Thanks for the input Behavioral.
I do actually love research. Research is my goal. Not sure about a marketing program. I am not really into the that side of behavioral activity. I am more interested in the law and policy side of behavior. That is what can we learn from behavior to adapt our policy and laws to be more effective. On the other hand organizational psychology is also very interesting. It strikes me as very related to Microeconomics. As for advanced econ being "all math" there are different schools of thought on that. There is and has really always been a split in the economics community between the mathematicians who couldn't cut it in other fields and the more social science economists. Many who study economics discount "macroeconomics and econometrics" as not within the true field of economics. Math has its place but in reality the heavily mathematical economics has made the field far less practical and has brought it a lot of disrepute due to continuous failings. But I digress. My favorite thing to do is research and write. That's why I've decided I want to do a PhD program and go into academia. I would love to find a professorship at a law school eventually but anyplace that lets me research and write would be fine. I am far more interested in theory than quant side. I understand that mathematical and statistical analysis is important in any empirical field but I am not looking for a heavy emphasis on math. That said I have enjoyed a little study of game theory and things like that so I'm not totally anti-math I just do not want it to be the focus of my education or career.
Thanks for the input Neuropsych76, I know top programs are very competitive, I am curious as where to start. I am about to have a law degree and lots of student debt. It would be a little crazy for me to walk away from a 100k job to do menial work as a lab assistant for a few years or to go back to undergrad. As for getting some Psych background academically, could I just pick up some courses at a local school's undergrad part time? Should I consider a part time masters program or what would you suggest? As for experience, would it be possible to find like a part time research assistant type job so that I could do that with a day job? Maybe co-author a law and psychology piece? Does it matter if the people I work with have names or can they be nobodies? I could probably find some undergrad profs to work with on stuff without giving up my day job... which is really a lot more practical.
I noticed a duel PhD in managerial and organizational behavior and psychology. Would a program like that be easier or harder for me to get into? I feel like the inter-discipline arena is where I want to be not a pure field. It seems like a lot of schools are starting to really reach-out with inter-discipline programs but its hard to tell what they expect from applicants. I know I cannot compete head to head with Psych people who have spent years on that. I don't really want to. I want to do inter-discipline research not straight psych. Are there any respectable programs that look for that?