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This month's focus: House Fires New Faculty Lady Gators Excel in CLAS 1999 CLAS Dissertation Fellows USPS Employees Recognized Dean's Musings Around the College Bookbeat Grants CLASnotes |
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So This is Retirement?
Although Howard E. A. "Tony" Tinsley is a first-year assistant professor of psychology at UF, he's hardly a neophyte. After working as a professor and administrator at Southern Illinois University for over 25 years, Tinsley decided it was time to retire. But for him, retirement looks a little different than for most. Initially, Tinsley contemplated leaving academia altogether to do research in the private sector, but he soon changed his mind. "I had a number of things left to accomplish, and it became very clear that I still liked teaching and had great enthusiasm for it. Also, my research can be best done in the context of a university with the institutional supports it provides." So immediately after deciding to retire from SIU, Tinsley put himself back on the job market and soon secured the assistant professorship here in Gainesville. His friends rib him about being a workaholic--interesting considering the main thrust of Tinsley's research deals with the psychology of leisure. "People think that's a real hoot," he says. "They figure I'm the last guy in the world who would know what leisure is all about." Despite the fact that psychologists and scholars have emphasized leisure activity as an important component of "life-career" development, Tinsley says most people don't think critically about their leisure options or preferences. "We're all victims of the protestant ethic," he explains. We've been raised to think about work as the central defining aspect of our lives, and we consider idleness a sign of decadence." As a result, claims Tinsley, we don't seek counseling or guidance when a shift in life direction, a disability or an altered financial situation necessitates a modification of leisure pursuits. Theory and literature have long been available to folks seeking a career change, but until Tinsley and his SIU colleague Barbara Eldredge designed a taxonomy of leisure activities in 1995, no research-based information existed for those contemplating recreational change. Tinsley and Eldredge created the taxonomy after surveying nearly 4,000 subjects about their primary leisure activities. From the results of their in-depth study, they were able to group 82 leisure activities into 12 clusters based on the extent to which the activities met different psychological needs such as "competition," "companionship," "relaxation," and "cognitive stimulation." By giving attention to both the structure of leisure activities and the way they relate to one another, the taxonomy can assist those in need of change. "Take jogging," says Tinsley. "I have a number of friends now who have jogged for years and years, and their knees can't handle the pounding anymore." According to the taxonomy, these same folks might consider taking up hunting. "You wouldn't think of that," he says of the odd pairing, "but the psychological experience provides similar benefits to participants." The survey results offer many such substitution possibilities. A person no longer able to backpack, for example, may address his/her same leisure motivations throughp gardening, as both activities fall into the "novelty" cluster. A once avid playgoer who no longer has the financial resources or physical ability to go to the theater might find similar satisfaction in picnicking, as both are forms of "sensual enjoyment." An art aficionado would probably enjoy working puzzles or reading science fiction ("cognitive stimulation"), and a frustrated guitar player may consider trading in his/her pick to bake or collect antiques ("creativity"), instead. Some of the taxonomy's groupings are surprising; for instance, the "self-expression" cluster likens fishing to, among other activities, needlepoint and short-wave radio listening. And while watching television provides satisfaction similar to playing bingo (both classed as "relaxation"), the activity turns out not to be very closely related to watching movies, which provides "sensual enjoyment" on par with dining out or seeing a musical. Tinsley's research can do more than just help counselors and individuals seeking change. It can also be useful for recreational resource management. If the head of a park district with a limited budget needs to supply activities for the entire community, s/he could use the taxonomy to prevent loading up on activities that provide the same kind of outlet. "If you can only afford six programs, and without thinking about it you choose programs all relating to one area, you're supplying a much more limited range of activities at a functional level to your community than you could if you had a program across each of six different areas," says Tinsley. The "retired" professor's other research activities include creating a follow-up data set on University of Minnesota students who graduated in the 1950s. He already has extensive background data, including high school records, UM transcripts, personality, interest and achievement tests and a 60-page questionnaire each subject completed in 1970. After digitizing this information, Tinsley hopes to secure grant money to enable him to relocate original participants and gather current data. "If we are successful we will be able to study certain kinds of developmental issues such as health trends or the progression of psychopathologies across a large portion of the lifespan, something scientists are not normally able to do." Academia will not have to say good-bye to Tinsley--or for that matter his wife Diane, a retired SIU psychologist who continues to work as a UF research affiliate--any time soon. The dedicated professor says as long as he's having fun, he'll keep working. And when he does finally hang up his professorial hat? "One of my leisure activities is to take classes," he says.
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After 25 years at Southern Illinois University, psychology professor Tony Tinsley forgoes traditional retirement, starts new career at UF