Psych Is Applied Math
A smug mathematician claims psychology reduces to applied math; a parent challenges him to explain her toddler's behavior.
Content note: Toddler stabbing a doll's eye with a fork (cartoonish).
Use this cartoon
Free for classrooms, worksheets, slides and other non-commercial use under CC BY-NC 4.0, with credit to Ben Orlin.
Cartoon by Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings. https://cartoons.mathwithbaddrawings.com/2018-04-19-psych-is-applied-math/ (CC BY-NC 4.0)Transcript
A: "C'mon, psychology? That's just applied biology, which is just applied chemistry, which is just applied physics, which is just applied math. So the whole field is completely trivial."
B (with a toddler holding a fork and an Elmo doll): "Okay, so explain why my toddler keeps stabbing a fork into her Elmo doll's eye."
A: "Admittedly, the computations may be a little messy..."