Brett Silverstein Gender Differences

The person I interviewed is Dr. Brett Silverstein, a psychology professor at the City College of New York. I heard about his comical lectures and decided to give the class a try when I enrolled for Psychology 10200 this semester. After attending a number of the classes, I came to see what everyone meant by how amusing and interesting this class is. I became highly interested in the field of psychology, and decided to interview Dr. Silverstein as part of this assignment. Learning more about his work, I came to find that he is currently researching gender differences in depression and disordered eating, and the prevention of psychological disorders. I was intrigued by what he had to say about this topic and his progress in this area of research …show more content…
The question was, “I understand one of the topics you are currently exploring is analyzing large databases on gender and depression. Could you elaborate on your methods and findings?” Dr. Silverstein stated that he would not go into tremendous detail due to the large amount of information. He began by simply explaining the main idea of his research, which lies in the following questions: why do women seem to have more depression and disordered eating than men, why does it seem to be true in recent years even though situations and circumstances have gotten better for women, and why does it occur at adolescence. He began this research in 1986, when he published an article on eating issues. Around 1989, he began working on depression issues that triggered the research he is currently working on. New discoveries, connections, and theories added up and made him want to look more into this research that is still ongoing today. Dr. Silverstein elaborated on his methods, saying that he initially focused on using questionnaires and psychological tests that were handed out to build up findings. However, to be able to influence people, he realized he needed larger samples and groups. To do that, he needed to shift from questionnaires to taking data. This is often from the government, who pay enormous amounts of money to collect large amounts of data from across the …show more content…
Silverstein had to say. I felt that getting advice from someone with this much experience was a must, and this led to my next question which was, “What is your advice for a new student in your field?” He emphasized the importance of planning ahead, and making sure that graduate school was a goal to keep in mind. He stated that a psychology degree can get a job. However, the most fun and interesting careers in this field requires graduate degrees. “If you’re going to do it, you 're pretty much going to have to go to graduate school. It’s okay for jobs, but it is not great for jobs without the graduate stuff.” He stated that many people he has seen at City College are first-generation college students, and many who are eager to get out of college and directly get a job. However, his main advice to those students was to carry on with their education to get into the interesting fields of psychology. “If that is not what you are thinking about, than maybe psychology isn 't for you… Be aware of that when you 're making that decision.” Overall, I feel that my interview with Dr. Silverstein was eye opening and very interesting. He genuinely explained and answered my questions clearly, and gave me advice thats worth following. It was much more fun rather than a formal interview, and I loved having a discussion with someone as experienced and entertaining as Dr. Silverstein. His positivity and work inspires me to look more into the topic of psychology