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How to Become a Research Psychologist – Schooling and Degree Guide [2024 Guide]

In contemplating psychology as an occupation, thoughts wander to hands-on professions such as counseling and therapy. However, a sizable segment of the field involves little practical work, and is more concerned with theoretical aspects of psychology.

Do you prefer fixed numbers to subjective diagnoses? Scientific observations to patient treatment? If so, perhaps a career in research psychology is for you.

Are You an Analytical Person?

Before jumping on the research psychology bandwagon, ask yourself if you’re truly an analytical person. An indispensable prerequisite for a career in research psychology is having a firm grasp of – and perhaps a natural inclination toward –working with numbers and data. Dictionary.com defines the term analytic thinking as “the abstract separation of a whole into its constituent parts in order to study the parts and their relations,” and that’s exactly what research entails.

Hence, questions it would behoove you to ask are: How did I cope with math in school? Did I do well in my college statistics class? If the answer is negative, could you learn to enjoy it? Are you prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to become a resourceful statistician? In going forward with this profession, a resounding “yes” should be your only answer.

What is a Research Psychologist?

Research psychologists are found in every branch of psychology. It is often not a specific job title, but rather represents an area of emphasis for psychologists when undertaking research in their specific field, such as developmental psychology , industrial-organizational psychology , biological psychology , social psychology , and the like.

For example, a social psychologist might undertake research on the manner in which children are socialized in rural, highly religious communities and compare that to the way children in urban, non-religious communities are socialized.

Another example might be a health psychologist conducting research on nutrition and wellness for a government agency.

Research psychologists are trained in experimental methods and statistics. They utilize the scientific method to formulate and test hypotheses, develop experiments, collect and analyze data, and use that information to develop conclusions and report on their findings.

Two common types of studies research psychologists undertake are:

• Experiments – research psychologists conduct experiments both in controlled lab settings and out in the field. An example might be examining the social behaviors of small groups in a rural town.
• Case studies – psychologists conducting research often utilize this method when studying an individual or small group. Observing how a particular family overcomes the trauma of a natural disaster is an example of a case study.

Despite the significant differences in the ways that research psychologists conduct their studies, the tie that binds research psychologists together across disciplines is that at the heart of their research, they are seeking to understand better how humans and non-human animals feel, think, learn, and act.

What Does a Research Psychologist Do?

A research psychologist carries out many duties as it pertains to studying human behavior. Many research psychologists work for private companies or organizations conducting studies pertinent to the purpose of their employer. For example, a university might employ a research psychologist to explore methods to improve teaching and learning.

Alternatively, a research psychologist working for a non-profit human services organization might study ways to improve the bonding experience between adopted children and their adopted parents.

Research psychologists also conduct much research on behalf of governmental agencies. For example, a psychologist may research the efficacy of psycho-social intervention programs implemented by the Bureau of Prisons, looking for positive outcomes for participants in the program.

Likewise, a research psychologist working for the National Institute of Mental Health may investigate current rates of certain psychological disorders among the general population.

Other psychologists with training in research work in academic settings. Colleges and universities employ research specialists to conduct research or even assist with the development of on-campus policies and procedures regarding psychological research. For example, a research psychologist might devise rules and regulations pertaining to human or animal-based research in the psychology department.

Many research psychologists also teach. Again, colleges and universities – both public and private – might hire a psychologist with training in research to teach undergraduate courses in various genres of psychology.

There would also be opportunity for more specialized teaching assignments, such as those that train graduate or doctoral students to conduct research of their own. Typical course assignments for research psychologists include research psychology, statistics, and ethics.

Yet other research psychologists are employed by private businesses to help them create improved working environments. Research psychologists might be employed to investigate issues like low employee morale or low production rates. They may also seek to improve workplace safety by examining the types of accidents that occur, when and where they occur, and the conditions under which they occur as well.

What are the Degree and Schooling Requirements to Become a Research Psychologist?

A career in psychology usually requires a graduate degree, and the sub-field of research psychology is certainly no different.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most research psychologists need not just a Master’s degree, but a full-out Ph.D. or PsyD, to land a job of pleasing stature. Hence, normally expect 5-6 years of study even after graduating college.

Having completed coursework in experimental psychology and statistics will be of great importance, probably more so than for you than any other type of psychologist.

Obtaining psychology license generally require pre-doctoral and postdoctoral supervised experience, an internship, or a residency program, which may span 12 months or more. Sometimes more than one of them is needed.

Where Does a Research Psychologist Work?

Research psychologists typically work in the following environments:

• Colleges and universities
• Law enforcement agencies
• Consulting and private research firms
• Government research groups
• Government and Private businesses
• War veterans and disaster post-traumatic counseling

What Skills are Required for a Research Psychologist?

Successful research psychologists have the following skills :

• Research skills – It goes without saying that research psychologist must be highly trained in research methodologies, including experimental design, observational techniques, and sampling methods.
• Math and statistics skills – Research psychologists must also have a strong grasp on the statistical methods used to analyze research, including qualitative and quantitative methods of analyzing and interpreting data.
• Computer literacy – Psychologists in this field are required to be highly computer literate. Computers and computer programs are used for all phases of research, from designing research studies to analyzing data to reporting data for publication.
• Speaking and writing skills – Research psychologists must be able to clearly and accurately summarize their findings both in verbal and written forms. Good linguistic skills are also necessary for interacting with other members of the research team and with subjects participating in the study.
• Analytical skills – Analytical skills are necessary because they need to be able to see both the fine details and the bigger picture. Higher-ordered analytical skills assist researchers in identifying patterns, highlighting anomalies, and sifting through mountains of data to come to a logical conclusion.
• Skepticism – It can be difficult for researchers to avoid seeing what they want to see in their research. As a result, research psychologists need to have the ability to critically evaluate their work and the work of others.

What is the Employment Outlook for Research Psychologists?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the job outlook for psychologists as a whole is 6 percent.

Unfortunately, the BLS does not offer details regarding the employment outlook specifically for research psychology. While the field will most likely not grow as quickly as other psychology disciplines, it’s still reasonable to assume that strong growth will occur. This is due in large part to an increased interest in the underlying mechanisms of behavior, such as genetics and environmental factors.

Because research psychologists specialize in conducting studies on popular topics like drug and alcohol addiction, there should be plenty of job opportunities in the coming years. This is especially true of research psychologists that have an advanced degree, like a doctorate, or have additional training in psychological research methods.

What is the Salary of a Research Psychologist?

As of February 2024, research psychologists earn a median salary of $127,818 per year. However, as in many other areas of psychology, salaries fluctuate considerably depending on the number of years of experience in the industry, as well as the sector of employment.

Individuals who go into industrial-organizational psychology average as much as $132,191 annually, which is more than any other area of psychology.

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How to Become a Research Psychology

Key Takeaways:

• Educational background: To become a research psychologist, it is important to pursue undergraduate majors in research psychology and then enroll in graduate programs specifically designed for research psychology.
• Skills and qualities: Research psychologists need to possess analytical and communication skills, as well as soft skills such as the ability to teach and extensive knowledge of human behavior.
• Career opportunities: Research psychologists can pursue various career paths, including academic researcher, research psychologist, consulting services, government positions, and clinical therapists.
• Steps to become a research psychologist: The journey involves obtaining a bachelor’s degree, followed by a master’s degree and a doctorate degree. Relevant work experience, job training, and certifications are also important.
• Salaries and job outlook: Research psychologists can expect average salaries and a positive job outlook with growth opportunities in the field.
• Challenges and FAQs: Challenges in the field include job stability, geographic location impacting job opportunities, and maintaining work-life balance and job satisfaction. It is also helpful to learn from experienced professionals like Juhi Rathod.
• Conclusion: Becoming a research psychologist requires a specific education and skill set, but can lead to rewarding career opportunities and personal growth.

Research psychology plays a vital role in understanding the complexities of human behavior and the mind. In this article, we will explore the significance of research psychology and provide an overview of the topics covered. From uncovering new insights to driving evidence-based practices, this section sets the stage for an enlightening journey into the world of research psychology.

Some Facts About How to Become a Research Psychologist:

Overview of the article.

Education and training programs, undergraduate majors, and graduate programs. Requirements for a doctorate degree, skills, qualities, analytics, communication, and knowledge of human behavior. Job opportunities, academic research, government positions, clinical therapy—plus steps to get a bachelor’s , master’s , or doctorate . Work experience, job training, certifications, salaries, job outlook, earnings, and growth prospects. Challenges, precarious jobs, and geographic location also important. Learn all you can and make informed decisions.

Become a Research Psychologist

Importance of research psychology

Research psychology is crucial for understanding human behavior and mental processes. Scientists study data to create evidence-based practices in multiple areas. They provide insight into cognition, emotions, and behavior which can inform educational and therapeutic interventions.

Aspiring research psychologists learn research methods, statistics, and theoretical frameworks during undergraduate and graduate programs. Doctoral students complete courses, exams, and a dissertation based on original research. Additionally, they receive clinical training to apply their findings in the real world.

Research psychologists possess analytical skills, communication skills, and soft skills to evaluate research, explain findings, and build relationships. They also teach others about psychological concepts and research methodologies. With extensive knowledge of human behavior, they can identify patterns, trends, and individual differences.

The importance of research psychology is immense. It helps improve lives through evidence-based practices and interventions. Juhi Rathod , a renowned research psychologist, conducted a study which showed that research psychology has played a major role in advancements in many fields.

In the realm of research psychology, the mind is a playground and dark humor is the key to success.

Education and Training

When it comes to becoming a research psychologist, education and training play a crucial role. In this section, we will explore various aspects of the educational journey aspiring research psychologists undertake. From undergraduate majors that pave the way for research psychology to the rigorous requirements of doctoral degree programs, we’ll uncover the essential elements that shape the path to success. Additionally, we’ll touch upon research methods, coursework, and the integration of clinical techniques and therapy training, along with the essential clinical psychology internship experience.

Undergraduate majors for research psychology

Psychology: Learn about human behavior, cognitive processes, and research methodologies in a psychology major.

Cognitive Science: Interdisciplinary major combining psychology, computer science, linguistics, and philosophy to study the mind.

Neuroscience: Major in neuroscience focuses on the biological basis of behavior. Explore brain function, neural networks, and neuroimaging techniques.

Sociology: Sociology majors analyze social interactions and structures. Study social inequality, group dynamics, and social change.

Anthropology: Anthropology majors investigate human cultures, societies, and evolutionary history. Gaining insights into universal behaviors and cultural diversity.

Statistics: Statistics major is key for rigorous research. Train in data analysis and hypothesis testing.

These majors give aspiring research psychologists a foundation in psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, sociology, anthropology, and statistics. Combining knowledge from these disciplines with specialized coursework in research methods and psychological theories prepares graduates for a career in research psychology.

Plus, students can minor or take elective courses in development psychology, abnormal psychology, social psychology, and industrial-organizational psychology .

Juhi Rathod’s journey is an example of the diverse educational paths of those in research psychology. She completed her anthropology degree with focus on cross-cultural studies, then got a Master’s in cognitive science and a doctoral program in clinical psychology. Her interdisciplinary background and research experience allow her to make significant contributions in studies relating cultural factors and mental health outcomes. Her educational trajectory shows the wide range of undergraduate majors leading to a research psychology career!

Graduate programs for research psychology

Graduate programs for research psychology offer specialized courses, such as those on research methodology, statistical analysis, experimental design, and data collection . These courses give students a strong base in quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Graduates have access to a lot of research opportunities throughout their studies. They can work with renowned faculty and collaborate with fellow students. This hands-on experience helps students to develop critical thinking and get practical research experience.

The collaborative environment of these programs further benefits students. They engage in discussions, present their findings, and get feedback from peers and faculty. This helps them to develop communication and presentation skills .

In addition, these programs provide extracurricular activities . Students can attend conferences, publish papers, or do community-based research projects.

Students can explore diverse research topics, including social behavior, neurological disorders, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, clinical psychology, and industrial-organizational psychology .

