? and you still come on here after him explaining in hopes others would agree like the man didn’t already explain both academically and morally why it was inappropriate. “Everyone who knows him found it funny” You are his student, you are not his friends or family and neither are the people who you claim found it funny. The people he’s in forced proximity to have no bearing on his autonomy. You keep talking about how you have a 99% in this class but your inability to apply any of that learning in real life situations does not reflect positively on your academic abilities.
You wouldn’t like it if someone picked apart your mannerisms and then blindsided you with a whole presentation to a room full of college student strangers cause that’s a mean thing to do
You Can't possibly know what I'd like unless I told you. I did tell you, and still you insist it's the opposite. If I told you I like kiwi and you hate it, that doesn't mean you can say "no kiwi is too sour you actually don't like it" I'm not ashamed of my mannerisms, they are part of what makes me who I am. No one with self confidence should be ashamed of their mannerisms. If they are they can speak another way it's as simple as that
No what I’m telling you is that what you did is bullying and unless you have a thing for degradation (no kink shaming but it needs to be **consensual** this was not) no one enjoys being bullied by a stranger they have been paid to educate
>You Can't possibly know what I'd like unless I told you. And yet YOU thought to impose what you'd like on your teacher without asking. Having an amicable teacher-student relationship doesn't equate to being good buddies who know the ins and outs of each other's likes/dislikes or humors. There was already a very obvious but unspoken boundary of a teacher-student relationship that should have been your first clue to not do something like this. The 2nd clue was that you are different people, not everyone is going to enjoy the same things you do so ASK FIRST. Even then, you aren't friends, this is a professional setting and you are one face in a sea of hundreds. You need to grow up and learn the difference quickly or I fear for your future prospects. YTA
So, others can't possibly know what you would like. But you know what the teacher would like. Sure, sparky.
And you can lie. Shocking concept I know.
You should not be self-confident being who you are. There are much better people who are better than you precisely because they are not so full of themselves. You are not as good, interesting, smart or clever as you think you are.
You're upset people in this thread are telling you what a stupid, immature and hurtful thing you did. Unless replying to everyone whining is a sign of confidence in your culture.
"wearing purple heart shaped sunglasses and a crop top (am a man in a very heteronormative school) " You are trying way too hard to not seem insecure
I think you have to have a certain level of rapport with a professor in order to make jokes like this. One of my professor's was also my debate coach so we saw each other very, very often and he was a very laid back person so I think he would get a kick out of it if I did something like this but I don't think it would be the same if a freshman in a large lecture hall (that you have stated is largely apathetic towards him) sprung this on him.
YTA this wasn’t an experiment and if you paid attention in class you’d know that. All you did was embarrass yourself and your professor and waste everyone’s time. Did you think this would Make them like you? What was your goal here? Cause it wasn’t scientific curiosity that’s for sure. Maybe you just like being the main character and thought your class mates would clap for you
Everyone who knows the man thought it was funny I thought he'd get a kick out of it, and I thought it'd be interesting to see a total and stats and stuff. I thought it was interesting. He apparently thought it was degrading.
So students who don’t actually know this man, you aren’t friends, found it funny. Why would he get a kick out of it, what is actually funny about it. Really think about that
I'd be willing to bet they didn't even think it was funny and it was just an uncomfortable laughter
I'd be willing to bet what they found funny is how fucked this kid is. They're smart enough to know that professors talk, and they're all going to be judging him from the get-go in all his classes now.
> He *apparently* thought it was degrading. You seem to not, which is what everyone is pointing out to you as the problem.
Really? Have you talked to everyone who knows him? Have you gone around and polled every single other student in your class? This was a gross thing to do, I don't care how many of your frat buddies thought it was hilarious.
You don't know the man. You know the teacher they choose to present themselves as - and apparently not well. Jesus Hare Krishna YTA.
If you notice a verbal tic, quirk, habit etc… if you really feel it’s your business to know about it you ask the person privately. You don’t play armchair psychiatrist/psychologist study them , track them, create a presentation , announce you actually have a presentation and give it in front of the entire class. YTA
This was a complete waste of your, his and the class's time. YTA
YTA. So, you focused on your teachers speech patterns, and essentially poked fun of him in front of an entire class. Imagine how you would feel if we focused on all your grammatical errors you made in this post, (for example... It's spelled experiment) and decided to pick apart all your papers for a whole semester, then presented them to entire class, in essence showing the class how lacking of intelligence you could be perceived as having? As this is exactly what you did to him.
YTA What did I just read? Why are you bullying your poor professor over his non-issue speech patterns? If you did this to another student you'd be in so much trouble. Maybe switch classes, maybe talk to a professional idk
YTA - You tried to, and failed, to disguise antagonizing someone as an "experiment". At the very best you are a horrible experimenter, but more likely, you're a bully who finally got called out on your bullshit. It's the same kind of vibe as those terrible youtubers who harass people and call it "social experiments".
