Even Einstein Wasn’t Brilliant All the Time

By Donald H. Harrison

BERKELEY, California – Psychology Prof. Oliver John on Wednesday evening told graduating seniors in his discipline at UC Berkeley not to worry if they don’t hit on all cylinders on every effort they make.

While people rightly consider Albert Einstein a genius for his groundbreaking theories in physics, not every paper he published was brilliant, John said in his soft German accent. “He published another 100 papers that were just okay.”

Chosen by undergraduates in the psychology department to be the keynote speaker at their graduation ceremony, John is known for developing “the Big Five Inventory” of personality characteristics, which students remember using the acronym ‘OCEAN.’

The ‘O’ is for openness vs. closedness to experience.  The ‘C’ is for conscientiousness vs. lack of direction. The ‘E’ is for Extraversion vs. introversion.  The ‘A’ is for agreeableness vs. antagonism.  And the ‘N’ is for neuroticism vs. emotional stability.

John addressed approximately 300 graduating seniors as well as their families and friends during a ceremony in UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall, a large performance venue with multi-level seating.

The psychology professor said he couldn’t advise the graduates about what the future might bring but could give them some general advice about the choices they might make.  For example, he suggested that they should pick their spouses carefully but “not too early” given the fact that “many of us don’t know who we are and might change.” Also, he advised that “if you come to a point where a job really stinks,” you should explore your options and be ready to change course.

Reflecting on the four years that most undergraduates, including my grandson Shor M. Masori, spent up to that night of their graduations, John recalled that the COVID-19 pandemic forced many to learn virtually pending their return to classes, and that there were other hardships such as “even lousy apartments cost too much” and “someone broke your heart.” But on a positive note, he said, “We are all Cal Bears!”

The ceremony which was the 160^th commencement at the University of California Berkeley also saw the “hooding” of eleven new doctors of psychology. Prof. Serena Chen, who gave the welcoming speech, chairs the department which recently was tied with that of Stanford University as the best in the nation, according to rankings published by U.S. News and World Report.

While much of the information that the students learned in classes will fade from their memory, Chen said, the “great news” is that the foundation they learned – how to ask questions and to make critical assessments – will stay with them through their careers and help them to make a positive difference.

The graduation ceremony also featured one undergraduate speaker, Susan Bayoumi, and one graduate speaker, Felicia Kay Zerwas.  Bayoumi extolled the caring spirit exemplified by the department’s professors, and urged her fellow graduating seniors to emulate the way they care about other people.

Felicia Kay Zerwas, one of the newly-earned PhDs, offered three suggestions: 1) Invest in relationships. 2) Disrupt usual routines to pursue opportunities.  3) Favor the good moments, as they will provide you with resilience for the moments that are not so good.

On the Berkeley campus, there is a mass graduation ceremony, at which there are too many names for individual recognition, and departmental graduations at which all the graduates have the opportunity to be called by name, walk across the stage, shake the hand of the presenter, pose for a photograph, and later to transfer the tassel on their mortarboards from the right side to the left to symbolize their new status as graduates.

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Donald H. Harrison is editor emeritus of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com