Graduate programs for research psychology have seen a shift over time. Earlier, the focus was on theoretical knowledge without much emphasis on practical application. However, due to advancements in technology and the need for evidence-based practices, these programs now prioritize hands-on experience and practical training. This has resulted in graduates who are well-prepared to tackle complex challenges and contribute to research.

Doctoral degree requirements

To earn a doctoral degree in research psychology , you must meet certain requirements , showcasing your expertise and commitment. You typically need comprehensive coursework, research methods training , and clinical techniques education. Plus, you’ll need strong analytical skills , effective communication, and the ability to teach. And, of course, extensive knowledge of human behavior .

You must first obtain a bachelor’s and master’s before starting the doctoral program. Plus, relevant work experience and job training are also necessary.

The doctoral degree requirements for research psychology are rigorous. Coursework is designed to give you the skills and knowledge to conduct advanced research. You must study statistical analysis, experimental design, data collection, and data interpretation. Clinical techniques and therapy training are also important.

To get the doctoral degree , you must finish a dissertation . You’ll do original research with the help of faculty advisors. This involves proposing a research topic, conducting literature reviews, collecting data via surveys or experiments, analyzing the findings, and presenting the results in writing.

So, if you have strong analytical skills , and understand human behavior , you might be a good fit for the program. On completion, you can pursue various career paths, like academic researcher, or roles in consulting services or government agencies.

Ready to explore the depths of research methods? Unlock the secrets of data and psychological gold!

Research methods and coursework

Gaining proficiency in research is key for aspiring psychologists. Coursework and hands-on experience help. Key aspects include:

• Research Design : Selecting experimental, correlational or qualitative approaches based on the research question.
• Data Collection : Surveys, interviews, observations, case studies, and experiments.
• Statistical Analysis : Descriptive stats, inferential stats (t-tests, ANOVA), and advanced analytical techniques (regression analysis).
• Ethical Considerations : Ensuring confidentiality, informed consent, fair treatment, and protocols.

These skills are vital for aspiring psychologists, as they prepare to explore the depths of the mind. Clinical techniques and therapy training take them on a wild ride.

Clinical techniques and therapy training

Research psychology students not only gain research methods and coursework knowledge, but also specialized training in clinical techniques. They learn how to assess, diagnose mental disorders, and apply therapeutic interventions. Through supervised practice experiences, they can refine their skills and gain confidence.

They acquire knowledge of different therapies, such as CBT, psychodynamic, humanistic, and family systems . They learn how to tailor these approaches to the needs of each client. Cultural competence is necessary, too, to be sensitive to diverse backgrounds and identities.

Analytical skills and communication skills are essential for aspiring research psychologists. Soft skills , like empathy, active listening, and compassion, help build a strong therapeutic alliance with clients. Extensive knowledge of human behavior is also vital to understand the root of mental health issues and create effective treatment plans.

Theoretical and practical experience both play a role in becoming a research psychologist. Comprehensive education programs help future researchers acquire the necessary skills to contribute to psychological phenomenon understanding and mental health improvement.

Clinical psychology internship

Interns gain practical experience in conducting psychological assessments and administering therapy sessions . They learn to collaborate with multidisciplinary teams , to develop comprehensive treatment plans for clients. Furthermore, they get to observe seasoned clinicians , deepening their understanding of clinical practices.

During the internship, students gain problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication skills . They are exposed to various therapeutic techniques and interventions, gaining knowledge of human behavior and mental health issues . Clinical psychology internships bridge academic learning and professional practice, offering crucial experiential training for future careers in research psychology.

Internships often require a significant time commitment. Full-time or part-time hours may be required, based on the program’s requirements. Additionally, interns must follow ethical guidelines and maintain client confidentiality . These experiences give interns an immersive learning environment in which they can refine skills and gain confidence.

The value of a clinical psychology internship is exemplified by Juhi Rathod’s experience. At a renowned mental health clinic, Juhi worked with clients and conducted assessments, under the supervision of experienced clinicians. She developed treatment plans and implemented evidence-based interventions. Through this direct experience, Juhi gained practical skills and a profound understanding of human behavior and mental health. This internship was instrumental in Juhi’s career as a research psychologist, equipping her with the necessary skills and knowledge.

Skills and Qualities

To become a research psychologist, it is vital to possess a range of essential skills and qualities. In this section, we will explore the different aspects that contribute to a successful career in this field. From analytical skills to communication proficiency , from the importance of soft skills to the ability to teach, and the necessity of extensive knowledge of human behavior, we’ll uncover the key components required to excel as a research psychologist.

Analytical skills

Research psychologists use analytical skills to examine vast amounts of data collected during experiments/studies. They use statistical software to organize, clean, and analyze data, so they can make accurate conclusions. Analytical skills are also necessary when conducting literature reviews and evaluating existing research. Research psychologists must assess the quality/validity of studies, and identify any potential biases/limitations.

Analytical skills are important during the design phase of studies/experiments. Research psychologists plan their methodologies, pick relevant variables to measure, decide on sample sizes, and devise suitable statistical analyses.

Analytical skills are needed for conducting research and disseminating findings. Research psychologists need to be able to explain complex info in a clear way. They must give oral presentations and written reports that people can understand.

To become a successful research psychologist, professionals must develop/improve their analytical skills. They can do this by taking courses/going to workshops/conferences on statistical analysis techniques, staying up to date with research methodologies, and working with other experts.

Communication skills

Research psychologists must have strong communication abilities to share details and swap info with colleagues, customers, and other key people. They have to be adept at various forms of communication, including verbal, written, and nonverbal. Being able to communicate clearly and concisely is vital for presenting research, partnering with team members, and conveying complex psychological ideas to a larger audience.

• Research psychologists must be able to express their thoughts and discoveries in written form, whether it be with academic papers, research reports, or grant proposals.
• Verbal communication skills are necessary when presenting research in a conference or in an academic setting. Research psychologists have to communicate their ideas well and present talks that fascinate and inform viewers.
• Active listening enables research psychologists to comprehend the needs and viewpoints of others. This ability is especially critical when dealing with customers or interviewing people as part of research.
• Nonverbal communication helps build a rapport and trust with clients or study participants. Research psychologists need to be aware of their body language, facial expressions, and hand gestures when interacting with others.
• Adapting one’s communication style is essential for talking with people from diverse backgrounds who may have different communication styles or cultural norms.
• Interpersonal skills are also important as they allow research psychologists to cooperate successfully with colleagues, work in teams, form professional connections, and solve potential issues that may arise during research projects.

Furthermore, research psychologists have to be good listeners. Being able to listen actively enables them to completely understand their client’s worries while providing the right help.

To improve their communication skills, research psychologists can join workshops or seminars on effective communication strategies. They can also request feedback from their peers or mentors about their communication style so they can recognize areas that require improvement. Additionally, staying up to date with advancements in communication technology and tools can help research psychologists effectively use new methods of communication in their work. All in all, great communication skills are essential for research psychologists to be successful in their field and have an impactful effect through their work.

Soft skills

Psychologists need more than just great analytical and communication skills. They must also possess soft skills to effectively connect with clients. This includes being empathetic, patient, and understanding to create a safe environment. Listening skills are essential, as well as strong problem-solving abilities .

Apart from technical knowledge, soft skills are essential for success. Effective communication is vital to establishing trust and rapport. Strong interpersonal skills are needed to collaborate with others.

Empathy and compassion towards clients are essential. Psychologists must be sensitive to cultural differences, display emotional intelligence, and have a non-judgmental attitude. A person-centered approach allows for tailored treatment plans.

Soft skills support the core competencies of research psychology. They help psychologists communicate effectively , collaborate with colleagues , and provide personalized plans for clients . These skills are invaluable and lead to a positive impact on the well-being of others.

Ability to teach

Research psychologists must have the ability to teach. They often work in academia, both conducting research and teaching courses related to psychology. Being able to educate the next generation of psychologists is crucial for understanding human behavior.

They need strong communication skills to explain complex psychological concepts and theories to their students. Breaking down these difficult topics in an understandable way is important. They should also be able to engage students in interactive discussions. Plus, the patience and empathy to work with various backgrounds and learning styles is necessary.

Furthermore, research psychologists must stay informed on the latest research findings and advancements in the field. Incorporating this information into lectures and talks is vital. As educators, they have the chance to inspire their students and ignite a passion for psychology. By sharing their own experiences and insights in the field, they can motivate these individuals to pursue further studies or careers in psychology.

Overall, the capacity to teach is essential not only for knowledge transfer but also for preparing future professionals in the field of psychology. Research psychologists with strong teaching skills can have a great impact on student learning outcomes and the development of psychological knowledge.

Extensive knowledge of human behavior

Research psychologists gain knowledge of human behavior through education and training. Undergrad majors in psychology provide basic principles, while graduate programs enhance understanding via specialized courses. Doctoral degree requirements include research methods and coursework on human behavior.

In addition, knowledge is developed through hands-on experience. Research psychologists conduct studies, analyze data, and contribute to existing research. This practical experience allows them to gain a deeper insight into human behavior.

To further enhance their knowledge, research psychologists partake in professional development activities, such as attending conferences and workshops. They also stay updated with the latest research advancements. This continuous learning ensures they are aware of new findings and theories related to human behavior.

By expanding their knowledge base, research psychologists are better equipped to design and carry out high-quality studies. This enables them to make meaningful contributions to the field of psychology, whether it be investigating cognitive processes or exploring social behaviors.

Career Paths and Job Opportunities

When it comes to career paths and job opportunities in the field of research psychology , the options are diverse and exciting. From academic research and consulting services to government positions and clinical therapy, the possibilities are vast. Top universities offer excellent prospects for those aspiring to become research psychologists . Let’s explore these compelling avenues and the potential they hold for individuals passionate about the fascinating world of research psychology.

Academic researcher

Academic researchers are key to psychology. They design and run experiments to answer questions or hypotheses. This involves planning every part, from selecting participants to manipulating variables and measuring results. Through surveys, observations, or lab experiments, researchers collect and analyze data. Advanced stats help them make sense of the data.

To share their research findings, they publish articles in peer-reviewed journals . This allows experts to evaluate, replicate, and build on their work. Academic researchers also develop theoretical frameworks to explain human behavior. Through research, they refine existing theories or create new ones using empirical evidence.

Mentoring students is another part of their role. They guide undergrad and grad students wanting careers in research psychology. They help with research methods, literature reviews, and supervise student projects. They also teach critical thinking skills.

External funding supports their research projects. They seek grants from government agencies or private foundations, writing grant proposals and competing for funding.

Being an academic researcher comes with challenges. They must stay up-to-date with advancements in the field. This requires time to read scientific literature and attend conferences and seminars. Long hours, incl. evenings and weekends, are needed to meet deadlines and complete projects. Despite challenges, academic researchers find fulfillment in making meaningful contributions and expanding the knowledge base of psychology. They are like mind-readers, deciphering the complexities of human behavior.

Research psychologist

Research psychologists come with a strong educational background. They begin with an undergraduate degree in psychology or neuroscience . Then, they pursue a master’s and doctoral degree which provides specialized training in research methods, data analysis, and theoretical frameworks . Plus, they gain skills to communicate scientific findings through presentations, publications, and collaborations with other researchers .

These professionals have analytical capabilities to design experiments, construct research protocols, and decode complex data sets. Communication skills are vital to convey their results to both academic and public audiences. Further, they must have soft skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, and attention to detail .

Research psychologists must also teach others about psychological concepts and research methods . They usually serve as instructors at universities or present training sessions for those wanting to conduct research. This requires extensive understanding of human behavior theories and principles .

Careers in research psychology are found in academia, consulting, government, and clinical practice . Universities may have departments dedicated to research psychology which provide opportunities to work with other experts in the field.

To become a research psychologist, one needs education, training, and experience . With a strong foundation in psychology and research methods, they can pursue their passion to understand human behavior and improve people’s well-being.

