Why did she choose psychology?

M: Well, I see from your resume, Miss Green, that you studied at the university college. How did you find it there?
W: I had a great time. The teaching there was good, and I made a lot of friends. The Psychology Department was a great place to be.
M: How come you chose psychology?
W: Well, at first I didn’t have any clear idea of what I wanted to do after university. I guess I have just always been interested in people and the way they act. I wanted to know why people think and act the way they do. It’s a fascinating area.
M: I see from your resume that you graduated about 4 years ago and after that...let me see...
W: I got a job with the department of employment. It was only a temporary thing for about 5 months. I was a researcher in the department. We’d design a survey, go out to the factories and ask all the questions to the workers and the management, then go back to the office, analyse all the data and produce a report. It was quite interesting. And I guess the psychology course at college helped me a lot.
M: And after that, you worked for 3 years in an advertising agency. That must have been a bit of change from the department of employment, wasn’t it?
W: Well, not really. I suppose the office furnishings were a bit more sophisticated but the work was quite similar. I was basically still doing the same thing—designing questionnaires, going out, asking questions and writing reports. The only difference was that this time I wasn’t asking people about their work. I was asking them what kind of shampoo they bought, and if they prefer brand X to brand Y. Then I’d make up a report and the agency would use the information in their advertising campaigns. I enjoyed my work a lot.
M: So why did you decide to leave?
W: Three years is a long time to be asking people those sort of questions about shampoo and drinks. No, seriously. After two years I was in charge of the research department at the agency. And I had one assistant researcher. I guess after 2 years of doing that I suppose I felt...You know, I can do this well, and now I want to do something else that’s a little different. And there was nowhere for me to go inside the company. It just wasn’t challenging for me any more, and because I needed a challenge, I decided to move on. When I heard about the position of a senior researcher here, I thought that’s exactly what I want—the chance to combine my management skill and my research interests working in a much larger department with more varied work.
M: I should tell you that with the present cutbacks, we’ve only got one full-time administrative assistant in this section. How would you feel about doing your own word processing, photocopying, that sort of thing.
W: Oh, I’m used to that. I’ve done all my own word processing for ages. It’s the only way to write really, isn’t it? I can type well, about 60 words a minute. I did a secretarial course after I left school, so I learnt typing and shorthand. Then a few years later, I bought a PC, and I learned how to do word processing too.
M: Well, that’s handy. Now in the position you’ve applied for, you’d have five assistant researchers responsible to you. That’s considerably more responsibility than you’ve had before, so you’re obviously ambitious, and as you said you like a challenge. I was wondering what you see yourself doing in, say, five or ten years down the track.
W: Oh, that’s a difficult question. Let me try to answer your question this way. I’m particularly interested in experimental design and also in teaching. I’d like to continue the organization on a planning side of research, but do some teaching too. I know that you have lecturers here who do just that sort of thing, some practical work and some undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. So that’s what I’d really be aiming for, to be a lecturer here as well.