It's very easy to wonder why certain studies which discover the obvious are carried out, so today I'm not going to do that. Rather, I'll just idly speculate about strategies in the choice of research projects. Here goes.
It turns out - from a study done in the state of Rhode Island - that if you are loved, and loved expressively, by your mother when you're young, then you are more likely to grow up a confident adult, better able to cope with the stresses of life. And there was I thinking that a mean-spirited, carping mom who always tried to undermine her child and occasionally tore up the child's drawings with a mocking laugh would do wonders for his morale, as child and adult both.
But, sticking to my stated intention, I ask about strategies of research: what would lead a researcher to look into this seemingly obvious matter? Maybe it isn't obvious to all. Maybe the 'spare the rod' crowd get so carried away as to believe that not sparing it must be accompanied by the withholding of love. Or better: the truly scientific spirit is one that takes nothing for granted; so we must test even seemingly obvious truths, in the name of Karl Popper. Whatever the case, I personally do not mean to embark on a research project to explore the differential effects on a person's friends of being kind and obliging to them, on the one hand, and being rude and obstreperous and making off with their most treasured possessions, on the other.