Consulting services

Research Psychology Consulting Services

Consultants with backgrounds in research psychology are vital for interpreting psychological knowledge into useful strategies. They use their knowledge of human behavior, data analysis skills, and research processes to identify organizational needs, do surveys or experiments, interpret data, and make actionable outcomes. This expertise allows them to suggest evidence-based recommendations on things such as employee motivation, consumer behavior, organizational culture, leadership success, or marketing tactics.

Additionally, consulting services in research psychology cover a broad variety of specializations. Some consultants may focus on market research and give insights on consumer tastes and decision making. Others might be experts in organizational consulting and help businesses to optimize productivity and staff welfare. Furthermore, consultants can give expert advice on public policy, criminal justice systems, healthcare, and educational settings.

A Franco et al. (2019) study found that companies that used research psychology consulting services had improved decision-making processes and got valuable insights into consumer behaviors.

Research psychologists have important government positions – and there’s nothing scarier than a politician!

Government positions

Research psychologists who work in government roles collaborate with policymakers and other stakeholders. They identify research needs, develop plans, and conduct studies. To gather information, they use surveys, interviews, observations, or experiments . Government roles entail analyzing data using statistical methods and interpreting the findings. They also create intervention programs and assess their effectiveness in tackling social issues. Research psychologists often join interdisciplinary teams, working with economists, sociologists, educators, etc. Part of their job is to present research results in reports, talks, or publications .

Government positions give access to resources such as funds and large datasets. Research psychologists can use these to conduct studies that influence policy decisions. Their expertise is appreciated in government organizations due to their evidence-based knowledge . An example is Dr. Stanley Milgram . He conducted his obedience experiments at Yale University and later served as a consultant for various government agencies. His work revealed facts about human behavior and conformity, shaping both academic research and government policies. This emphasizes the power of research psychologists in government roles to shape our understanding of human behavior and inform policies that benefit individuals and society.

Clinical therapists

Clinical therapists have expertise and analytical skills to meet individual’s needs. They also demonstrate excellent communication, empathy, patience, and compassion . These allow them to connect with clients and create a supportive environment.

These professionals also teach people about human behavior and therapy techniques. This makes them qualified to become academic researchers or pursue careers in research psychology.

Furthermore, they can get involved in consulting services or governmental positions dealing with mental health research.

To become a clinical therapist requires a bachelor’s degree in psychology, followed by a master’s degree and doctorate degree .

Their salaries depend on experience and location. Job prospects for clinical therapists are rising due to increasing need for mental health services.

Tip: Aspiring clinical therapists should gain experience by interning or volunteering at mental health clinics/facilities. They should also get certifications that match their areas of interest in clinical therapy.

Top universities

These top universities provide majors in research psychology . Graduate programs here focus on advanced coursework and specialized training in various areas of research psychology. Doctoral degrees emphasize research experience and call for students to contribute to the field.

The coursework prepares students to design, conduct empirical studies, analyze data, and draw meaningful conclusions. Clinical techniques and therapy training are also prioritized, with internships giving students real-world experience.

These institutions offer great opportunities for aspiring research psychologists . Graduates may choose to pursue careers as researchers, practitioners, or clinical therapists. Their reputations can help them get jobs in academia, industry, or government sectors. Education here gives individuals a strong foundation and opens up diverse career pathways.

Steps to Become a Research Psychologist

Embarking on a journey to become a research psychologist involves several key steps. From pursuing a bachelor’s degree to gaining relevant work experience, each sub-section in this section will illuminate the path towards achieving success in this field. With a comprehensive educational foundation and the necessary training, aspiring research psychologists can gain the expertise needed to make meaningful contributions to the field of psychology .

Bachelor’s degree

A Bachelor’s degree in research psychology is essential for those wanting to pursue a career in this field. The majors offered include psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral science. These courses explore human behavior and teach students research methods and statistics. They also cover psychological theories, ethics in research, and data analysis.

Communication skills are vital for a research psychologist. Bachelor’s programs help develop these by requiring students to present their findings orally or in writing. They also focus on soft skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and time management.

A Bachelor’s degree in research psychology provides knowledge of human behavior across different populations and settings. This assists researchers in developing research questions that address real-world issues. Many Bachelor’s programs provide teaching experience through teaching assistant positions and student-led seminars. This helps aspiring research psychologists to effectively explain complex concepts.

Master’s degree

A Master’s degree is a major milestone for those seeking to become research psychologists . It provides the essential knowledge and abilities needed to delve into the field of psychology.

Building on the basics learned at the undergraduate level, this program offers specialized courses, research method training, and hands-on experience . Students can explore more specific topics such as cognitive, social, or developmental psychology. Research methods classes show how to design, data-collect, analyze, and interpret findings .

Practical experience can be gained through internships or assistantships, giving students real-world experience under expert mentorship . Group projects or research teams also give the chance to collaborate, stimulating critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

The Master’s program furthers knowledge of human behavior with advanced theories and concepts. It may even lead to a doctoral program , as some require an advanced degree before acceptance.

In total, a Master’s degree not only expands understanding, but it is also a pathway to greater career prospects in academia, research institutes, or consulting services.

Doctorate degree

A doctorate degree in research psychology is an essential step for those wishing to progress their career. This degree provides a deep understanding of research methods, theoretical concepts, and data analysis techniques . Through the doctoral program, students learn through coursework and practical research experiences.

Moreover, these are some of the key elements of a doctorate degree in research psychology:

• Comprehensive coursework – covering topics such as experimental design, statistical analysis, psychometric assessment, and qualitative research methods.
• Research-focused dissertation – students must complete an original research project leading to a dissertation.
• Collaborative mentorship – with experts in their respective fields, guiding students through conducting research.
• Professional development opportunities – like attending conferences, presenting research findings, publishing scholarly articles, and interdisciplinary collaborations.
• Skills for career advancement – opening up opportunities in academia, government, private organizations, and consulting firms.
• Relevant work experience – to truly understand human behavior.

In addition, students gain specialized knowledge in specific areas of psychology, allowing them to make meaningful contributions to the field. Achieving a doctorate degree in research psychology is a commitment to the scientific study of human behavior and establishes the individual as an expert in their field.

Relevant work experience

Hands-on Research: Working as a research assistant or intern is key for gaining relevant experience in research psychology. This grants the opportunity to take part in studies, collect data, and analyze results with guidance from experienced researchers.

Data Analysis: Knowing statistical software and data management is critical for research psychologists. Working in the field can give you proficiency in these areas, which are vital for interpreting research results correctly.

Collaborative Skills: Working with a team of researchers during relevant work experience helps build collaborative skills. This includes communicating ideas, sharing responsibilities, and contributing to group discussions and decision-making.

Ethical Considerations: Relevant work experience gives individuals knowledge on how to protect participants’ rights and ensure ethical studies.

Research Design: Learning about different research methodologies and study designs is part of relevant work experience. It helps to understand how to use different approaches to answer research questions.

Networking: Relevant work experience also gives the chance to network with professionals in the field. This could lead to collaborations, mentorships, and job prospects in the future.

In conclusion, gaining experience through relevant work opportunities is invaluable for aspiring research psychologists. It boosts their knowledge and skills, enabling them to pursue advanced degrees or enter the workforce as successful professionals in psychology.

Job training and certifications

Research psychologists need to go through rigorous training in various research methods and techniques. They need to learn how to design experiments, collect data, analyze findings, and draw meaningful conclusions. Additionally, gaining hands-on experience in clinical settings is crucial for understanding different therapeutic techniques and their practical applications.

Job training for research psychologists may also involve teaching opportunities to improve communication skills and effectively convey complex psychological concepts. Internships provide additional practical experience and the chance to apply theoretical knowledge in real-world scenarios.

Some specialization areas within research psychology require certifications. For example, to focus on neuropsychology or child psychology, additional certifications are necessary. Networking with other professionals in the field can lead to collaborations and future job prospects.

The journey to become a research psychologist starts with obtaining a bachelor’s degree in psychology or a related field. This is followed by a master’s degree specializing in research psychology and a doctorate degree that usually includes coursework and dissertation research.

Gaining relevant work experience alongside academic pursuits can help individuals develop practical skills and demonstrate their competency in the field. This can be achieved by working as a research assistant or participating in independent research projects.

According to a study (Smith et al., 2018), individuals who receive job training and certifications in research psychology are likely to secure higher-paying positions and experience increased job satisfaction.

Salaries and Job Outlook

Salaries and job outlook in the field of Research Psychology – uncover the average salaries and job growth opportunities that await aspiring research psychologists.

Average salaries

Research psychologists can anticipate an array of salaries based on their credentials and experience. The reference data suggests that professionals in this field can expect competitive remuneration for their knowledge and efforts. The next few paragraphs will provide more info about the average salaries for research psychologists.

A table below displays details regarding the average salaries in research psychology. The data is based on the reference article and provides a summary of the payment that professionals in this field can anticipate. Remember that these figures are averages and can differ based on factors such as geographic area, years of experience, and level of education.

It’s essential to bear in mind that these figures serve as a general guide and can vary based on various factors mentioned before. With more experience and high degrees such as a Ph.D., research psychologists usually have higher earning capacity within their profession.

Job outlook and growth

The job prospects for research psychologists are bright. Demand is growing as people recognize the significance of psychological research. Research psychologists help to uncover human behavior and devise effective interventions.

Moreover, there are many paths to take:

• Universities offer stability and advancement.
• New areas, like neuroscience and positive psychology , need exploration.
• Evidence-based practices are sought after in healthcare, education, and business .

Furthermore, research psychologists may also work in consulting, government, and clinical therapy roles. This breadth of opportunities allows people with diverse skills to contribute.

Research psychology offers fascinating chances to study human behavior. In addition to academia, there are chances to use research findings to make real changes. The field is rapidly developing, with technology and mental health awareness creating an increased demand for qualified research psychologists.

Challenges and FAQs

Balancing the demands of a research psychologist career comes with its fair share of challenges and common questions. From job stability in prekäre jobs to the impact of geographic location on job opportunities, and the delicate balance of work-life balance and job satisfaction, this section explores the hurdles that aspiring research psychologists may encounter. We will also gain insights from Juhi Rathod’s experience in navigating and overcoming these challenges throughout her career.

Jobs and job stability

Job insecurity and financial challenges are common in the field of research psychology . Contract-based work and short-term projects lead to job instability, which can make it difficult to plan for the future and meet financial obligations.

Career progression can also be tricky, as research psychologists have to move around a lot. This can provide valuable experiences, but it’s hard to establish a stable career trajectory.

Still, many find fulfillment and satisfaction in their work. Passion for advancing knowledge and understanding human behavior drives them forward. Networking and building strong professional connections can help mitigate some of the job stability challenges.

Geographic location and job opportunities

Geographical placement has a great effect on the job chances for research psychologists. This field is not restricted to a certain area, as there is a need for experts in several locations around the world.

For instance, research psychologists can find roles in academic institutions. They can do research and teach students in the field.

Additionally, they are able to take up government positions. These involve researching to provide data for policy making and decisions.

Consulting services also offer job openings for research psychologists. Here, they can give advice and guidance to customers in different industries.

These are just a few of the various job opportunities available to research psychologists, based on their geographical location.

Moreover, researchers may find special jobs related to their research interests or specific expertise. For example, they may take part in innovative projects or collaborate with teams in their area.

Location also has an effect on the funds and resources for research. Some areas may have more funding for psychological research than others, which can influence job opportunities for research psychologists.

Juhi Rathod’s experience (source name) shows that researchers in psychology frequently have to face problems regarding precarious working conditions and job stability. This implies that although there may be job opportunities based on geography, professionals in this field may still confront difficulties when it comes to career stability.

Research psychology may be interesting, but it can disrupt your work-life balance and job satisfaction.

Work-life balance and job satisfaction

Research psychologists must have a healthy work-life balance and job satisfaction. It’s essential to their productivity. They need strategies to manage their time; like prioritizing tasks, setting boundaries, and having a plan for personal time.

Practicing self-care like exercise, mindfulness, and socializing with friends and family – can help alleviate stress and boost job satisfaction.

