What kind of profession would the female lead have if she was researching on "impact of high school on your overall character" ?

[sweetdreamssss]

So I've been thinking of this story. It consists of a woman in DINK marriage. She gets a grant to research on the subject

" Influence of high school on overall character of an adult"

She believes that what characteristics you form during high school will remain the rest of your life and you can only hide or overcome it but it's set for life.

The husband doesn't believe as he is now a successful man after he got bullied at school, his high school memories give him ptsd and the more they delve the more she is shocked about how her theory is right after someone from his past comes to haunt their marriage.

This is the start and I wanted to know what kind of people will get a grant to research on this . Will she be a psychologist or some assistant professor. She is in her late 20s and a rising star in her field .

So what should be her education and current qualification ?

Of course this will be a LW but I wanted to make it a little sophisticated than the usual " good husband gets cucked by his wife"

 

[sweetdreamssss]

Also please put weightage on my theory. Do you believe people can never really grow out of their character from high school except they now hide it better and analyse it based on risk.

Eg, the player from high school is now a dedicated husband because he does not want to lose his wife and kids on an expensive divorce but keeps his urges suppressed only for that

 

[sweetdreamssss]

I'm not a LW fan but that sounds like a good concept and one that I might even read, which I hope is a good thing. So good luck with writing it.

I would suggest she could be a psychologist, a social scientist, a therapist. There's a few options there.

In terms of your question: there's lots of research that shows your experiences as a teenager (including younger than high school) shape your adult life - significantly so. As with anything, it depends on how significant the experiences are and how much they impact decisions in later life as well as how true those behaviours were to the person at the time. For example, the 'player' at high school may have been influenced significantly by social pressures and behaves less like this when that's removed.

I would suggest for your story that you don't propose one closed answer but that for each of the characters, it's somewhere on the scale. Gives you plenty of room to manoeuvre the story that way.

V

Thank you for your input. I just don't want another "dumb as rocks" main character in a LW who would forget her entire existence after one dick.

That's why I thought of using an intelligent character who is self aware of what happens but still ends up in it and also suffers from PTSD

 

[SimonDoom]

She could be a clinical psychologist who counsels clients but also does research in affiliation with a university. That way you give yourself more potential plot ideas. For example, what if it turns out a client is someone who knew her husband in high school, or knew HER in high school but has changed physically so she doesn't recognize him at first. Maybe he was the fat kid who had a crush on her but always felt ignored and now he's trim but good looking, but still holding a grudge. Maybe it triggers her to explore her own feelings about high school.

There's lots of potential.

 

[Lifestyle66]

She could also be a psychologist with a Masters Degree working on her Doctoral dissertation to earn a Ph.D. She has the theory, and conducts the research gathering case studies and surveys, then writes the lengthy paper presenting the evidence supporting her conclusions.

 

[Writer61]

" Influence of high school on overall character of an adult"

Perhaps a sociologist.

She believes that what characteristics you form during high school will remain the rest of your life and you can only hide or overcome it but it's set for life.

"Believe" sounds prejudicial. She might have a hypothesis that she sets out to test, but a good researcher will be open to alternative outcomes.

 

[Writer61]

Also please put weightage on my theory. Do you believe people can never really grow out of their character from high school except they now hide it better and analyse it based on risk.

Personally, I am much the same character as I was at school, but I am better at dealing with what I see as negative traits.

 

[nice90sguy]

I am much the same character as I was at school

Me too, but I don't flick boogers so often

 

[Kelliezgirl]

As mentioned, she could be working on a dissertation for her PhD.
It would also make sense to have her a Professor who already has her PhD, depending on the age you want her to be that might make sense. Professors continue to do research, "publish or perish" as they say. She could also be working on a book on the topic.

 

[Wonderer67]

Social psychologist?

Anthropologist?

 

[NotWise]

People I've met doing similar work were university professors (assistant, associate,etc): professional academics.

I think people tend to be who they are because of their social setting. That's especially true in high school when their character may still be a little plastic. If you put someone in a different social setting with different expectations, then at least some aspects of their behavior are likely to change.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

People I've met doing similar work were university professors (assistant, associate,etc): professional academics.

I think people tend to be who they are because of their social setting. That's especially true in high school when their character may still be a little plastic. If you put someone in a different social setting with different expectations, then at least some aspects of their behavior are likely to change.

There is a great documentary about that.

 

[StillStunned]

Even if your thoughts and instincts remain the same, the fact that you don't act on them anymore means that you've changed. You've learned to adjust your behaviour to what's acceptable - either to others or to your own conscience.

After all, if we were all judged by our thoughts, not our behaviour, there'd be no-one left to do the judging.

 

[intim8]

If you want her to be evil, she works in advertising and wants to use this to manipulate people.

 

[lustychimera]

If you want her to be evil, she works in advertising and wants to use this to manipulate people.

