Who are the people behind the lectern? Did they appear one day to discuss t-tests and theories, and then disappear into the ether? It turns out that faculty are people too! The Department of Psychology strives to create a culture replete with high quality research and teaching. To foster that culture, the “meet the faculty” series is designed to give students an idea of what leads one to pursue a career aligned with this culture.
Let’s meet one of our social area faculty, Dr. Levi Baker. A true academic, Dr. Baker finds answering the question of where he’s from challenging to answer. Dr. Baker was born in Buffalo but lived there for a few years and moved around quite a bit. He grew up mostly in Pittsburgh and outside of Chicago. In fact, he’s lived in eight different cities and states. Dr. Baker completed an undergraduate degree in psychology and an M.S. in clinical psychology from Marquette University. He began his Ph.D. in Social Psychology at the University of Tennessee, but completed it at Florida State University because his research advisors switched universities when Dr. Baker was halfway through the program.
You can visit Dr. Baker’s lab website for more information about her research: https://www.closerelationshipslab.com.
Research Background and Interests
What inspired you to become a psychology professor?
To be honest, I got into psychology for the worst reasons. I was originally a computer science major but quickly realized I disliked math and coding, so I thought that switching to psychology should fix that issue. Little did I know that a lot of psychology involves math and coding! That said, I love answering psychological questions and that makes it worth it in the end.
Further, I have always loved teaching. It’s a bit dorky but I led a lot of study groups and tutored as an undergraduate and loved it, so deciding to make teaching a career seemed pretty natural.
Can you describe your research area and interests?
Broadly, my work addresses how couples can address problems that emerge in their relationships. Nearly all long-term relationships encounter problems at some point and how couples resolve those problems determines how stable and satisfying those relationships are. My work aims to identify what motivates people to work to resolve those problems, what determines their ability to do so, and how communication between partners affects both their motivation and ability to do so.
Are there any publications or work of which you’re particularly proud?
I have two answers. First, I am pretty proud of my recent paper on indirect opposition. Not only does it address what I think is a pretty interesting question (i.e., If you are unhappy with what your partner is doing, why don’t you just tell them?), but we also wanted to test our hypotheses in a very rigorous manner so that we could be confident in the results, so it ended up requiring considerably more time and effort than most research projects.
Second, I’m always incredibly proud of the work that my graduate students do. They constantly push me to think about my research in new and exciting ways and I love seeing what they are capable of.
Working and Teaching at UNCG
What drew you to joining the Psychology Department at UNCG?
When I was applying for faculty positions, UNCG was among a small group of schools I hoped to end up at because the position seemed exactly what I was looking for (e.g., a good balance between teaching and research, the ability to train undergraduate and graduate students, resources needed to do the job) and I loved North Carolina. I was thrilled to get the opportunity to interview here and when I did, it only solidified the belief that I wanted to be here because the folks in the department were brilliant and just genuinely nice. I can’t stress enough how much having good coworkers can impact the quality of your life and it makes this job great!
Do you have a favorite course that you teach?
I really enjoy teaching our undergraduate and graduate research methods courses because they really require students to think critically about the research process and ask themselves how we know what we think we know. If I am doing my job well, at the end of the semester they will be better able to evaluate research, think about the conclusions that should or should not be drawn from it, and identify alternative explanations for empirical results.
What advice would you give to students aspiring to a career in your area?
My biggest piece of advice would be to get involved with numerous, diverse activities. You might just discover that you love something you didn’t expect to like or hate something you thought you would love. I certainly thought I would pursue several different careers before getting my feet wet and discovering they weren’t what I expected. And the thing I thought I wouldn’t care much for (i.e., research) ended up being something I am passionate about. So, explore your options!
Fun Facts!
What do you like to do outside of work?
I really enjoy live music and have been to about 300 shows at this point. If you are curious, I’ve got the list here.
What’s something most people don’t know about you?
I have a tattoo on my…. you know, what? Let’s skip this question.
Just kidding! In all seriousness, something that surprises a lot of folks is that I went to a single-sex, military high school.
Could you share a favorite movie, book, or band that you would recommend to others?
Can I pick a game? I recently had an absolute blast playing Mixtape, which is a bit more like a great short story than a game but man, did it ever capture what adolescence was like in the 90s. And it has an absolutely killer soundtrack (e.g., Devo, Jesus and Mary Chain, Portishead, Smashing Pumpkins, Roxy Music, Joy Division, the Cure).