It’s also important for research psychologists to have a supportive work environment. One that values employee well-being and offers flexible hours, breaks, and mental health support. Plus, professional growth opportunities can enhance job satisfaction too.

Achieving a good work-life balance is key to sustaining success for research psychologists. It helps them stay passionate and look after their personal lives. Join Juhi Rathod as she talks about the journey to becoming a research psychologist.

Juhi Rathod’s experience

Juhi Rathod’s experience as a research psychologist is unique. She has gained valuable knowledge and expertise in the field. Her analytical skills allow her to understand complex information and draw meaningful conclusions. Juhi can communicate these findings through written reports, presentations, and discussions.

Additionally, Juhi has soft skills such as empathy, patience, and adaptability. These help her to connect with people of different backgrounds. Her involvement in clinical therapy training gives her a perspective on psychology that combines research and practical applications. During her doctoral degree and other professional development activities, Juhi has gained hands-on experience in working directly with mental health clients. This further enhances her understanding of the human mind.

Overall, Juhi’s experience as a research psychologist is valuable. To follow in her footsteps, it is important to stay current with advancements in research methods and the psychology field. This will ensure success in this rewarding career.

Research psychology is an intriguing field. To pursue this career, one needs to have a strong educational background and do extensive research. The article “How to Become a Research Psychologist” offers valuable advice.

Getting a higher education is important. The article suggests at least a bachelor’s degree in psychology , and even more advanced degrees. These degrees not only bring knowledge of psychology, but also teach research methods and statistical analysis.

In addition, gaining research experience is key. Internships or working with psychologists help budding researchers develop skills in data collection, analysis, and interpretation. This lets them contribute to the existing body of knowledge.

Continuous professional development is also necessary. Attending conferences, workshops, and seminars keeps researchers up to date. This ensures they remain expert in psychological research.

To sum up, becoming a successful research psychologist requires a strong educational background, hands-on research experience, and a commitment to learning and professional development . Following the advice in the article is a good start.

FAQs about How To Become A Research Psychologist

What are the time requirements to become a research psychologist.

The time requirements to become a research psychologist include earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology, which typically takes around four years, followed by a doctoral degree, which can take an additional four to six years to complete. After completing the doctoral degree, there may be additional post-doctoral placements or internships that range in duration.

What is the scientific method used in research psychology?

The scientific method is a systematic approach used in research psychology to gather data, formulate hypotheses, conduct experiments, analyze results, and draw conclusions. It involves observing phenomena, forming a research question, designing and conducting experiments, analyzing data using statistical methods, and interpreting the findings.

What is the career outlook for research psychologists compared to psychologists in general?

The career outlook for research psychologists is generally positive, with job growth expected in the coming years. The demand for research psychologists is driven by the need for scientific advancements and evidence-based practices. However, it is important to note that job opportunities and salaries can vary based on factors such as experience, sector of employment, and geographical location.

What type of clinical work is required for licensure as a research psychologist?

The clinical work required for licensure as a research psychologist typically involves supervised practice hours. These hours can be fulfilled through internships or fellowships that provide hands-on experience in conducting research, working with patients or study participants, and applying psychological principles in a clinical setting. The specific requirements for clinical work may vary depending on the state’s licensure board.

What are some common job titles for research psychologists in academic or industrial settings?

Some common job titles for research psychologists in academic or industrial settings include research psychologist, staff psychologist, clinical research psychologist, and medical psychologist. These professionals work in various research-focused roles, conducting studies, analyzing data, and contributing to the advancement of psychological knowledge in their respective fields.

What graduate coursework is important for aspiring research psychologists?

Graduate coursework for aspiring research psychologists often includes subjects such as experimental psychology, statistics, research methods, behavioral neuroscience, clinical psychology, and abnormal psychology. These courses provide students with a strong foundation in the scientific principles and research methodologies used in psychological research.

Research Psychology Further Reading and Resources

By exploring these resources, those interested in research psychology can gain a comprehensive understanding of the field’s methodologies, applications, and career prospects.

• The Association for Psychological Science – A leading international organization dedicated to advancing scientific psychology. Its website provides research, publications, and conferences related to the field.
• Research in Psychology: Methods and Design by C. James Goodwin – A textbook available for purchase online, it offers an in-depth look at research methods and ethical considerations in psychology.
• The Journal of Experimental Psychology – Published by the American Psychological Association, this peer-reviewed journal focuses on empirical research in experimental psychology.
• The Society for Research in Child Development – An organization promoting research, publications, and collaboration in the field of child development, which includes research psychology related to children.
• Psychological Research on the Net – A collection of online psychology studies across various subfields of psychology. It can be useful for those interested in current research trends.

We are psychologists, psychology professors, practicing MFCCs and psychology students providing career, degree and salary information for current and future psychologists.

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Original research

How the reduction of working hours could influence health outcomes: a systematic review of published studies, gianluca voglino.

1 Department of Public Health and Paediatric Sciences, University of Turin, Torino, Italy

Armando Savatteri

Maria rosaria gualano, dario catozzi, stefano rousset, edoardo boietti, fabrizio bert.

2 Health Direction, University Hospital City of Science and Health, Turin, Italy

Roberta Siliquini

Associated data.

bmjopen-2021-051131supp001.pdf

All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as online supplemental information. Not applicable, this is a review.

The health effects of work-time arrangements have been largely studied for long working hours, whereas a lack of knowledge remains regarding the potential health impact of reduced work-time interventions. Therefore, we conducted this review in order to assess the relationships between work-time reduction and health outcomes.

Systematic review of published studies. Medline, PsycINFO, Embase and Web of Science databases were searched from January 2000 up to November 2019.

The primary outcome was the impact of reduced working time with retained salary on health effects, interventional and observational studies providing a quantitative analysis of any health-related outcome were included. Studies with qualitative research methods were excluded.

A total of 3876 published articles were identified and 7 studies were selected for the final analysis, all with a longitudinal interventional design. The sample size ranged from 63 participants to 580 workers, mostly from healthcare settings. Two studies assessed a work-time reduction to 6 hours per day; two studies evaluated a weekly work-time reduction of 25%; two studies evaluated simultaneously a reduced weekly work-time reduction proportionally to the amount of time worked and a 2.5 hours of physical activity programme per week instead of work time; one study assessed a reduced weekly work-time reduction from 39 to 30 hours per week. A positive relationship between reduced working hours and working life quality, sleep and stress was observed. It is unclear whether work time reduction determined an improvement in general health outcomes, such as self-perceived health and well-being.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that the reduction of working hours with retained salary could be an effective workplace intervention for the improvement of employees’ well-being, especially regarding stress and sleep. Further studies in different contexts are needed to better evaluate the impact of work-time reduction on other health outcomes.

Strengths and limitations of this study

• This is the first systematic review carried out in English to evaluate the impact of reduced working hours on both self-reported and measured health outcomes.
• All of the included studies had a longitudinal design, and in all studies except two the employment of extrapersonnel allowed to prevent a compensatory increase in workload, which may have limited the effectiveness of work-time reduction.
• The included studies were carried out in the Scandinavian setting, thus limiting the generalisability of the results in other contexts, different from a social, cultural and economic point of view.
• Three out of seven studies had a weak quality according to the authors, and most of the studies were carried out in the healthcare setting.

Introduction

In Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, the average working week consists of 37 hours. 1 OECD data on annual average working hours show that, despite a declining trend in the amount of worked hours, many Countries still exceed the standard. 2 Working long hours is widely recognised as detrimental for employees’ health. Indeed, several studies investigating the health effects of working overtime reported concerning findings, including increased risk of stroke, coronary heart disease, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders and adverse pregnancy outcomes in women. 3–5 Furthermore, a systematic assessment of evidence in literature with meta-analyses conducted by Rivera et al found moderate-grade evidence linking long work-hours with stroke and low-grade evidence on the association between long work-hours with coronary disease, depression and pregnancy complications, including low birthweight babies and preterm delivery. 6 Long working hours have also been associated with reduced levels of work–life balance and increased work–family conflict. 7

Conversely, the effects of reduced work-hours (RWH) have not been extensively examined as for long work-hours so far. Indeed, several experiments of reducing working time have been conducted throughout the years, both in the public and private sector. One of the most notable examples was the adoption of the ‘35-hour workweek’ between 1998 and 2000 by the French Government, which allowed the reduction of weekly working hours from 39 to 35, with the aim of fighting the high unemployment rates. However, aside from two surveys examining employees’ satisfaction with modified work-hours and their work-family conflict, no other impacts on health and well-being have been evaluated. 8 9 The authors argue that the French 35-hour law increased overall dissatisfaction with modified work hours among employees, mainly because it did not take into account the heterogeneity of work organisation. It appears that employees increased workload to maintain high productivity. Indeed, reducing working time without employing extrapersonnel may compromise the fine balance between job demand and resources, which in turn would undermine employees’ wellbeing. 10 Further interventions have been carried out on a company level. In Germany, Volkswagen reduced the working week from 36 to 28.8 hours 11 and more recently, Microsoft Japan tested a 4 days work week. 12 Similarly, Perpetual Guardian, a New Zealand firm operating in the management of trusts, wills and estates, ran a 4-day work week trial for all its 240 employees. 13 Although companies reported successful results, they did not take into consideration the potential health impact of these experiences.

Besides, there are few studies even in scientific literature that investigate the role of RWH on workers’ health. To our knowledge, only one literature review was conducted in 2005 and authors concluded that no relevant effects on health were observed. 14 However, the review was published in Swedish, hence it may represent an issue due to language barriers. Furthermore, the studies included in their work were mostly reports from Swedish ministerial committees and critical reviews on work time arrangements. Indeed, in the studies published before 2000 authors were primarily interested in the economic consequences of reducing work-hours, exploring the feasibility of the project, and little attention was paid to the effects of work-time reduction on the health of employees. Since 2000, several interventional studies have been published. Therefore, we decided to conduct a review of the literature examining studies focusing on the relationship between RWH and health effects, published since 2000, in which employees retained their salary and proportionally decreased their work time and workload.

Search strategy

Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses checklist, we carried out a literature search for articles published in Medline, PsycInfo, Embase and Web of Science databases from January 2000 up to November 2019. Search terms included terms like ‘work’, ‘health’, ‘well-being’, ‘mental-health’, ‘worktime reduction’, ‘reduced work hours’. Full search strings for each database are provided in online supplemental file 1 . First, duplicates were excluded. Next, AS, DC, EB and GV independently screened retrieved sources by title and abstract following inclusion criteria. The same authors, always in an independent fashion, performed a full text review. Finally, consensus was reached through discussion about uncertain cases between all reviewers. Authors chose Rayyan QCRI as a tool for selecting and extracting relevant records. 15

Supplementary data

Inclusion and exclusion criteria.

We decided to include primary sources in any form, both interventional and observational studies, provided that quantitative analysis of any health-related outcome were performed. Hence, studies with qualitative research methods were excluded because we were interested on the effects of the interventions in terms of quantitatively measured outcomes. Articles had to investigate the association between reduced working time with retained salary and health effects, without excluding beforehand any category of workers. No salary reduction was considered crucial in order to avoid a selection bias possibly leading to exclude low-income workers. Another inclusion criterion was the replacement of working activity with any workplace-based intervention, provided that the amount of work hours was effectively reduced. Conversely, studies specifically focused on work-time reduction policies regarding activities with excessively long working hours, such as medical residency, were not consistent with the concept of RWH and retained salary and were therefore excluded from our work. No language restriction was set. Due to the heterogeneity in the outcomes evaluated by the studies selected, a meta-analysis of data could not be conducted. Data and information regarding study design, country, participant characteristics, observation period, intervention description, outcomes measured and results were extracted and synthesised in a systematic literature review.

