Talk:Shawn Spencer

who protrays the younger shawn at the begining of most episodes
Shouldn't that be in the article

Photographic/Eidetic Memory vs Powers of Observation
Are we absolutely certain that Shawn has a photographic memory? USA Network website does not specifically say so, they just say "extraordinary powers of observation", and many of his Shawnvision moments uncover items that are simply overlooked by the police (or whoever); rather than him recalling something from memory. For example, when he first meets Maggie and stuns her with what he knows about her, that's not a photographic memory at work. Nor when he solves the stolen computer case in a matter of seconds in the third episode. At the end of the pilot episode, Shawn tells Gus that he's already been given another case (one which we don't actually get to see), and he has difficulty remembring the exact name of the drug that was used in committing the crime.

--yes, but in the civil war episode, he recreates the entire battle scene from memory. Even if he had excellent observation, I still doubt that he would be able to memorize the entire miniature battle scene without having a photographic memory.

I think he has "both". His dad trained him to have the power of observation through! the his edietic memory. And I agree with the guy above me. He recreated that whole battle scene from memory. And edietic memory doesn't mean super memory! Just a really good one. I think he should have Power of Observation and Edietic Memory. This is weird. I was actually going to post the exact same thing.

-- in episode 14, his father asks him "Shawn, shouldn't you be writing some of this down?". As the one who actually trained him, shouldn't he know Shawn (supposedly) has eidetic memory and wouldn't need to? And AFA the civil war episode, since Shawn knows pretty much everyone in the town, and he was studying it for minutes (it wasn't just a quick look), I don't see any reason he couldn't, even without an eidetic memory. Eidetic does mean super memory. It's "photographic" (check the eidetic memory entry here on wikipedia). If he only has a really good memory then by definition, it's not eidetic; I can regurgitate a 2 page slab of computer code practically verbatim, but that doesn't mean I have an eidetic memory. So far that's one (possible) eidetic moment vs several to the contrary...

I agree that he at least has a really very strong memory, if not photographic, though it is the powers of observation that help him 99% of the time. I recall in the episode with the chop shop he's able to ramble off serial numbers he only glanced at, when the food critic was poisoned, he was able to remember the symbol and other details about the take out container he hardly paid any attention to, as well as the Civil War reenactment example above, and he's able to remember scenes from his childhood with remarkable detail. I don't see why he couldn't have both.172.191.132.186 (talk) 09:18, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

To the point about episode 14 (i.e. "Shawn, shouldn't you be writing some of this down?"), I also recall a time early in Season 1 (one of the first few episodes) where Shawn cons his way into the records room, finds a file and writes down the notes on his hand. Between that and Henry's comment previously noted, it seemed to run contrary to the assumption that Shawn as an eidetic memory. However, I think this is just a simple case of the show and characters evolving. I'm sorry, but no one could re-create that entire battle scene without an eidetic memory, or at least something darn near close to it. There's also the example in one of the Yin episodes, where Shawn goes into his old room and realizes that one of the dozens of toy soliders on his dresser has been moved. Those are clear examples of extraordinary, superhuman recall -- most easily explainable by having eiditic memory. Basically, I think this is just something that the writers added as they went along. 63.101.88.126 (talk) 15:16, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

--I thought he was a psychic..

Fair use rationale for Image:Shawn Spencer.JPG
Image:Shawn Spencer.JPG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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BetacommandBot (talk) 16:54, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

Jobs
In Sixty-Five Million Years Off (2x02), Shawn noted that he worked somewhere with a T-Rex, and he got fired for taking a picture in the mouth of the T-Rex. I didn't notice any museums listed, any idea where he worked?-- 21:39, 11 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Wyoming Natural History Museum (may be fictional). See http://www.usanetwork.com/series/psych/games/gusorshawn/quiz.cgi?beginner=2.  It was 7 1/2 minutes into the episode (at least in the iTunes version). —Nricardo (talk) 04:25, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

His mother
Isn't his mother dead? They seem to allude to her in the past tense. Does anybody know? Lavender Gooms (talk) 03:53, 9 February 2008 (UTC)
 * My bad, they just said in tonight's episode, Black and Tan: A Crime of Fashion that she divorced Henry and isn't coming back. So it must be a case of the producers saving on hiring an actress. Lavender Gooms (talk) 04:18, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Psych1x01.jpg
Image:Psych1x01.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 05:05, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Psychology major?
It's just been added that Shawn says he was a psychology major, but I can't remember the context of the remarks. Does anybody know if he was actually being truthful, or if it's possible he was lying (as he so often does)? I was always under the impression he didn't attend college. Shoemoney2night (talk) 22:18, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

on usanetwork.com in "Postcards from Shawn" or something like that there is one from '93 saying "Thank you for driving me to the border", and it goes so on till like 2002, but in the pilot it says that he was arrested when he was 18, which is seen in Ghosts. that means he left home in 93 when he was 16; came back before 95 then left and had the 57 jobs that he's had before Psych. so i don't think he really went to college. but since his mother is a psychologist it may or may not be true. That didn't help at all lol. --L0W3R1D3R | TH3 L0W3D0WN 03:33, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Religious Skeptic
When Shawn and Gus are in sunday school he questions the priest rather vigorously about Noah's ark, should this get a mention on his page?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.45.145.180 (talk) 13:25, 12 September 2010 (UTC)

Just saw that also, his name should be added to the List_of_fictitious_atheists_and_agnostics — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.189.245.231 (talk) 17:43, 16 November 2011 (UTC)
 * That's all original research. Just the fact that he argued with a priest doesn't make him an atheist. Rather he just likes to argue. JDDJS (talk) 19:13, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Nicknames
Would it be better to (rather than list in the infobox) have a section on, or make note of the nicknames? They were previously listed in the infobox, but they were removed recently. It's something that is mildly important to the show, and would be interesting to some readers. Kevinbrogers (talk) 00:25, 30 November 2010 (UTC)
 * It should be mention that they always go by strange names and list a couple as examples, but they are just too many to list them all. JDDJS (talk) 03:40, 30 November 2010 (UTC)

It should be noted that JDDJS is making random excuses. There are not "too many to list them all." That's exactly opposite of the point behind Wikipedia; there's too much information in the world to list it all, so why bother listing any of it?
 * Technically, one-use self-assigned pseudonymns wouldn't be nicknames. While it's a running comedy prop in the series that he frequently utilizes new pseudonymns in episodes, it's not the same as a nickname and they shouldn't be listed as such in the infobox. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 06:40, 17 January 2012 (UTC)