Her Campus recently interviewed Dr. Aimee Stahl, an Assistant Psychology Professor at The College of New Jersey. Dr. Stahl has a specialization in Developmental and Cognitive Psychology, and we interviewed her on what motivated her to pursue a career in research.
HC: What made you decide to go into research in psychology?
Dr. Stahl: “When I was a second semester freshman at the University of Delaware, a professor recommended that I join a research lab. I didn’t know what that meant, but decided to take the opportunity. I quickly discovered that I loved research, and continued working in different labs until I graduated. I then worked full time in a lab after graduation before applying to PhD programs to continue to pursue research.”
HC: Where did you obtain your masters or complete your graduate program?
Dr. Stahl: “I received my masters and doctorate degrees from Johns Hopkins University.”
HC: How many research studies have you conducted?
Dr. Stahl: “I have conducted dozens of research studies over the last ten years.”
HC: Do you prefer to do studies on your own, or with other psychologists?
Dr. Stahl: “Most scientific endeavors are collaborations with colleagues or students. In some cases I work with faculty at other institutions, and I also have studies that are based out of TCNJ with my student collaborators in my research lab, the Cognitive Development Lab.”
HC: How long does it normally take to complete a research study, and write a journal article on it?
Dr. Stahl: “Research with infants and children tends to take longer than studies with other populations. It is difficult to find our research subjects, and working with infants and children has its own unique challenges (for example, they can get fussy or sleepy during a study). It typically takes 1-2 years to collect data from enough subjects, and then another several months to write a manuscript for publication. The publication process can take anywhere from a few months to a year, depending on the length of the peer review process of the journal.”
HC: Why do you choose to study infants? What are the pros and cons of this?
Dr. Stahl: “I study infants because I’m interested in how the human mind works, and where our knowledge comes from. I find that infants offer a unique perspective, because they have yet to enter formal schooling, don’t yet produce language, and have far less experience in the world than older children and adults. Babies allow us to see the starting state of the human mind.”
HC: How do you decide what topics/areas and questions to study in your research?
Dr. Stahl: “I am interested in learning and memory, and so my studies focus on those areas with infants and children 0-5 years old.”
HC: How many participants do you usually have in your studies?
Dr. Stahl: “We typically need between 20 and 50 subjects in each experiment, depending on the methodology. But we typically need to recruit more participants than we need, since infant and child subjects are sometimes unable to complete a study (for example, they get tired or fussy during the experiment).”
HC: Have you done research (as a professor) at other colleges besides TCNJ?
Dr. Stahl: “ I have done research at the University of Delaware and Johns Hopkins University, in addition to TCNJ.”
HC: What does studying infants help you (as a psychologist) to learn about people as teenagers or adults?
Dr. Stahl: “Studying infants helps us understand our “starting state” as humans. In some cases, infants have knowledge and expectations that are remarkably similar to adults, which tells us that there is some continuity over the lifespan. In other cases, infants reason very differently than older children or adults, and that helps us identify what changes across the lifespan with time and experience.”