Quality assessment

The quality of the included studies was assessed using the ‘Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies’ developed by the Effective Public Health Practice Project. 16 This quality appraisal tool provides a standardised means to assess study quality and develop recommendations for study findings considering eight components of study methodology: selection bias, study design, presence of confounders, blinding of participants and outcome assessors, validity and reliability of data collection methods and study dropouts and withdrawals. The overall quality of each study is then expressed as weak, moderate or strong. Previous evaluation of the tool has shown it to be valid and reliable. 17 Two reviewers, namely AS and SR, independently performed quality assessment. Discrepancies between the reviewers, such as differences in interpretation of criteria and studies, were resolved by discussion in order to reach consensus.

Patient and public involvement

No patient involved. Results will be disseminated throughout conferences and social media in order to enrich public debate on health outcomes of working hours rearrangements.

As results of the bibliographic search, a total of 3876 published articles were identified ( figure 1 ).

Systematic review: selection process. From: Moher D, et al . 31

Duplicates were excluded and remaining 2456 records were reviewed. A full-text review was conducted on 40 articles. Finally, after evaluating the inclusion criteria, seven articles were selected (one article was originally added by citation chasing). In total seven articles, with a longitudinal interventional design, were included in the final analysis. 18–24 A brief summary of included articles is provided in table 1 .

Characteristics of the studies included in systematic review

HDL, high-density lipoprotein; LDL, low-density lipoprotein; PE, physical exercise; WWH, weekly worked hours.

The included studies were published between 2001 24 and 2017 18 19 23 and they were performed in northern Europe. 18–24 The sample size ranged from 63 participants 24 to 580 workers, 19 mostly from healthcare settings. 20–24 Only one of the included studies enrolled workers from different workplaces in the public sector (Schiller et al ). 19 All the studies included had a longitudinal design and the observation period was between 12 months 20–22 and 23 months. 23 Although all the studies compared the intervention group to a control group with no work-time modifications, the intervention exanimated were different. In particular, two studies assessed a work-time reduction to 6 hours per day, 22 23 two studies evaluated a weekly work-time reduction of 25%, 18 19 two studies evaluated simultaneously a reduced weekly work-time reduction proportionally to the amount of time worked (RWH group) and a 2.5 hours per week physical activity instead of work time programme (physical exercise group, PE) 20 21 and one study assessed a reduced weekly work-time reduction from 39 to 30 hours per week. 24 The included studies assessed a variety of different outcomes. In particular general symptoms, 20 23 24 neuropsychological symptoms, 18 23 24 working life quality, 18 20–24 quality of life, 18 23 24 physical activity, 20 23 24 sleep, 18 19 23 24 musculoskeletal disorders 20 22 23 and biological markers 20 were assessed. After quality assessment phase, overall quality was found to be strong for three studies, 19–21 moderate for one study 23 and weak for three studies. 22–24

In particular, Åkerstedt et al performed a longitudinal cohort study in five different healthcare settings, in order to compare the effects of work-hours reduction among healthcare and day care nursery personnel. 24 The study involved a total of 63 nurses, 41 in the experimental group, a 9 hours reduction of the working week from 39 hours per week to 30 hours, retaining full pay, and 22 in the control group. The experimental group showed a significant improvement for heart/respiratory symptoms, mental fatigue, sleep quality, time for social, time for family/friends, influence on work-hours and satisfaction with work-hours. Additionally, most of these variables also showed a significant change over time. Furthermore, there was a positive change over time for pain/ache complaints, nervous symptoms, gastrointestinal complaints, insomnia complaints, refreshed at awakening, sleepiness at work/leisure time, involuntary sleep at work and leisure time and satisfaction with the work situation. On the contrary, no significant interaction was found between RWH and exercise, weight and body mass index. 24

Similar results were published by Barck-Holst et al . 18 They performed a longitudinal quasi experimental study involving seven public social service agencies. Employees in the intervention group reduced their work hours by 25% but retained their previous salary and their organisations were fully reimbursed and staff to compensate the loss of work hours was hired. After controlling for baseline values, gender and age, there was a significant difference in change over time between intervention and control group during workdays on the restorative sleep index, average stress level, the stress index, the memory difficulties index, the negative emotion index, average sleepiness and the fatigue and exhaustion index. 18

In addition, a longitudinal controlled intervention study evaluating a 25% reduction of weekly work hours was published in 2017 by Schiller et al . In this paper, participants worked at 33 different workplaces, in four sectors: social services (n=170); technical services (n=236); care and welfare (n=159); call-centre (n=71). The intervention group (n=370) reduced work-time to 75% with preserved salary during 18 months. Data were collected at baseline (1–2 months before the intervention) and approximately 9 months and 18 months after the introduction of RWH. On workdays, the intervention group (N=354) displayed improved subjective sleep quality (SSQ), 23 min extended sleep duration (over the whole period of 18 months), decreased sleepiness and perceived stress and less feelings of worries and stress at bedtime when work hours were reduced (p<0.002). Gender, age, having children living at home, and baseline values of sleep quality and worries and stress at bedtime, considered as additional between-group factors, did not influence the results significantly. 19

Similar outcomes were assessed in a cohort study, performed between February 2015 and December 2016 by Lorentzon. 23 In this paper, 68 nurses from the intervention group had their working time reduced to 6 hours per day with retaining their full-time pay. On the contrary, nurses in the control group (n=56) had no working hours reduction. Outcomes were assessed using several questionnaires before, during and after the experimentation. In particular, the sick leave was 6.1% in the intervention group and 12.3% in the control group. Furthermore, health perceived as good (72% vs 60%), alertness level perceived as good (65% vs 50%), satisfactory level of perceived fatigue (+20% vs −22%), feeling having a lot of energy left when arriving at home (51% vs 7%, both starting from 20%), feeling calm (64% vs 45%), satisfactory levels of stress (+20%, −5%), average sleep time (7 hours vs 5.8 hours) had better values in the intervention group compared with the control group. Additionally, in the intervention group, satisfaction regarding physical activity increased (+7% vs −15%). Finally, general symptoms, sleep and symptoms affecting the musculoskeletal system improved in the intervention group, and dropped for the control group. 23 Unfortunately, no statistical inference was provided by Authors.

Similarly, a previous paper assessing the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders in the experimental and control groups was published by Wergeland et al . 22 In their longitudinal intervention study, involving subjects enrolled from different institutions, workers in the experimental group had their daily work-hours reduced to 6 hours, with retained salary and extrapersonnel employed to compensate for the reduction in work-hours. Participants were involved through a self-administered questionnaire about pain in the neck-shoulder and back regions prior to and during the work-time reduction. By using a multivariable analysis on data from all the institutions, authors found a significant interaction for neck-shoulder pain (p=0.034) and exhaustion after work (p=0.009). No significant interaction was found for back pain. Additionally, the intervention group showed increased job satisfaction after the reduction in work-hours. 22

Finally, von Thiele Schwarz et al performed two longitudinal studies in Stockholm, Sweden, involving employees from six workplaces in a large public dental healthcare organisation, randomly allocated to one of three groups: PE group, RWH group, and reference group (R). 20 21 At the two workplaces acting as reference, no intervention was carried out; at the two workplaces in the PE group, 2.5 hours of weekly work hours were allocated to mandatory PE on two different days; at the two workplaces in the RWH group, full-time weekly hours were reduced from 40 hours/week to 37.5 hours/week. All employees in the intervention groups retained their salaries, and no additional personnel were employed. The final sample consisted of 177 employees, mainly women. Participants were instructed to complete self-ratings at baseline, after 6 months and after 12 months. 20 21

In the paper published in 2008, 20 blood samples were and questionnaire were used to explore the areas of physical activity, recovery from work stress, work-home interference, self-related health, work ability, general and musculoskeletal symptoms. The results showed a significant increase in PE in all three groups over time, with post hoc tests showed that the increase in the PE group was significantly greater than in the other two groups. Additionally, the analysis showed increasing levels of all of the blood lipids in the reference group (p<0.001, for total cholesterol; p=0.016, for triglycerides; p=0.003, for high-density lipoprotein (HDL); p<0.001, for low-density lipoprotein (LDL)). In the RWH group, total cholesterol and HDL had increased significantly (p=0.019, for total cholesterol; p=0.016, for HDL), while only total cholesterol had increased significantly in the PE group (p=0.018). Glucose showed a significant time ×group effect (p=0.04), and a significant decrease in the PE group (p=0.036). Work ability decreased in the reference group (p=0.005); similar results were found for general symptoms. 20

In the paper published in 2011, 21 three outcomes were measured: on-the-job productivity, measured with a single item asking the respondents to rate their current work ability as compared with their individual best work ability on a 10-point scale; sickness presenteeism and sickness absenteeism, assessed with three questions; objective production levels, in terms of the number of treated patients and the number of therapists per month for each participating worksite as well as for all worksites combined. The results showed a significant increase in self-rated quantity of work (p=0.029) and work ability (p=0.046) in the PE group. Work ability decreased significantly in the reference group (p=0.004). In the PE group, frequency of sickness absence (p=0.037) and sickness duration (p=0.029) decreased significantly. In the reference group changes in sickness absence duration (p=0.041) and sickness presenteeism (p=0.028) were each significant. 21

The purpose of this review was to analyse the results of studies conducted in order to explore the consequences of work time reduction on health outcomes, which is an emerging and debated issue especially in western countries with a developed welfare system, as the ones in Northern Europe. Unfortunately, there is no standard health outcome in the literature that can be used as a comparison in all studies to investigate the effects of reducing working hours on workers' health such as self-perceived health and well-being. Then, we analysed seven published articles exploring several different health outcomes, and all of them were investigated and discussed.

General and physical symptoms

Four longitudinal studies analysed the relationship between work-time reduction and a broad spectrum of general and physical symptoms. Åkerstedt et al 24 found a significant improvement of hearth/respiratory symptoms in the experimental group compared with the control group. However, when self-rated health was explored as an outcome, they did not find any statistically significant differences before and after the intervention, neither between the experimental and the control group, nor over time among the same group. Similar results were obtained by von Thiele Schwarz et al , which did not find any significant differences between the intervention and the reference group regarding neither general symptoms nor self-rated health. 20 As the Authors suggest, the lack of significant results could be explained by the fact that the study was carried out on healthy subjects, consequently reducing the effect size, especially for self-ratings. On the other hand, Lorentzon et al found an improvement in perceived health in the intervention group compared with the control group. 23 Wergeland et al , in their three-project study, found a significant reduction of neck/shoulder and back pain prevalence in the intervention group, 22 in agreement with Lorentzon, 23 possibly due to a reduction of time spent in the sitting position during work-time.

Data are still contradictory and it is possible to hypothesise that the real impact of workload reduction on general and physical symptoms, despite having a possible effect on specific physical symptoms, remains to be determined through further larger studies.

Neuro-psychological symptoms

Four studies evaluated the relationship between work-time reduction and neuro-psychological symptoms. 18 19 23 24 General stress was the most frequently explored outcome. Barck-Holst et al found an average stress level and a stress index significantly decreased in the intervention group, but this difference was higher on workdays compared with weekends. 18 This is consistent with the results of Schiller et al , who found a significant reduction of stress both during the day and at bedtime in the intervention group. 19 Lorentzon found that workers with reduced work-time reported satisfactory levels of stress and perceived fatigue more often in comparison with workers in the control group. 23 Åkerstedt et al found a significant reduction of mental fatigue in the experimental group. 24 In addition, they found a reduction of nervous symptoms and pain/ache complaints over time, but this difference was not significant between the experimental and the control group. As the authors suggest, the project in itself may have increased the awareness of work organisation and health, with positive effects on both groups. 24

Globally, these results suggest that the reduction of work-time is associated with a significant improvement in stress and other neuropsychological symptoms, probably due to the decrease of workload and the consequent increase of free time for leisure activities.

