It just doesn't stop. Read the highlighted section of the biography of BabyPlus Prenatal Education System inventor Dr. Brent Logan [It's on a page called "The Science of BabyPlus - The Scientific Basis of BabyPlus"]:
He also holds a teaching and research professorship in developmental psychology with Centro de Estudios Mediterrano-Puig, in Valencia, Spain.If you thought he was a visiting psych professor/researcher at a Spanish university, you would be as wrong as I was. As I previously posted, the few online references I can find to this "Centro de Estudios" are nine+ year-old legal notices, including a court judgment against an "adult education" company.Following undergraduate work at Occidental College in Los Angeles, his B.A., M.A. and doctoral studies were completed at the University of Washington. He was awarded a developmental psychology Ph.D., specializing in human fetology. He taught at the University of Washington for several years and also holds an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa.
[update and possible correction: In the comments below, arlopop may have discovered the Centro de Estudios in Valencia where Dr. Logan's professorship is from. Since they're not mentioned anywhere on the course offerings directory, we can only hope that his dev psych classes aren't at the same time as these courses:
Thanks, BabyPlus! Now I know how to say "spin class instructor" in Spanish! I'm still waiting to hear back from the CdE to see if it's the right one. Stay tuned.]
So not a university researcher. But he's still got a PhD in developmental psychology from the University of Washington, right? Wrong. I just received confirmation from the Registrar at the University of Washington that Logan received both a BA and an MA in English there [his thesis was titled "Sixty Poems"], but not a PhD.
But that's what his bio says, right? Until I went to copy and paste his fraudulent claim of having a PhD from UofW, that's what I thought, too. But in fact, Logan's bio only appears to say his PhD was awarded by the school where his "doctoral studies were completed". Obviously, he completed his doctoral studies at the university mentioned on his bio, and he was awarded the PhD at another [unidentified] institution somewhere.
I haven't heard back from Dr. Logan yet on what that august, unnamed degree-granting institution is, but I half expect him to say that his resume' makes perfect sense to anyone who's used the BabyPlus system. Which is available on Amazon for just $149 for the entire 22-week program. Also, buy his book.
Previously: The first BabyPlus takedown, with Dr. Logan's first several refuted responses
BabyPlus inventor says 'I'm not a quack, also buy my book.'
BabyPlus as seen in 02138 Magazine! As a punchline.
Related: watch this April 2007 segment from KTLA news, where the organizer of Baby Celebration LA goes from talking about Tori Spelling's crib to explaining the scientifically proven benefits of BabyPlus. [via amazon]
Wasn't he in Ghostbusters too?
You rock. DT needs a new "muckraking" category, obviously. Or "takedowns" -- I'm not picky. Either way, lets have lots more of this. It's so much better than any number of sweet vintage chairs.
"Either way, lets have lots more of this."
I don't know, there's so few products out there marketed to parents that are based on pseudo-science, how would he find enough subjects?
:-)
Hmmm, now actually, what I want to know next is: why is "a one-hour" in quotes like that?
In fact, the word which should be in quotes is "recently", because apparently the "documentary" in question is actually a 1994 episode of a British TV series.
[lol, nice catch. Last week, the page said "Miranda Richardsons" with an 's', so they've been editing recently, too. -ed.]
Yes, I believe his thesis advisor was Dr. Peter Venkman.
The use of the phrase "repeatedly on the Learning Channel" makes his documentary sound like an infomercial. Would Miranda Richardson have been narrating one in 1994?
[the documentary series seems legit, at least its director is still working for the likes of PBS and WGBH and Ch4. -ed.]
I find it interesting that a Google search for the phrase "human fetology" results in a grand total of *16* hits (including all the "very similar results"). Most of those refer to a paper by an anti-abortion activist. The rest are references to BabyPlus/Brent Logan (including, of course, DaddyTypes).
Doesn't it seem like one would at least claim to have a PhD *in a real field*?
["fetology" on its own is real enough, but it's a good point. Though I"m sure the scam predates Google, I noticed, too, that the misspelling of the Mediterraneo-Puig thing had the effect of keeping the Google results within the BabyPlus constellation of sites. -ed.]
Greg, I suspect you have already hit this site in your research but just in case...
This appears to be the estimable bastion of higher learning that Dr. Logan refers to:
http://www.centrodeestudioscim.es/cursos_en_valencia.htm
Uhh, I like the reception area. Kind of like the Learning Annex. You can get that massage degree there, though.
[and spin class instructor certification. nice digging, we'll see what they say. -ed.]
ohh, we kid the "doc" (it is doc, right?). He knows we love him.
I don't think Spanish center which Arlopop said it was really Centro de Estudios Mediterraneo-Puig. I'm Spanish and I am looking for that center and I have found the original "Centro de Estudios Mediterraneo-Puig". It's the company name owner of a private school in Puig (Valencia) for children to 4 until 17 (www.smpuig.com). I notice the correlation because if you look for centers of education in official web of culture of Comunitat Valenciana (http://www.cult.gva.es/scripts/dgcd/incide.idc?codi=46017298) you can see the oficial orders what recognized Centro Mediterraneo-Puig like oficial secondary education center (http://www.cult.gva.es/dgcd/legislacio/88.00951.pdf) The last webs are in Valencian. So, that center is ONLY A SCHOOL!!! Maybe that professor was a English teacher, or a tutor or something similar, or simply a liar.
[nice work, I'd seen that pdf, but didn't make the distinction. If it's a school for children, perhaps he dropped off a box of BabyPlus as part of the vast, rigorous global research effort behind the technology. That might also allow him to deduct his Spanish vacation as a business expense. -ed.]