Thursday, September 18, 2008
As a psychology 104 professor, David Holmes teaches thousands of KU students every year, and as a textbook author, he helps educate students all across the country. Holmes recently let Jayplay pick his brain.
Q: How did you become interested in psychology?
A: I had a fascinating professor of psychology as a freshman in college, and psychology fit with my general orientation of wanting to be of service to people.
Q: And interested in teaching?
A: Like most psychology undergraduates, I originally wanted to be a practicing clinical psychologist and treat individuals who were suffering from various disorders. However, it occurred to me that we didn’t know as much as we thought we did and we needed researchers. That led me to a career in universities where I also taught. For me, there has never been a conflict between teaching and research. They complement each other and I love doing both.
Q: Are there issues within psychology that college students need to pay more attention to?
A: College students need to know that people in their age range run the highest risk of developing psychological disorders such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Students should know about these disorders, both for themselves and for the people they know.
Q: When did you start writing textbooks?
A: I spent the first part of my career as a lab researcher. Later in my career, I had an experience with a student not being able to understand the textbook for a class. I realized the book was so badly written, and I thought, “I can write better than this.”
Q: What’s the process of writing a book like?
A: The first book took me at least four or five years to complete. The problem is when you’re giving a lecture, you don’t need to give sources like you do in a book.
Q: What specific topics within psychology have you focused on during your career?
A: I’ve done a lot of different things, but most revolve around stress, the physiology of stress and the causes of stress. I’ve also spent time researching adult development in women.
Q: You once participated in a think tank. What was that about?
A: Think tanks are usually funded by some corporation that has a lot of money, and they will bring together a group of people to help solve a problem. The one I was in worked on studying abnormal behavior. In a think tank, your responsibilities are thinking, researching and hopefully solving any problem that they put before you. It’s every academic’s ideal situation, but I discovered that I wanted to go back to a university because I missed teaching.
Q: What do you want to accomplish with the rest of your career?
A: I have two more books I want to write, and I want to keep teaching.
Q: You’ve taught a lot of people throughout the years. Do you ever run into former students?
A: I can’t go anywhere in Kansas City and not have someone say, “I had you for psychology.” Now I’m having kids of former students in class, and they’re saying, “My mom and dad have been talking about you at the dinner table for years. I know all your stories.” It’s nice to know you’ve made an impact.
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