Sleep condition was evaluated in five studies. 18–20 23 24 Åkerstedt et al and Schiller et al measured SSQ using the same items and improvements were observed significantly more in the intervention group than in the reference group. 19 24 Similar results were reported by Barck-Holst et al . 18 In their study on nurses, Lorentzon et al found that those nurses working less hours as a part of the experiment averagely slept more than nurses who kept working with regular hours. 23 von Tiele et al evaluated the presence of sleep disturbances as part of a more comprehensive questionnaire—a modified version of QPSNordic—investigating general symptoms. 20 25 Although they found no improvements in the experimental group regarding general symptoms, we cannot tell whether the occurrence of sleep disturbances taken alone differed among their participants. Despite different measurements being adopted, almost all studies found a significant improvement in sleep among intervention groups compared with control groups. As already reported by previous research, long working hours have shown to negatively influence sleep in many ways 26 27 and this effect may be explained by higher work demands and work-related stress. 28 Thus, we hypothesise that the positive effects of reduced work-time on stress and workload may explain the positive effects on sleep.

Quality of working life

All studies except one investigated whether RWH had measurable effects on working life quality. 18–20 22–24 Åkerstedt et al found no effects on work demands, but workload had decreased for both intervention and control group. 24 As hypothesised by the authors, it is possible that an increased awareness of work organisation following the experiment may be the cause of such findings. 24 No effects on sickness absence were found, as opposed to von Tiele Schwarz and Hasson, where employees in the intervention group decreased frequency and number of days of sickness absence, as well as perceiving improved self-rated work ability. 21 Other work-related factors were reported as significantly improved after the experiment, including exhaustion after work, sense of collaboration between colleagues, demands, instrumental manager support and work intrusion on private life. 18 22 23 The last finding is in line with results from Anntila et al , in which shorter working hours were associated with positive work-family interaction. 29 Overall, RWH seem to improve working-life quality.

Quality of life

Three studies evaluated the effect of work-time reduction on quality of life outside of work. 20 23 24 Åkerstedt et al found a significant increase in time for family/friends and social activities in the experimental group, and this increase was significant also over time among the experimental group. 24 However, as mentioned above, they did not find any improvement in the self-rated health. It is possible that the extra free time, despite exerting a positive effect on general quality of life, does not necessarily determine an improvement in self-perceived health. These results are consistent with the results of von Thiele Schwarz et al , who did not find any significant differences regarding work-time interaction, neither between the intervention groups and the reference group nor over time among the same groups. 20 In addition, Lorentzon et al found that healthy behaviours, such as healthy eating, did not improve in the intervention group. 23 Overall, these results suggest that work time reduction per se is not necessarily associated with an improvement in the balance between work and private life. Hence, beside work-time reduction, it is also important to focus on how the extra free time is spent, in order to make the reduction in work-time and workload really effective in exerting positive effects on individual health.

Physical activity

Physical activity was evaluated by three studies. 20 23 24 While Åkerstedt et al found no significant improvements regarding PE, 24 von Thiele et al and Lorentzon et al observed an increase in physical activity in participants experimenting RWH. 20 23 However, the study design by von Thiele Schwarz et al consisted in three groups (physical activity group, RWH group and reference group) and such increases were observed in all of them. 20 We do not know whether these changes were a consequence of an increased awareness towards PE brought by the experiment. Moreover, the number of studies evaluating this specific outcome are too few. Although previous research has shown that there seems to be an inverse association between work hours and physical activity, 30 for the reasons listed above it cannot be concluded that RWH are associated with increased levels of physical activity. Indeed, we do not know whether employees working for reduced work time would engage their spare time into PE. Hence, more experiments are needed to better determine this subject.

Biological markers

Only et al evaluated the effect of work-time reduction on several biological markers. 20 They found in the reference group increasing levels of all of the blood lipids. In the RWH group, total cholesterol and HDL had increased significantly, while only total cholesterol had increased significantly in the PE group. Regarding metabolic measures, glucose showed a significant decrease in the PE group only, while the waist-to-hip ratio increased in the RWH group. These last findings suggest that the work time reduction alone is not sufficient to exert positive metabolic effects, but it should be associated with other healthy habits in the extra free time outside of work, like physical activity. that. On the other hand, in this study, the increase of total cholesterol in the exercise group, without any significant reduction in LDL and waist-to-hip ratio, is unexpected and it could be related to other factors, such as diet, which this study did not analyse. Hence, it is impossible to state that a reduction in work hours has a significant and positive effect on biomarkers and metabolic outcomes, and other studies are therefore necessary to clarify these discrepancies.

Strengths and limitations

To date, this is the first literature review carried out in English to establish the relationship between RWH and health effects. Furthermore, our review evaluates the effect of RWH on both self-reported and measured health outcomes. Nevertheless, it has some limitations that must be acknowledged. First of all, the studies we included in our analysis were published in Scandinavian countries, traditionally known for placing a high value on work-life balance. Hence, the results of this review are not easily generalisable in other contexts, which could be different from a social, cultural and economic point of view. Furthermore, even taking into account excluded records, few studies addressed the issue of work time reduction, suggesting that, despite emerging as a relevant topic in public debate over the last few years, the issue of work-time reduction has not been studied enough so far. However, our selection could have missed some relevant studies due to language limitations. In addition, three out of seven studies were evaluated as of weak quality by the authors. The main reason for this was the impossibility to ensure blinding of both participants and outcome assessors in this kind of studies. Nonetheless all of them had a longitudinal design, over a period of time ranging from 12 up to 36 months. Furthermore, in all studies except two, employment of extrapersonnel allowed to prevent a compensatory increase in workload, which could have significantly undermined the effectiveness of work-time reduction.

In the end, a great limitation of our review is the remarkable heterogeneity of workers in the seven selected studies.

Most of the studies focus on health service workers and this may limit the generalisability of the review to the context of health services that represent a particular work setting with high emotional stress.

Factors affecting health in the workplace are manifold and include organisational, cultural and social aspects. It is not clear whether changes in working hours alone is a robust enough factor that influences ‘stress’ or other health variables in workers.

However, our review shows that the reduction of work hours is associated with an improvement of sleep habits, lower levels of stress and better working life quality. We did not find a positive influence of work time reduction neither on quality of life outside of work, nor on physical activity. Hence, we can conclude that a reduction of work-hours, with preserved salary and without an increase in total workload, may exert a positive effect on specific health outcomes, especially stress and sleep, but it is also essential to investigate how other work variables such as load, type and organisation of work affect the health of the worker. Another important factor that could affect health is how the extra free time is spent. Therefore, further studies are needed to investigate the correlation between different working variables, working time and extra free time with standardised health outcomes in order to evaluate the real impact of working time on workers' health. It is also important to study whether providing prescriptions on how to spend extra free time healthily can improve workers' health. The conflicting results of this review suggest that work time reduction may be truly effective only if it determines a parallel improvement in healthy habits, which can then be main responsible for a real increase of overall health and quality of life.

Supplementary Material

Contributors: The review was conceived by GV, MRG and RS. Data extraction was carried out by GV, AS, DC, SR and EB with support from MRG, FB and RS. Reporting of findings was led by GV and MRG with support from FB and RS. All authors contributed to manuscript preparation and approved the final version. MRG is responsible for the overall content as the guarantor.

Funding: The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Competing interests: None declared.

Patient and public involvement: Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.

Provenance and peer review: Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

Supplemental material: This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.

Data availability statement

Ethics statements, patient consent for publication.

Not applicable.

Choosing to Focus on Research as a Psychologist

Sponsored school(s).

As one of the most popular undergraduate majors in the United States, psychology prepares students to gain entrance in a range of rewarding and exciting careers. Every year, students will cultivate an interest in pursuing an advanced course of study that solely concentrates on the research aspect of psychology. Educators and experts stress the importance of students preparing early for the application process, thoroughly researching their options, and becoming more active within the field.

See " So I majored in psychology ".

The Process of Psychology Research

The Scientific Method is a set of principles and procedures that researchers use to create questions, collect data, and arrive at conclusions . This approach allows researchers to accomplish their goals for their psychological studies, which is to describe, explain, predict, and in some cases, influence processes or behaviors of the mind. The ultimate goal of scientific research in psychology is to illustrate behaviors and give details on why they take place. Researchers also strive to predict (and sometimes, modify) human behavior.

Before people begin the process of research, they must select a topic of study. Researchers then conduct an exhaustive review of existing publications and information that relates to the subject. In the end, it becomes clearer as to which topic questions remain unanswered. A researcher may examine books and academic journals that date back decades to assess the most relevant topics of study. All background material helps a researcher formulate the first step in the psychology research process – the hypothesis.

The four steps of the research process are:

Step 1 – Formulate a Testable Hypothesis: A hypothesis is an educated guess about the relationship between two or more variables, or a specific occurrence or trend. Researchers go on to provide an explanation of their research, which either proves or disproves their theories.

Step 2 – Create a Study and Collect Data: There are two basic types of research methods to consider that fit the need to collect data for a study – descriptive research and experimental research.

Step 3 – Examine Data and Reach Conclusions: A researcher looks over the information they collect, and with the help of statistics, they summarize the data, analyze results and draw conclusions about their findings.

Step 4 – Report the Findings of the Study : Researchers lastly share their findings by creating a description of the study, and publish an article in an academic or professional journal.

Types of Psychology Research Methods

Psychology research takes place inside of laboratories, and often includes experiments, testing, and the analysis of statistical data. Psychology researchers may also work in the field (gathering data in hospitals, schools, workplaces, and even on city streets) with a goal to observe and study behavior in their most naturally-occurring settings.

Not every psychology researcher will use the same methods to study their topic of interest, and it all depends on his or her sources of information, data samples, and data collection techniques.

A researcher may collect qualitative data, quantitative data, or both.

Qualitative psychological data involves research findings that do not include statistical or other related procedures, while quantitative psychological data involves research findings that incorporate a mathematical model or statistical estimation.

Common approaches and data collection methods for psychology research include:

• Case Studies: A thorough analysis of a single person, small group, or event, such as studying a man with a rare, incurable brain disease.
• Content Analysis: A study of recorded human communications, such as books, laws and art. Examples include the analysis of the speeches of Kennedy and Nixon in televised debates, or the examination of graffiti of males and females in public bathrooms.
• Cross Sectional Study: Samples of a population sheds light on information relating to specific measures. An example is a researcher who questions whether sugar consumption affects a specific health concern.
• Field Experiments: Traveling to hunter-gatherer regions in South America to test out universal relationship behaviors is an example of research that studies subjects in his or her natural setting.
• Survey: Random sampling of a population using a question-format collects valuable information. Examples include public health, market research, and government surveys.

Education Requirements of a Psychology Researcher

A bachelor's degree in psychology allows people to work as research or administrative assistants for psychologists. Other job prospects include becoming a technician in a related field (such as market research) or assisting psychologists in mental health centers and correctional programs. After acquiring years of experience under the guidance of professional psychologists, many people make the decision to pursue graduate and doctoral studies in psychology.

While the doctoral degree is the standard for independent research or practice in psychology, the number of psychology students who pursue a terminal master's degree has increased sixfold since 1960 – master's degrees totaled at least 21,400 in 2008. A master's degree in psychology allows people to work as assistants under the supervision of doctoral-level psychologists. Master's degree holders with several years of business experience obtain jobs in consulting and marketing research, while others land jobs within the government, universities, or the private sector as researchers, data collectors, and analysts .

A doctorate's degree in psychology typically involves five to seven years of graduate study, which ends with a dissertation involving original research . The advanced degree opens many doors to opportunities involving research and teaching positions at universities, health care services, private industries, and with the government. Psychologists with a doctoral degree often choose to conduct their own research studies while accepting a career position in the meantime.

Individuals that obtain a higher level of psychology education and experience typically encounter a larger number of job offers and opportunities to conduct research over someone without an advanced degree, other credentials, and years of experience.

Ways to Gain Experience in Research Psychology

Students with an interest in pursuing the academia route of psychology benefit the most when they accumulate as much experience as possible. Those who start early gain a definite competitive edge.

"The most noticeable current trend is just how many undergraduates are getting involved in research," says Gary W. Lewandowski Jr. Ph.D, the Department Chair of the Department of Psychology at Monmouth University. "Not only are more students getting involved, but more are doing so at a high level [such as] presenting at research conferences."

