On Jul 14, 2009, at 12:00 AM, Wendy wrote:

> .... I want to look at their attitudes toward the environment, =
> political bents and religious leanings, age, gender, education,  
> etc.  =
> It's part of a research program in environmental psychology I'll be =
> developing in the autumn to conduct with my college students.   But  
> I =
> think it will be interesting to see in what socioeconomic,  
> political, =
> religious, and attitudinal ways beekeepers are different and similar =
> among themselves, among commercial, sideliner, and hobby  
> beekeepers, and =
> in comparison to nonbeekeepers.  For instance, what characteristics  
> best =
> predict beekeeping vs. nonbeekeeping or a commericial beekeeper vs.  
> a =
> hobby beekeeper. =20
> =20
> I am not a personality psychologist....


Hmmm.   I would think that opportunities--for example, all the  
various forms of situation--including, just off the top of my head,  
landscape, friends and relations, disposable income and so on--plays  
such a large part in who becomes a beekeeper, that these knock into a  
cocked hat all but the most fundamental of the personality predictors.

RE a fundamental personality characteristic beekeepers  
possess...well...it is my conviction that humanity can be divided  
into two groups, those who tend to develop interests, and those who  
do not, and one can readily separate these two groups at the "is this  
child a left-hander or a right-hander?" stage  Those capable of  
developing interests (this capacity is exclusive of IQ as we readily  
perceive from observing pop-fans), are a whole lot easier to bring  
along as children, because many take to reading, for example, like  
ducks to water--a child who has developed an interest will read  
ANYTHING to do with that interest--ask Bailey White, who describes  
teaching reading to  South Georgia public school First Graders using  
marine disasters.   My small neighbour, who is now ten and my partner  
in beekeeping, who is keenly interested in birds, pored for days-- 
months--over Sibley in kindergarten.   So, if I had to specify a  
fundamental universal personality characteristic of beekeepers, it  
would be a capacity and a strong tendency to develop and sustain an  
interest.   Which is to say, C-level 5th graders who effortlessly  
absorb a mind-withering quantity of ice-hockey stats are also capable  
of becoming beekeepers.   My second choice for a personalty predictor  
would be empathy.   And, third, the ability--even the tendency--to  
slow down.   (Beekeepers' meetings seem like the deep-ocean songs of  
whales by comparison to the rapid beat of even the most slack  
departmental meetings, eh?)

--Emily
Poodle History Project (annotated bibliography)
http://www.poodlehistory.org

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