This editor profile is the eighteenth in a series which will introduce you to a selection of our editors.
This week we have an interview with Joel Cooper, Editor of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

Why did you choose psychology as your field of study?
We don’t actually know a lot about how to help people. Until now attempts to help through psychotherapy have been mostly intuitive. That’s when I realized there was a field of scientific psychology, which could ultimately become the bedrock of how we help people in the future.

What’s new in the field of psychology?  How will this work impact our daily lives?
We now have the technology to link what people think and how they feel to activities in the brain. In the future we will be able to use that information to treat depression, anger, prejudice, discrimination etc. A really exciting field is prejudice and discrimination. We are starting to understand how prejudice works in the brain and we can use that information to formulate policy to deal with prejudice between races, nations or religions.

What aspect of being an editor do you find most rewarding?
When you think your hard work has resulted in a discernibly better paper and the author is in agreement. It’s very rewarding when an author thanks you for making their manuscript better, for seeing implications they hadn’t seen or adding a new piece of evidence they weren’t aware of.

What would you change about your role as editor or the scientific journal publishing industry if you could?
You need to keep up with the trends and follow what the young people are doing in your field of study. More editors should make it a priority to attend conferences and symposia where young scientists present their ideas.

How do you envision the role of the editor being different in year 2020?
Paperless journals and online publishing will continue to change our profession. We will need new criteria for accepting and declining papers as the internet, with its limitless space, becomes the standard.

Can you describe how it feels when you come across a groundbreaking paper?
Most of the work I get is good, some of it is very good, and occasionally I come across something that is groundbreaking and it just overwhelms you. As soon as you read a paper like that, you know, you’re immediately wowed by it!

What advice would you give to a new editor?
The most important thing is to pick a team of people whose judgment you can trust and whose efficiency you can rely on. Editors, who fall behind in their work, jeopardize the quality of the journal and make authors angry and disappointed. As an editor you need to pick a team that will get the job done. You also need to know what the focus of your journal is and work with a team who shares the same vision.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
As a child I wanted to be a sanitation worker and ride on the back of a garbage truck, wearing cool gloves.

What keeps you awake at night?
Many things can keep me awake at night - journals, research, students, advancing the field, training new people and fostering good research.

What is the biggest lesson you've learned in your career?
Find a research problem that really motivates you and stick to it. The only thing that will sustain you as a scientist is to pursue something that truly fascinates you. Not because it’s a hot topic or because everyone is publishing it but because you find it genuinely interesting. 

What are you currently reading?  Would you recommend it?  If so, why?
The Kite Runner - I know I am years behind everyone else in terms of reading but I thought it was one of the most fascinating and complex novels I’ve ever read. Such fantastic psychology!

Who or what is your biggest inspiration?
Edward E. Jones - my mentor in graduate school at Duke University and later my colleague at Princeton. He taught me how to do research and that some things in life are more important than intellectual passion; like family.

How do you balance your role as editor with your other roles?
Family comes in first place. If your professional commitments are getting in the way of time with your family - you’ve taken on too much. It’s very important to remember your priorities.

What would you like your legacy to be?
I would like to think the field changed in a positive way because I was a creative mentor and a good researcher.

What do you like to do for fun?
I like playing golf (that’s a good family venture), walking on the beach and skiing.