The most important thing that Mitchell Metzger says he tells students about research is to get involved early. "We have many of our students helping out in the lab with research projects as early as their sophomore year," says Metzger, a professor of Psychology at Ashland University (Ohio) and department chair since 2007. "When a student gets involved early in their undergraduate career, they really have the opportunity to build a variety of experiences by the time they graduate."

He says that while the students may start out in 'lower level' research roles such as data collection and data entry, they are undergoing valuable preparation for diving more deeply into the research process.

The countless opportunities that a student can gain psychology research experience and knowledge are:

• Help Out a Professor – Dr. Lewandowski suggests getting started as early in your academic career as possible. "Even if you have not had a research class yet, if a professor is willing to have you help out, you will not only get a head start, but will learn a lot that will make taking the class easier," he says. "The more experience you can get the better."
• Find a Mentor – Some of the best ways to gain experience in psychology is learning from those already in the field. "The amount of work may be daunting at first, but just like anything else, you adjust over time and find new ways to manage," says Kongit Farrell, who is a life and relationship coach with a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University. "Just keep at it and work on finding a mentor to help."
• Attend or Present at a Psychology Conference – "We have a number of graduates with multiple conference presentations under their belts by the time they finish their bachelor's degree, which is a huge advantage for them as they apply to graduate schools," says Metzger. "Many graduate programs see undergraduate research experience as valuable, regardless of what the specific area of research might be that the student was involved in.  
• Write and Publish Articles and Papers – "It is becoming more necessary for undergraduates to have co-authored journal articles in order to get into Ph.D. programs after college," says Dr. Lewandowski.
• Become a Research Assistant – Obtaining a research assistant position is a valuable opportunity to gain experience, and forge professional connections that can help in the future. Universities, hospitals, and private organizations hire assistants to conduct research on psychology projects. Having previous experience working in labs or on academic research projects improves the chance of being accepted into advanced degree programs and research jobs after graduation.
• Join a Psychology Organization – There are psychology-related organizations and associations that cater to varying ethnicities, regions, nations, and fields of study. For example, the Association for Psychological Science has more than 20,000 members and is the largest general psychology organization that mainly concentrates on research.
• Read APA Magazines and Newsletter Articles – Reading APA magazine and newsletter articles about research tools and methods , as well as the Monitor on Psychology and gradPSYCH magazines keep students in tune with the latest in psychology research.
• Independent Research with Faculty Advisor – Taking advantage of independent research and study projects allows undergraduate students to work closely with professors who serve as advisors. The student and faculty usually share a mutual interest. These professors can also write strong letters of recommendation for future graduate study, which demonstrates a student's ability to work independently.

"A growing trend [in the field of research psychology] is the recognition of the value of undergraduate research for building critical thinking skills, analytical skills, and communication skills," says Lewandowski.

Graduate school programs aim to further strengthen these necessary qualities and skills of someone with an interest in pursuing a career in psychology research. This includes:

• Analytical skills help students perform psychological research by sharpening their ability to examine information and draw logical conclusions.
• Communication skills aid a psychologists' ability to listen to and speak with subjects.
• Observational skills help a psychologist study attitude and behavior by perfecting their ability to analyze the facial expressions, actions, interactions, and body positions of people.
• Patience allows researchers to deal with subjects who exhibit mental or behavioral disorders.
• People skills help researchers work well with their test subjects, interviewees, and other medical professionals.
• Problem-solving skills assist researchers in pinpointing treatments and solutions pertaining to mental and behavioral issues.

Before Applying to Graduate Schools for Psychology Research

Students with an interest in graduate-level psychology research tend to experience a more beneficial application process when they pinpoint a specific area of study before applying.

Conducting an ample amount of research also makes final school selections much easier to achieve, and helps iron out the details of future plans. It is important for students to apply to a program that accommodates their values, abilities and interests. Finding the right graduate program is one of the keys to succeeding in the psychology research field.

Dr. Lewandowski is a researcher who studies intimate relationships and the self. He says that this subject allows him to concentrate on topics that he is 'eternally curious about' regarding what makes some relationships successful while others fail, such as attraction, cheating, and break-ups.

"From my experience, students can learn the importance of staying true to your interests," says Lewandowski. "I love what I research, which has made it a lot easier to be successful.

Incorporating the primary interests of a student with the availability of specialty programs and personal criteria such as location, cost of tuition and time commitments, helps students narrow down their options for choosing the right psychology graduate school.

A good resource for researching psychology graduate programs of interest is the American Psychological Association, which publishes the Graduate Study in Psychology and Related Fields – a listing of  all graduate programs in North America by state and subject area . The Princeton Review also provides helpful information. Books on graduate programs are also available at the school library, career services office, and campus bookstores.

Some experts recommend applying to at least six graduate psychology schools, while others suggest applying to as many as 20 . However, application fees get expensive, so requesting applications only from the schools a student truly wishes to attend will help them stick to a budget. Therefore, spending quality time investigating available options not only makes the overall application process easier, but also saves money.

How to Apply to Graduate Schools for Psychology Research

Students who prepare early and get acquainted with the psychology graduate school application process face an easier road towards fulfilling their research career goals. Aside from filling out the proper forms, maintaining an acceptable GPA, and demonstrating research experience, there are four significant components relating to the typical application package – official undergraduate transcripts, Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores, a personal statement, and letters of recommendation.

Schools generally expect applicants to fulfill the following:

1. Submit Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and other test scores – Most psychology graduate schools require GRE scores – a computer-based test that students take well before application deadlines. The GRE includes electronic testing that rates a student's Verbal, Quantitative, Analytical Writing aptitude. Many graduate schools also request the results of the Psychology Subject Exam – a paper test that is held three times a year.

2. Maintain a strong undergraduate GPA – Advanced degree programs in psychology typically accept applicants who possess a median GPA of 3.7 with a GRE score more than 1100, and relevant research experience. For some master's programs in psychology, a GPA of 3.4 is fairly competitive. For doctoral programs, students fair well with a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

3. Furnish exemplary letters of recommendation – Professors often tell students to discuss recommendations well in advance with faculty members in a face-to-face manner. Faculty members that a student takes at least two courses and performs at a high level (preferably a combination of no less than 'A' and 'B' grades) make the best choices. Academic interaction outside of class with the professors is a plus.

4. Write a personal statement (or statement of purpose) – A student's statement is his or her chance to add a personal touch to the application process. It sets students apart from one another, and gives the opportunity to share specific interests in the field, strengths, skills, career goals, and aspirations. A student often shares the reason why they are applying to a specific program. The selection committee uses a personal statement to assess a student's writing ability, as well as determine who the best fit for their program is.

5. Prepare a vita – Students wishing to enter a graduate or doctoral program for research psychology write a vita, which is basically an academic resume. Typical features include professional/academic honors and awards, honor Society memberships, Dean's List recognition, research concentration, presentations at professional conferences or workshops, publications, and memberships in professional organizations.

6. Demonstrate relevant research or work experience – Having research and experience in psychology significantly boosts the value of an application. Work and volunteer activities in psychology also highlight a student's enthusiasm and commitment to the field.

Psychology Research Grants and Scholarships

There are numerous research grants and scholarship opportunities available for students looking to fund their pursuit of obtaining an advanced degree in psychology. A few options include:

• APAGS/Psi Chi Junior Scientist Fellowship – promotes psychological science and the needs of students entering a research-oriented graduate program.
• Basic Psychological Science Research Grant – supports graduate students conducting psychological science research studies.

Challenges of Becoming a Psychology Researcher

Graduate programs in psychology prepare students for the oftentimes rigorous schedule of juggling numbers and sorting endless information – skills a student needs to work on as an undergrad. But first, students must find his or her niche, and solidify their position within the field.

Lewandowski says that students may face the challenge of finding a professor who does research in the exact topic of their interest. "However, the good news is that any research experience is good research experience, and the exact topic is less important," he adds. "Even if you know you want to go on to study treatments for anorexia, your undergraduate research does not need to have the same focus."

Sometimes, the challenge is not finding a professor within the same niche to study under, but instead, locating people who are open to new theories and approaches within the field.

"I focus on applying biological concepts to social science," says Farrell, who studies topics such as why women and men make the choices they do in relationships. "It's a relatively new approach and because of this, sometimes people have not been receptive to my ideas."

However, Farrell says that over time, more people grew to realize that her work was correct, but she mentions that "being a thought leader in any profession can be daunting."

"You just have to do good work, have faith in your vision, stick to your guns, and keep moving forward," adds Farrell. She also says that developing a supportive group of friends, mentors, and loved ones makes a great deal of difference.

Becoming a psychologist that concentrates on research is often a time-consuming journey.

"One of the main challenges for our students is prioritizing their time to fit research into their busy lives," notes Metzger. "Once a student buys in to the idea that these experiences will be valuable to them, they'll need to prioritize their time to do these experiences as they are often completed outside the context of a class they are taking [for example]…they do research in their spare time."

Metzger says that some of the students at Ashland University may only have a few hours each week to devote to research, while others have considerably more time in the schedules for such activities. "Regardless of how much time they have to engage in the research process," adds Metzger. "Any exposure will be better than no exposure."

Farrell is also a reminder to students to remain steadfast in the field.

"Be prepared for long hours, and a lot of numerical and data analysis work," says Farrell. "On the flip side, this work could lead you to a very rewarding and financially lucrative career stretching from

entertainment, to business to health to politics; the world can be your oyster!"

Job Prospects for Psychology Researchers

Upon graduation, psychology researchers typically find jobs either out in the field, inside a classroom, or in a laboratory. The majority of lab research takes place in universities, government agencies (such as the National Institute of Health), and private research organizations. Some graduates may find employment in management or administration after serving many years as an active researcher.

Psychology researchers may work independently, join a team, or participate in collective research on a national or global level. In 2010, psychologists held about 174,000 jobs : working self-employed (about 34 percent), in educational services (29 percent), and in healthcare settings (20 percent). Some non-profit organizations and many colleges will hire people with a bachelor's degree in psychology to conduct research. A few government organizations and some private businesses may do the same.

The APA tells students to pool their resources and experiences as they look for a psychology research position , including internships, participating in service learning events, and even volunteering at a school. Eric Landrum, PhD, author of "Finding Jobs with a Psychology Bachelor's Degree," says that networking is critical. Staying in contact with professors and faculty is also an asset since graduates still require references and letters of recommendation when applying for psychology jobs.

However, it is the graduate with an advanced degree in psychology and solid experience under his or her belt that qualifies for more job opportunities. There are also many job positions available that incorporate other areas of interest, such as:

• Alcohol and Drug Research: Example studies of interest include the impact of alcohol and drug abuse, fetal alcohol syndrome, long-term effects of a drug on the central nervous system, or a drug's impact on a pregnancy.
• Experimental Research: Researchers that enjoy conducting experiments in a lab often explore the cause and effect of human behavior, physiology, and psychology. They rely heavily upon test results, surveys, questionnaires, and observations.
• Medical School Research: Speaks best to graduates with an interest in medicine, academia, obtaining grants/fellowships, and lecturing.
• Military Research: Researchers may study post-traumatic stress disorder, the effects of war on soldiers during enlistment, depression and aggression within the armed forces, and drug use after retirement.
• Nutrition Research: Questionnaires, surveys, and interviews help researchers study the eating habits of males and females, and sometimes involve issues, such as bulimia, anorexia, excessive weight control and malnutrition.
• Social Research: Surveys, interviews, and observation helps with the field study of social issues, such as criminal activity, homelessness, and poverty.

Trends in Psychology Research

As the American population evolves, the demand for clinical and research psychologists increases. Research psychologists fill the duties of identifying the services and solutions that benefit an aging population who is living longer, and facing an upsurge in mental and physical obstacles.

Farrell says she is seeing a switch from compartmentalization to integration within the field. "…psychology is no longer just about your findings," she says. "…but finding out ways to apply your findings to other disciplines.

Psychology researchers play roles such as assisting in the development of programs for special groups , such as veterans with war trauma, individuals with autism, patients with mental disorders, and people with job stress.

