David MacKinnon
Professor of Psychology

Introduction

Admission requirements for graduate study in psychology at ASU insure that students are exceptionally talented and gifted. My role is to channel those talents and gifts in a way that is best for the student. Each student is different. In some cases, good mentoring involves staying out of the student's way while for others it is getting in the student's way. My golden rule as a mentor is to treat students with respect, as I would like to be treated. This includes communicating criticism and praise as honestly and kindly as possible. It also includes respecting the student's life goals. Generally, students are trained for tenure track faculty positions, but these positions are not ideal for all students. It is my role to support students as they explore career options that are linked with their strengths, avocations, and dreams. Job titles of my former students include professor, clinical psychologist, epidemiologist, consultant, research psychologist, and statistician. These professionals and researchers are contributing to society in many important ways both inside and outside the classroom.

In the course of writing this statement, I realized that I did not have a conscious set of goals for mentoring. Consideration of the last 17 years of training students at Arizona State University, led me to identify the six, overlapping, mentoring goals described below.

Fairness

Fairness in the student to mentor relationship includes honesty regarding meeting and failing to meet deadlines, authorship credit, and roadblocks to accomplishing goals. Honest responses are critical. For example, I hope my students feel completely free to admit the real reasons they didn't complete their work. Research can be very difficult and potentially demoralizing, so it is best to have an accepting environment where honesty dominates all aspects. I will talk with students about any academic or nonacademic topic. Often academic difficulties or road blocks are clarified when nonacademic concerns are discussed. I mentor the whole person not just the part related to academics. It is also important for fairness to extend from the one-to-one relation of student to mentor to the entire scientific community. This includes great care in respecting and citing the work of other researchers, even if it overlaps or contradicts a student's own work.

Problem Solving

I identify research problems that are potential contributions to the field and will be publishable if solved. Often these problems are very difficult but I encourage students as mathematician George Polya did when he stated, "If there is a problem you can't solve, then there is an easier problem you can't solve". By focusing on a simpler version of a complex problem, gains can be made. I find that as each difficult problem is overcome the student's confidence and skill increases.

My approach to training students is based on my experiences in my first job after I received my Ph.D. degree. One of my tasks was to train new persons to use data analysis software. I was very detail-oriented with my first 5 trainees, and generally led them along step by step. As a result, I trained them to come to me for help for even trivial problems. The 6th person I trained differently. I provided software manuals, a brief introduction to the software, and said "Take the next two weeks and learn as much as you can. Feel free to ask me questions, but you are in charge of your learning of this material." After 10 days, this person had written an advanced computer program that plotted the number of missing observations by position on a questionnaire. From then on I viewed the best mentorship strategy as clearly giving students the responsibility of learning material, while providing just as much help as is needed based on their skill level. A useful byproduct to this approach is that students attribute learning to their own activities and diligence.

As students take responsibility for learning and experience solving problems, they begin to function like collaborators. My goal is to treat students as collaborators as soon as possible. I have been fortunate to mentor students who very quickly became valued research collaborators with independent ideas and initiative. I have published collaborative research articles with every student that I have mentored.

Critical Thinking

One primary aspect of training in research methodology is the development of a highly critical view of research design and analysis. Critical thinking includes consideration of alternative explanations and counterarguments to research conclusions. An often overlooked aspect of this training is that students must learn to apply the same level of criticism to their own work. There is a payoff to this approach because the research is more defensible and more accurate. There can be drawbacks to extensive critical thinking. Too much criticism can stifle creativity. Recognizing and managing this careful balance between creativity and criticism is my major responsibility as a mentor.

Broad Perspective

I encourage a broad, creative understanding of a research topic. I also encourage students to take classes outside the psychology classes required for our Ph.D. degree. I believe that students should take advantage of the many different opportunities available at ASU. Students I have mentored have taken math, business, sociology, and education classes. Similarly, I encourage exposure to the arts and reading of all kinds including the classics, science fiction, and medicine. New ideas are inspired from often unexpected sources.

Having a broad perspective also applies to finding the best niche for a student. Basketball coach, Red Auerbach said that the purpose of a coach is not to get players to do what they are not good at but to get them to do what they are good at. For many students, good mentorship is as simple as just letting them explore their own interests and providing guidance from experience. There are many cases where the student does not even realize what their strengths are, and part of my job is to set up a learning situation where they realize their gifts.

Working independently and part of a team

Historically, most academic study involves a solitary, independent investigation of a topic. However, modern research approaches use research teams and require that individuals work both independently and in a team setting. I have had funded research projects that support between 4 and 9 research assistants since 1990. All of these projects required successful teamwork. Helping students learn to work well both independently and as part a team is a goal of my mentoring. I think it is important to note successful teams do not consist of the same type of person and personality. The diversity of the team is part of the fun of working together. The members of the team do not have to like each other but they must at some level connect in order for the greater good of the team.

Communication

Competence in all forms of communication is critical for work as a psychologist. Communication of ideas in small and large groups is important. All of my students present research at national and international conferences as part of their funded research assistantships. They also present work at weekly meetings on research projects. Writing is probably the most important form of communication that I help students develop. One productive way I do this is to ask students to edit my own and fellow students' writing. Although this can be time consuming, it helps students appreciate comments on their own work. An important aspect of mentorship is the development of a style to edit and comment on another persons writing that makes them want to write again. In this way, criticism must be positive and fair. Often scientific research is a difficult, tedious process and we all need a little encouragement from our colleagues.

Summary

I am thankful to have had the opportunity to work with such wonderful, talented, funny, industrious, and creative graduate and undergraduate students over the last 17 years at Arizona State University. I thank the students who nominated me for this award and the committee for making me a finalist. I deeply appreciate this acknowledgement of the time and energy I have devoted to students.