Exactly where and when did President Calvin Coolidge, when apparently
visiting a farm with his wife, ask about "same hen"--"No" This
vignette is quoted all over the internet, but no one seems to say
exactly when. This is the famous "Coolidge Effect"--"Tell that to my
wife." |
Request for Question Clarification by
arimathea-ga
on
30 Jun 2003 18:38 PDT
sylk-ga,
I've located the first published reference to this quote, but I don't
have a copy of said reference. I do know the quote occurred in the
1920s and i've confirmed it was on an inspection of a government farm.
Would a pointer to the published reference be a suitable answer?
|
Clarification of Question by
sylk-ga
on
01 Jul 2003 05:06 PDT
Hi!
I need to know exact place--not just a farm--and not just 1920's-but
exactly when. I would need to verify the reference myself. In other
words, whatever source you would give me, I would have to be able to
find and see for myself. I need this specific reference for a book I
am researching, so must have exact, verifiable documentation.
Thank you,
sylkar
|
Clarification of Question by
sylk-ga
on
01 Jul 2003 05:12 PDT
Further clarification--your pointer reference might be an answer if I
can verify it by specifics, but I would have to locate the pointer
reference myself and make sure it is not again a general reference to
this situation, as all the sources I have come across seem to be. I
need specifics!
Thanks,
sylkar
|
Request for Question Clarification by
tehuti-ga
on
01 Jul 2003 05:28 PDT
Hmmm, I have a feeling this is an apocryphal tale.
Apparently, the term "Coolidge effect" was first introduced into the
psychological vocabulary by Professor Frank A. Beach of the
University of California at a 1959 meeting of the Western
Psychological Association:
"Fisher presented a paper at the Eastern Psychological Association
outlining the basic effects of female novelty on the copulatory
behavior of male rats. Beach and Richard Whalen repeated this work in
Berkeley in 1959... Whalen's WPA address provided the opportunity to
relate this [Coolidge] story, for the chairman of that particular
session was Professor David Krech, whose ability to appreciate a joke
is well known. So at the critical moment, just before Krech ascended
to the podium to introduce Whalen, Beach shot him a note with the
request to introduce the talk under the heading of "The Coolidge
Effect." Krech complied."
Beach and colleagues went on to use the term in a 1963 paper: Wilson,
J., R. Kuehn, and F. Beach, "Modifications in the Sexual Behavior of
Male Rats Produced by Changing the Stimulus Female," Journal of
Comparative and Physiological Psychology 56 (1963): 636-44]
Information from:
Gordon Bermant, "Sexual Behavior: Hard Times with the Coolidge
Effect," in Michael H. Siegel and H. Philip Zeigler, eds.,
Psychological Research: The Inside Story (New York: Harper & Row,
1976), pp. 76-103, at pp. 76-77.
as featured at
http://www.uno.edu/~asoble/pages/bermant.htm
Beach first used the term in 1959, three decades after the end of
Coodlidge's term of office. I suspect that he was referring to a joke
that was doing the rounds rather than to a true story, especially
since he first used it while trying to introduce humour into dry
conference proceedings.
|
Clarification of Question by
sylk-ga
on
01 Jul 2003 09:33 PDT
Hi!
Thank you for your research, but it is not at all what I am looking
for--I am not looking for the origin or use of the term "Coolidge
Effect", but rather only about Calvin Coolidge and where and when he
told this story. I hope it can be documented. Do you think we should
give up on finding the exact reference?
Thank you,
sylkar
|
Request for Question Clarification by
tehuti-ga
on
01 Jul 2003 10:21 PDT
Hello sylkar,
That is precisely why I posted the RFC I did. My guess is that this
incident never happened. I think it was probably a "Coolidge joke"
doing the rounds, in the same way that we now have "Nixon jokes",
"Reagan jokes" etc all based on pure fiction and imagination, and that
Frank Beach latched on to it as a way of introducing some humour into
a scientific conference.
I will be pleased for you if another researcher can prove otherwise,
but I am not holding my breath!
|
Request for Question Clarification by
tehuti-ga
on
01 Jul 2003 10:23 PDT
PS, Apart from all else the very premise on which the story is based
is not all that believable. Why on earth would Coolidge and his wife
have been given separate tours of the very same features at the farm?
|
Clarification of Question by
sylk-ga
on
01 Jul 2003 11:57 PDT
Dear Researchers,
On second thought, your answers may be more helpful than I thought.
I have ordered all the references you have all suggested--including
the book, The Coolidge Effect. Though I wish we could find
documentation for the actual Coolidge quote itself, I do think you
research helped me rethink what I needed. Hence, consider the
question partially answered.
Thank you,
sylkar
|
Clarification of Question by
sylk-ga
on
02 Jul 2003 16:15 PDT
Dear Cynthia et al.,
Both the article referred to and the Coolidge Effect book arrived
today via express mail. So far, no one can give exact place and time
of the reference. I also contacted the Executive Director of the
Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation today (in Vermont) She, of
course, knew the story. She feels displeased that this seems to be
the main thing poor Calvin is remembered for. She feels the story
cannot be documented-- but she added that it seems in character with
Coolidge's "barnyard" humor, but no one seems to be able to document
the quote further. We may have to give up.
|