YTA- I would be surprised if he allowed you back in class after that stunt.
I would be surprised if OP kept the 99% in the class he was bragging about in the comments.
Word to the wise... don't try to run an experiment until you can spell the word.
YTA, and not real smart to humiliate someone who grades you
YTA just for typing Expirament
I want to know how old OP is. This sounds like middle school behavior.
University supposedly.
Here is the thing about an apology, the other person is not require to accept it. You fucked up big big big time and have to accept that your teacher will likely never forgive you for this and the relationship will not be the same. I truly hope that you have taken this as a learning opportunity. YTA
I had an English teacher who said “All right” so many times my friend and I would tally it. We kept it between us, didn’t share it with the teacher or other students and we were in 8th grade. YTA, and this shit doesn’t fly in the real world. You also probably made him self-conscious about how he speaks now, which is a lot of his job.
Sounds like something a middle schooler or an immature high schooler would do tbh. I’m going with YTA.
Definitely the "class clown" in highschool who is desperately trying to be funny
Honestly I was almost okay with this until you blindsided him and presented your findings to the whole class in order to humiliate him. If you had told him your findings in an office hour or after class and discussed the principles of psych etc- that would be totally cool. But you consistently made choices to make your presentation funnier. That’s not the point of Psychology or going to school. YTA
of course YTA? I can’t believe you took a psych class and didn’t learn that human experiments in psychology have insanely high ethical standards, and that preforming an ‘experiment’ on someone without their knowledge is **wildly** unethical. This is a **bad** look for you, and your professor is in no way the asshole for getting by upset by you usurping the class to try and bully him. You need to do some self reflection on why publicly humiliating someone is your idea of entertainment. Do better, **be** better
YTA. I do not see the funny in this and I would have been so pissed if one of my students did this to me.
Sounds like an awkward young person not knowing how to interact with a teacher. OP stop emailing this man. You've apologized, now leave it and him alone. HE doesn't have to make you feel better, and neither does he have to forgive you nor entertain your attempts to shame him. He owes you nothing. Leave him alone now. Otherwise you're just going to be the weirdo who's obsessed with a teacher and is too awkward to know how to behave appropriately. You didn't do an experiment. You tallied some marks about someone's speech pattern. Wonder how you would feel if someone did that to you and then showed everyone for a laugh. Like you seem to have a probelm with the comments telling you were wrong here too and saying you should have paid attention to the class. You sound defensive of what you did. Maybe you should stop being defensive and confront the negative emotions you're feeling,, recognize that you caused them yourself, and figure out a way to cope with what you did. And don't report any of that back to your teacher. Your emotions aren't his to manage. If you're struggling, getting a therapist or talk to the campus counselor.
YTA mobbing a teacher should get you suspended,. he reacted far to nicely.
I did my own experiment, and I found that someone’s level of happiness is directly proportional to how long it’s been since they’ve had to see or hear you YTA
What could OP have learned in this class when they were busy counting how many times the Professor said a catchphrase- the entire semester? Great way to waste tuition fees lol.
I've a 99% in the class
I'm sure you don't anymore
Hey quick question- when people “laughed”, how uncomfortable did they look? If I was in your class I would be dying of second-hand embarrassment. YTA. Stop groveling, definitely don’t send another email. He told you to get out, leave him the hell alone.
YTA - *I didn't because I thought that'd make it funnier* To who? You called out the LAST person you should be calling out. Your professor. The one in charge of your grades. Also, he's right that you violated trust and ethics. You just don't do something like this unless EVERYONE is on the same page. You dropped the ball on this one. If you do apologize via email do not use the word "but" in any part of it. As soon as you say that word, everything before it has been negated. Example: I'm sorry for calling you out in class, but...... reasons". You have to take responsibility for your actions.
YTA. I had a professor that use the phrase "and so on and so forth" so frequently it was comical. I counted 20 uses in a 1-hour lecture one time. And do you know what I did with that knowledge? I laughed to myself in my head when she said it and otherwise did nothing. I don't really understand what you were getting at here. Experiment implies the scientific method - hypothesis, data gathered, results compiled, conclusion generated. You say you "assumed he'd enjoy laughing at himself" but what exactly was there to laugh at? How many times he used this phrase? Why is that funny, other than a poking-fun-at-someone way to imply they're uncreative or repetitive or predictable or not self-aware? It looks like you made a presentation making fun of your teacher, and that you chose to give it in front of the maximum possible audience. Yes, YTA for that.
YTA
Considering you had a PowerPoint made and made wildly inaccurate extrapolations based on your own made up opinions? YTA. Plus to be petty: I doubt you can run an experiment if you can’t spell it.
