Quick Takes: Keith Maddox, Rebecca Shiner and Angela Lagg
Each year, we ask psychology professors a series of questions that we think might provide useful information to current students.
This issue we asked: What would you do if you weren’t a psychologist?
Keith Maddox, Tufts University
My wife and I joke that I would be a gas station attendant because I love to clean our windshield. There’s something very satisfying about seeing the immediate products of your efforts. But I also love the idea of owning a restaurant or some type of business that brings people together to socialize.
Rebecca Shiner, Colgate University
Being a professor is such a strong part of my identity and such a good fit for my personality and interests that it is hard for me to imagine doing anything else! I could imagine being passionate enough about some other field to want to be a professor in that area--for example, in religion, political science, or philosophy. I could also imagine enjoying non-profit work in an area that is important to me--poverty and inequality, mental health, or health care.
Angela Lagg, Pace University
I would be a horse trainer. But really that’s not so different from being a psychologist – it’s less data crunching and writing, but training horses still requires quite a lot of creative problem-solving and communication skills, a desire to collaborate with others, and the ability to teach.