I was on a project to figure out the best way to select managers for the stores, and I also did surveys on customer satisfaction. I loved using the principles, tools, and research methods of psychology to make decisions that can affect people's lives. When you major in psychology as an undergraduate, you first take an interesting range of courses in areas such as child psychology, cognition, personality, and social psychology. In your third year you take the methods class and get the tools and proper techniques to be able to think like a psychologist. For the final methods class project, students come up with research ideas, conduct the research, analyze the results, and present the findings to the class on a poster.
Many people think that university faculty just teach or spend hours in research.
But in every job I've had, I've spent most of my time moving around, talking to people and solving problems. I am fortunate that my profession allows me to be actively involved in the world which is my style. I'm a professor of clinical psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and director of the National Research Center on Asian American Health. Unlike psychologists who specialize in a technique or a theory, I specialize in a population. Much of my work focuses on Asian American clients who often have special needs, especially if they are immigrants from the old country.