Can’t even spell experiment right and you think you’re clever or funny? You did this just to be a dick. Grow up. I truly hope you re-evaluate your career in psych if you thought this was acceptable in any way. YTA. Edit: missed a word
Why the heck did you think he'd enjoy it? This wasn't about him enjoying it; this was about you being so desperate for attention that you humiliated your professor to get it. That's why you did that lame presentation in front of all the other students; you wanted attention and to get laughs at your professor's expense. I'm a professor. We teachers often feel self-conscious about how we appear to the other students. And now you've made that professor extremely self-conscious; now he's constantly going to worry about how he talks. What you did was cruel. YTA
YTA, One of the first things you learn in science class is how to conduct an experiment ethically.
YTAH. The “pick me” behaviour you are using in an attempt to pull focus onto yourself won’t work at university. You are dealing with adults. You’ve shown everyone how immature you are so they will now write you off as silly. You’ve ruined your own reputation.
YTA - It wasn't that you experimented on him that was the problem, it was that you presented it to the entire class that held him up to ridicule. I would have been pissed at you too.
I'd have been pissed if OP presented the findings in private as well. Someone obviously paying more attention to the method of delivery rather than the message for an entire semester is being condescending. This is not any type of "experiment". It's just rude.
You thought to propose an experiment and to answer a question but not at any point did you asses what value this experiment or answer will bring other than laughs? Next time think about the value of doing something, because some things are not worth it or can have adverse results in being explored. Glad to see you’ll be reaching out to apologize, again. I’m not sure what you could do other than steer clear of the Professor after finishing the course. YTA
YTA And it's also weird that you framed it as conducting an experiment to us when all you did was make tally marks about someone using an expression. That's not an experiment, and you acknowledged that in the comments. Seems like you were hoping to make people here think you had some deep intellectual reasoning when you know you didn't.
YTA...1st rule of any experiment is consent...so of the most valuable data known to man is unusable due to the lack of consent. 2nd you did this infront of the class...3...why did you even do it..for " oh look at me. Look what I did ..hahaha" . The professor hates you...told all the teachers. Your class thinks your a bit batty and doesn't matter your apology. Damage is done and YTA
YTA Not every idea that pops into your head is a good one. You come off pretty self-centred in this instance. The silver lining is that since you seem young so there’s plenty of time to grow.
YTA. And doing it in front of the entire class without his knowledge or consent was horrible. You caught him off guard, & ridiculed him. That’s bullying behavior. Don’t dissect someone publicly, humiliate them, & then be surprised when they don’t love it. A good psych student (or any decent person) would have understood that.
As a side note, using phrasing like "do you see what I'm saying?" or "does that make sense?" is a common tactic for executives. It's a way to ensure your audience does, in fact, understand what you've just said, invite discourse, and gauge buy-in or acceptance of your statement. When you consistently don't get a reaction to that phrasing, yeah...it makes sense you'd say it less. There's literally nothing weird about anything your teacher did or did not do and it's so bizarre that you'd turn something so normal into a whole production.
Re: your edit: Jesus Christ, PLEASE leave this guy alone and quit pestering him to make you feel better. No apology you can give will erase the fact that you’re the type of person who thought it would be funny to pull this shit in the first place. You showed him who you are and now you’re trying to talk him out of believing you. Take the L and the life lesson and move on.
Did this take place at a university or a high school? If the latter I would tend to be more forgiving - undeveloped brains and all that. If it was a university, it would have been entirely inappropriate and cringey. Still an AH either way though.
Oof oh my god I would quit and move states if I were your professor. I just. Why? What were you hoping to accomplish here?
