Validation

So I was interviewing freshmen who'd applied to work as assistants on this research project of mine. It's about emotions. The first person to show up was a thin reedy ABCD math geek with eyes pointing in different directions -- superbright, superintelligent, but hadn't read the project description. The next one was a typical slacker sort, slumped all over the chair, vacant eyes, backpack thrown at his feet. Two in a week - I was considering delisting the project - then a third applicant emailed. Turned out to be a small bouncy African-American girl, big smile, wide-eyed. I launched into my brief spiel and to my very pleasant surprise she seemed absolutely transfixed by what I was saying. So I stopped to let her respond. Her words:

"Oh my God! I was just thinking as you talked, this sounds SO INTERESTING it sounds JUST like something I saw on Oprah!"

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I told her that I thought it was cool that she thought it was cool, because there's no point doing research once you stop thinking it's cool. She accepted the offer on the spot.