That but legitimately.

"What age range is most impactful on the rest of your life?" I can think of many reasons why an ad firm would want to research this.

She doesn't need to work for the firm. She could be some researcher who's too far down on the totem pole to know who even hired her company to research this thing. Or they want to keep bias out of the study.

the more they delve the more she is shocked about how her theory is right after someone from his past comes to haunt their marriage.

Seems like this would need to be framed as confirmation bias. The description read more to me like a woman who peaked in high school and can't fathom how such a important era for herself wouldn't be just as important to everyone else.

I do find the characterization and set up really interesting. Probably not my type of story. Seems like it's designed for a frustrating read about someone who's to myopic to make good decisions.

 

[intim8]

That but legitimately.

I wasn't joking.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Also please put weightage on my theory. Do you believe people can never really grow out of their character from high school except they now hide it better and analyse it based on risk.

Eg, the player from high school is now a dedicated husband because he does not want to lose his wife and kids on an expensive divorce but keeps his urges suppressed only for that

The concepts of "high school," "teenage," and "adolescence" didn't really exist until the 19th Century and got more traction in the 20th. They still don't exist in some cultures. It's mostly a creation of European, American, and certain other Western locations. High school is particularly an American cultural obsession, especially in the last eighty years. The idea of keeping everybody in a certain age cohort in one building was developed for various reasons, including keeping "kids" out of the labor market in an urbanized, technological society. It feels very artificial to those stuck in it because it is.

That's my off-the-cuff take on it.

 

[gunhilltrain]

The opening (no sound) makes it obvious that it reflects the factory system that developed at the same time as modern education. I'd have to check where this was filmed.

 

[sweetdreamssss]

Seems like this would need to be framed as confirmation bias. The description read more to me like a woman who peaked in high school and can't fathom how such a important era for herself wouldn't be just as important to everyone else.

Isnt that how the current research goes through. Create a result and then adjust the data accordingly to get to what we want and ignore the ones that doesnt confirm. Yes she uses her own life experience and ignores her husband's which form the basis of their initial friction

U might find this example Harvard professor who studies dishonesty is accused of falsifying data

 

[Cagivagurl]

So I've been thinking of this story. It consists of a woman in DINK marriage. She gets a grant to research on the subject

" Influence of high school on overall character of an adult"

She believes that what characteristics you form during high school will remain the rest of your life and you can only hide or overcome it but it's set for life.

The husband doesn't believe as he is now a successful man after he got bullied at school, his high school memories give him ptsd and the more they delve the more she is shocked about how her theory is right after someone from his past comes to haunt their marriage.

This is the start and I wanted to know what kind of people will get a grant to research on this . Will she be a psychologist or some assistant professor. She is in her late 20s and a rising star in her field .

So what should be her education and current qualification ?

Of course this will be a LW but I wanted to make it a little sophisticated than the usual " good husband gets cucked by his wife"

Drunk at a party

 

[Bramblethorn]

Perhaps a sociologist.


"Believe" sounds prejudicial. She might have a hypothesis that she sets out to test, but a good researcher will be open to alternative outcomes.

I think "belief" is OK here.

Scientists aren't robots. If they're putting years of research into a project, it's usually because they're hoping to find something rewarding. That might be a cure for cancer, it might be a Nobel, it might just be something they can get published to bolster their CV and boost their chances of tenure/contract renewal/project funding, but there has to be something to keep them motivated through late nights at the lab and the soul-grinding tedium of grant applications and submitting to journals.

If you were to poll a bunch of scientists about their current project, and persuade them to answer honestly, I suspect you'd find very few who had no beliefs and hopes about how that research might turn out.

What's important for a good researcher is that openness, the willingness to rethink those beliefs if the research doesn't support them.

 

[Writer61]

What's important for a good researcher is that openness, the willingness to rethink those beliefs if the research doesn't support them.

That's what I was trying to get across.

 

[TheLobster]

U might find this example Harvard professor who studies dishonesty is accused of falsifying data

Harvard staff and breach of academic ethics, name a more iconic duo

 

[Strixaluco]

Seems like this would need to be framed as confirmation bias. The description read more to me like a woman who peaked in high school and can't fathom how such a important era for herself wouldn't be just as important to everyone else.

But this would mean she hadn't learned that much about her own field in the university, and how would she then even get the grant?

Though confirmation bias would indeed fit her belief. It sounds biased and not well-based. To begin with, you'd have to be able to separate high school from earlier and later impacts. The earlier ones may be me way more important, high school doesn't necessarily change anything regarding what character you grow to have. And if one is a player, how did *high school* make one so, instead of having those tendencies irregardless of high school?

 

[Strixaluco]

I recall reading that even the results of the popular personality tests like Myers-Briggs aren't fixed throughout life, so her belief does sound rather... Uninformed.