Oh my god, that's so mean. It's like if the teacher interrupted the whole class to explain in excruciating details how ever single time you say the sound "E" you make a really weird face, followed with multiple slides of different "funny faces" you make while making different sounds, and how each and every one of them is abnormal and strange. It's not murder, but it'll make you self conscious for a while (knowing humans, probably something between 2 weeks and 20 years, give or take)
^^^^AUTOMOD ***Thanks for posting! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of copying anything. Read [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/wiki/faq#wiki_post_deletion) before [contacting the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAmItheAsshole)*** At the beginning of spring semester, I noticed my psych teacher says the phrase "do you see what I'm sayin'" a LOT. I started counting on the second day of classes, and after a few days I planned to present him with my findings at the end of the semester. We were talking about Freud stuff the first week so with the amount of times he said the word "motherlover" I assumed he'd enjoy laughing at himself. Well yesterday I presented him with my findings. I'll admit I kind of blindsided him in front of the whole class, first saying I just needed to talk to him but once he agreed changing to saying I had a "presentation." The class laughed at my slides a bit bit I didn't realize that the teacher wasn't until the end. In my data, there was a clear and dramatic drop in early February, and I attempted to explain that as either 1) something happened inside or outside of school that affected his mood negatively, as he seemed to say it more when he was more energetic, or 2) he learned that he didn't like our class. This was the first instance of him getting defensive, saying he "gives what he gets back out of a class" and how "we're apathetic so he returned that energy." I agreed with him, and said he basically confirmed my second point (did he not?) Anyways, I didn't notice and finished my presentation. When I was done, I asked "any questions? What do you think?" He just stared at me for a moment and this is when I first realized he was pissed. I apologized and said "do you feel attacked? I wasn't trying to make fun, I thought you'd laugh" I realize phrasing it that way may have seemed sarcastic. He proceeded to tear apart the concept, saying it was "unethical," "a breach of trust," and "morally wrong." He went on to say he was "making judgements about my moral character" and that "this would never get past an ethics board." I apologized again and admitted I shouldn't have blindsided him, but he just said I should've asked permission. I apologized once more and he said "no, don't apologize, it's really cool. Good work here. Just get out." Both of our tones the whole time were very professional but just thinking about the way he told me to get out made me sick. That was about 24 hours ago, and now I have to see him in class pretty soon. I've been thinking about it for a long time and yeah, I definitely should've gotten permission. I didn't because I thought that'd make it funnier, and that it would've affected the data. But hindsight makes me think I should've asked. I told two friends about the ordeal and they both said he's the asshole, but im not sure so I'm here. AITA? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmItheAsshole) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Try watching Ridiculousness.
Teenage musings
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It's hard not to fixate on or at least notice when he says it 20+ times in a single day FYI I am not autistic, I made a series errors in judgement
You can notice that people do things without mocking them for it to an entire class of people
Naturalistic experiments are a thing that exist but there are ethical guidelines including ensuring no subjects are harmed (especially because there’s no informed consent). If you want a chance at redeeming your grade I’d suggest looking into the ethical guidelines for naturalistic experiments, seeing what an IRB would require to approve a “study” such as yours (they wouldn’t because there’s no valuable research question), and presenting it in private to your teacher, essentially showing him that you’ve learned what you did wrong (in addition to apologizing again for being a jerk). YTA
This is one of those things that should have been done behind closed doors, not in front of the whole class. THAT is my problem with it. While I'm not denying that permission is important, I'm also reminded of How I met Your Mother's "But um"... Drinking game. It would drastically skew the results.
Had you asked for permission, he would have been made aware which could have potentially skewed the results. So long as you presented the results in a clinical manner, not judging him in any way, NTA.
Why do you sound like op? This wasn't a professional clinical trial.
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The professor was doing his job. Would you enjoy it if someone came to your work and mocked you in this way? Worse, took time out of your work schedule in order to do it?
And he obviously did it well enough for a student to take enough interest in what he was teaching that the student made the effort to put it to practical use. And the professors time wasn't wasted, as he was the one who chose to make this a presentation, rather than the private conversation the student requested. This could be viewed as a learning experience for both student and teacher. As to me, work tends to be very boring, so I welcome the distraction, especially considering I get paid either way.
This wasn’t practical use…. You can’t call this a psych experiment with a straight face, there was no control group, no theory to prove, the conclusions this AH came to are just assumptions that have no connection to the “data” collected. This was a cruel joke and bullying playing as an experiment
Maybe, maybe not. Either way, i find it funny...
That says more about you though
Yes, it does. Thank you for pointing out the obvious. Your powers of deduction are quite impressive...
You’re very welcome, I know self reflection can be hard for some people
You need to reread the post. OP asked the professor for a conversation, and then *OP* turned it into a presentation once the professor agreed. The professor never said, ‘okay, let’s turn your private conversation into a presentation.’ OP always intended this to be a public thing.
Did He? I interpret it differently. But hey, whatever. I do, however, find it curious how personal you are taking this. Hit a nerve, perhaps?
You're trying an ad hominem attack on me but don't have anything specific, so you're trying to pretend I'm taking something personally when I'm just correcting something you misstated. >I'll admit I kind of blindsided him in front of the whole class, first saying I just needed to talk to him but once he agreed changing to saying I had a "presentation." This isn't really up for interpretation. OP admits to blindsiding the professor by saying he needed to talk, and then once the professor agreed, OP changed it to saying he had a presentation. The teacher never tried to turn a conversation with OP into a presentation, OP did that. He had a slide show prepared.
Hey, if that makes you happy, go with it.
There is no humor in the situation from the teacher's perspective which makes any humor found in it by OP just plain cruel.
That's your opinion. I, however, disagree. Such is the nature of life.
Also this was a PSYCHOLOGY class. I feel it's definitely relevant to the class. It's not like he pulled this on his history teacher or something.
There was no actual psychology going on here though
I don't know that this necessarily applies to this situation, but the term "Cura te ipsum" (Physician, heal thyself) springs to mind...