thesis
So over the summer I helped our newest full professor move. He's a really nice guy, and our personalities mix well. Long story short, I am taking a independent directed study with him now. Which, I have to say, I am really enjoying.
We've been working on my thesis and for the most part, he has shot down all of my three big thesis ideas:
Marxist Political Economies in World of Warcraft
Social Capital in World of Warcraft
and a more philosophical piece, The Case for Cosmopolitanism.
I am not in -love- with either of these research topics, so it is not tragedy not doing them. So we came up with two new possible ideas.
Groups as the Independent variable, and Individuals (Leaders), as the Dependent variable.
and visa versa. All set in the experimental lab of World of Warcraft.
The problem is, I am really new to a lot of political psychology... like... I never had a class in it in undergrad or grad. Nor has it ever come up in any of my survey classes. The good news is, I almost ended up with a minion in psychology in undergrad because of all the psyc classes I took, so I am familiar with a lot of the big thinkers in this school of thought.
I think this relationship will work out well. Schafer has really been a good mentor to me so far, and I see no signs of that letting up. He busts my ass when I need it busted, and is really encouraging as a default.
Example: The other day we were talking about publishing a paper of mine. And I was like "I dont care where, I just want to be able to say I've been published."
To which he replied "OK, time to change this attitude around at UCF. It's not about getting published, it is about getting published in a high end journal"
I have other things to say about this, but Ill stop for now.
We've been working on my thesis and for the most part, he has shot down all of my three big thesis ideas:
Marxist Political Economies in World of Warcraft
Social Capital in World of Warcraft
and a more philosophical piece, The Case for Cosmopolitanism.
I am not in -love- with either of these research topics, so it is not tragedy not doing them. So we came up with two new possible ideas.
Groups as the Independent variable, and Individuals (Leaders), as the Dependent variable.
and visa versa. All set in the experimental lab of World of Warcraft.
The problem is, I am really new to a lot of political psychology... like... I never had a class in it in undergrad or grad. Nor has it ever come up in any of my survey classes. The good news is, I almost ended up with a minion in psychology in undergrad because of all the psyc classes I took, so I am familiar with a lot of the big thinkers in this school of thought.
I think this relationship will work out well. Schafer has really been a good mentor to me so far, and I see no signs of that letting up. He busts my ass when I need it busted, and is really encouraging as a default.
Example: The other day we were talking about publishing a paper of mine. And I was like "I dont care where, I just want to be able to say I've been published."
To which he replied "OK, time to change this attitude around at UCF. It's not about getting published, it is about getting published in a high end journal"
I have other things to say about this, but Ill stop for now.