PSYCH 101

Think you can justify an excuse for lying to your boss or cheating on your taxes? Guess again. Vincent Barry, a philosophy professor at Bakersfield College, points the finger at pass-on-the-blamers like you in his new book, “The Dog Ate My Homework” (Andrews and McMeel Publishing, 1997).

* “In the age of the alibi, it’s not how you win or lose, it’s where you place the blame.”

* “The pitiful reality is that many of us--like some students--have come to believe that we need to be told everything; and, worse, that if we aren’t, we’re excusably ignorant.”

* “We need to reappraise the fear-provoking aspects of responsibility, challenge its associations with misery and ultimately use the power of our understanding to deflate our fear of taking responsibility and inflate our fear of avoiding it.”

* “In brief, no one is expected to be a hero, but everyone is required to meet the minimal expressions of human decency, caring and concern.”