The opportunities for people with advanced degrees in psychology are expanding in number, as there is a greater need to move towards illness prevention rather than simply making a diagnosis and treatment plan. The majority of today's issues within society involve behavior problems that include chronic health conditions or disease, drug addiction, poor personal relationships, disregard for the environment, and violence. Research psychologists play a greater role in contributing solutions to these problems by using thoughtful methods of data collection and analysis that helps develop effective intervention strategies.

The increasing diversity throughout America places research psychologists in higher demand to develop and enhance existing treatments and approaches to meet the growing needs of people representing different races and ethnicities.

Just as a constantly evolving society affects psychology research, advancements in technology also play a role in the current trends sweeping the field, such as:

• The Internet: The Internet changes the face of data collection and the exchange of information. The advantages, such as having a greater access to research, helps improve the science of psychology. Research psychologists use prominent online databases, such as PsychInfo and ERIC, to aid the literature review process.

Psychologists also use email alerts to receive updates regarding the leading publications in the field. Other benefits include the sharing of cross-cultural psychology ideas, the ability to conduct online experiments, and the creation of archived data sets for secondary analysis.

Online research also has its downfalls that can detract from the validity and effectiveness of studies, including the potential for obtaining and spreading misinformation. One of the reasons the American Psychological Association's online journal Prevention & Treatment is a success hinges upon maintaining a high standard of scholarship. Not all resources follow suit, which causes a detrimental effect on the outcome of studies and data analysis.

Researchers who use the Internet as a tool for data collection must seek out reputable methods and sources of information, such as specially designed websites, highly rated, well-organized databases, and efficient software.

• Advancements in Equipment and Software: Advancements in equipment and software play a significant part in the research process of psychologists that go beyond the distribution of research findings and using typical methods of data collection. Take the growth of Imaging and Computer Modeling equipment for example – researchers benefit from obtaining high resolution pictures of the brain to make determinations regarding certain cognitive processes.

Other examples of advanced technology include the MRI, thermal imaging, real-time tracking software, computer-assisted therapies, and upgraded electronic data collection tools, such as video recorders and tablet apps.

Psychologists generally keep up with the latest trends in research psychology by following current news, attending conferences, networking with colleagues, and continuing to learn more about their field. For example, psychological researchers can gain training and hands-on experience in a variety of areas by taking part in APA Advanced Training Institutes (ATIs) , which exposes participants to emerging technologies and the most current research methodologies.

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Psychologists

Career, salary and education information.

What They Do : Psychologists study cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior by observing, interpreting, and recording how individuals relate to one another and to their environments.

Work Environment : Some psychologists work independently, conducting research, consulting with clients, or working with patients. Others work as part of a healthcare team, collaborating with physicians and social workers, or in school settings, working with students, teachers, parents, and other educators. Those in private practice often work evenings and weekends to accommodate clients.

How to Become One : Although psychologists typically need a doctoral degree in psychology, a master’s degree is sufficient for some positions. Most psychologists also need a license.

Salary : The median annual wage for psychologists is $81,040.

Job Outlook : Employment of psychologists is projected to grow 6 percent over the next ten years, about as fast as the average for all occupations.

Related Careers : Compare the job duties, education, job growth, and pay of psychologists with similar occupations.

Following is everything you need to know about a career as a psychologist with lots of details. As a first step, take a look at some of the following jobs, which are real jobs with real employers. You will be able to see the very real job career requirements for employers who are actively hiring. The link will open in a new tab so that you can come back to this page to continue reading about the career:

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Psychologist * Discipline: Therapy * Duration: Ongoing * Employment Type: Staff Soar is seeking a Child Psychologist to join our interdisciplinary team! The role is well-suited to someone who wants ...

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What Psychologists Do [ About this section ] [ To Top ]

Psychologists study cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior by observing, interpreting, and recording how people relate to one another and to their environments. They use their findings to help improve processes and behaviors.

Duties of Psychologists

Psychologists typically do the following:

• Conduct scientific studies of behavior and brain function
• Observe, interview, and survey individuals
• Identify psychological, emotional, behavioral, or organizational issues and diagnose disorders
• Research and identify behavioral or emotional patterns
• Test for patterns that will help them better understand and predict behavior
• Discuss the treatment of problems with clients
• Write articles, research papers, and reports to share findings and educate others
• Supervise interns, clinicians, and counseling professionals

Psychologists seek to understand and explain thoughts, emotions, feelings, and behavior. They use techniques such as observation, assessment, and experimentation to develop theories about the beliefs and feelings that influence individuals.

Psychologists often gather information and evaluate behavior through controlled laboratory experiments, psychoanalysis, or psychotherapy. They also may administer personality, performance, aptitude, or intelligence tests. They look for patterns of behavior or relationships between events, and they use this information when testing theories in their research or when treating patients.

The following are examples of types of psychologists:

Clinical psychologists assess, diagnose, and treat mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. Clinical psychologists help people deal with problems ranging from short-term personal issues to severe, chronic conditions.

Clinical psychologists are trained to use a variety of approaches to help individuals. Although strategies generally differ by specialty, clinical psychologists often interview patients, give diagnostic tests, and provide individual, family, or group psychotherapy. They also design behavior modification programs and help patients implement their particular program. Some clinical psychologists focus on specific populations, such as children or the elderly, or on certain specialties, such as neuropsychology.

Clinical psychologists often consult with other health professionals regarding the best treatment for patients, especially treatment that includes medication. Currently, only Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, and New Mexico allow clinical psychologists to prescribe medication to patients.

Counseling psychologists help patients deal with and understand problems, including issues at home, at the workplace, or in their community. Through counseling, these psychologists work with patients to identify their strengths or resources they can use to manage problems. For information on other counseling occupations, see the profiles on marriage and family therapists , substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors , and social workers .

Developmental psychologists study the psychological progress and development that take place throughout life. Many developmental psychologists focus on children and adolescents, but they also may study aging and problems facing older adults.

Forensic psychologists use psychological principles in the legal and criminal justice system to help judges , attorneys , and other legal specialists understand the psychological aspects of a particular case. They often testify in court as expert witnesses. They typically specialize in family, civil, or criminal casework.

Industrial-organizational psychologists apply psychology to the workplace by using psychological principles and research methods to solve problems and improve the quality of worklife. They study issues such as workplace productivity, management or employee working styles, and employee morale. They also help top executives , training and development managers , and training and development specialists with policy planning, employee screening or training, and organizational development.

Rehabilitation psychologists work with physically or developmentally disabled individuals. They help improve quality of life or help individuals adjust after a major illness or accident. They may work with physical therapists and teachers to improve health and learning outcomes.

School psychologists apply psychological principles and techniques to education disorders and developmental disorders. They may address student learning and behavioral problems; design and implement performance plans, and evaluate performances; and counsel students and families. They also may consult with other school-based professionals to suggest improvements to teaching, learning, and administrative strategies.

Some psychologists become postsecondary teachers or high school teachers .

Work Environment for Psychologists [ About this section ] [ To Top ]

Psychologists hold about 181,600 jobs. Employment in the detailed occupations that make up psychologists is distributed as follows:

The largest employers of psychologists are as follows:

Some psychologists work alone, doing independent research, consulting with clients, or counseling patients. Others work as part of a healthcare team, collaborating with physicians , social workers , and others to treat illness and promote overall wellness.

Psychologist Work Schedules

Psychologists in private practice often set their own hours, and many work part time as independent consultants. They may work evenings or weekends to accommodate clients. Those employed in hospitals or other healthcare facilities may also have evening or weekend shifts. Most psychologists in clinics, government, industry, or schools work full-time schedules during regular business hours.

How to Become a Psychologist [ About this section ] [ To Top ]

Get the education you need: Find schools for Psychologists near you!

Although psychologists typically need a doctoral degree in psychology, a master's degree may be sufficient for school and industrial organizational positions. Psychologists in clinical practice need a license.

Education for Psychologists

Most clinical, counseling, and research psychologists need a doctoral degree. Students can complete a Ph.D. in psychology or a Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) degree. A Ph.D. in psychology is a research degree that is obtained after taking a comprehensive exam and writing a dissertation based on original research. Ph.D. programs typically include courses on statistics and experimental procedures. The Psy.D. is a clinical degree often based on practical work and examinations rather than a dissertation. In clinical, counseling, school, or health service settings, students usually complete a 1-year internship as part of the doctoral program.

School psychologists need an advanced degree and either certification or licensure to work. Common advanced degrees include education specialist degrees (Ed.S.) and doctoral degrees (Ph.D. or Psy.D.). School psychologist programs include coursework in education and psychology because their work addresses both education and mental health components of students' development.

Industrial-organizational psychologists typically need a master's degree, usually including courses in industrial-organizational psychology, statistics, and research design.

When working under the supervision of a doctoral psychologist, other master's degree graduates can also work as psychological assistants in clinical, counseling, or research settings.

Licenses, Certifications, and Registrations for Psychologists

In most states, practicing psychology or using the title "psychologist" requires licensure. In all states and the District of Columbia, psychologists who practice independently must be licensed where they work.

Licensing laws vary by state and by type of position. Most clinical and counseling psychologists need a doctorate in psychology, an internship, and at least 1 to 2 years of supervised professional experience. They also must pass the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology. Information on specific state requirements can be obtained from the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards. In many states, licensed psychologists must complete continuing education courses to keep their licenses.

The American Board of Professional Psychology awards specialty certification in 15 areas of psychology, such as clinical health psychology, couple and family psychology, and rehabilitation psychology. The American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology offers certification in neuropsychology. Board certification can demonstrate professional expertise in a specialty area. Certification is not required for most psychologists, but some hospitals and clinics do require certification. In those cases, candidates must have a doctoral degree in psychology, a state license or certification, and any additional criteria required by the specialty field.

Psychologist Training

Most prospective psychologists must have pre- or postdoctoral supervised experience, including an internship. Internships allow students to gain experience in an applied setting. Candidates must complete an internship before they can qualify for state licensure. The required number of hours of the internship varies by state.

Important Qualities for Psychologists

Analytical skills. Psychologists must examine the information they collect and draw logical conclusions.

Communication skills. Psychologists must have strong communication skills because they spend much of their time listening to and speaking with patients or describing their research.

Integrity. Psychologists must keep patients' problems in confidence, and patients must be able to trust psychologists' expertise in treating sensitive problems.

Interpersonal skills. Psychologists study and help individuals, so they must be able to work well with clients, patients, and other professionals.

Observational skills. Psychologists study attitude and behavior. They must understand the possible meanings of facial expressions, body positions, actions, and interactions.

Patience. Psychologists must demonstrate patience, because conducting research or treating patients may take a long time.

Problem-solving skills. Psychologists need problem-solving skills to collect information, design research, evaluate programs, and find treatments or solutions to mental and behavioral problems.

Psychologist Salaries [ About this section ] [ More salary/earnings info ] [ To Top ]

Salary calculator.

The median annual wage for psychologists is $81,040. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $47,850, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $133,890.

Median annual wages for psychologists are as follows:

The median annual wages for psychologists in the top industries in which they work are as follows:

Psychologists in private practice often set their own hours, and many work part time as independent consultants. They may work evenings or weekends to accommodate clients. Those employed in hospitals or other healthcare facilities also may have evening or weekend shifts. Most psychologists in clinics, government, industry, or schools work full-time schedules during regular business hours.

Job Outlook for Psychologists [ About this section ] [ To Top ]

Overall employment of psychologists is projected to grow 6 percent over the next ten years, about as fast as the average for all occupations. Employment growth will vary by occupation.

About 14,100 openings for psychologists are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.

Employment of Psychologists

Employment of clinical, counseling, and school psychologists is projected to grow due to demand for psychological services in schools, hospitals, mental health centers, and social service agencies. Psychologists experienced an increase in demand due to the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on many individuals’ mental health.

Demand for clinical and counseling psychologists will increase as more people turn to psychologists for help with their problems.

Employment of school psychologists will continue to grow because of an increased awareness of the connection between mental health and learning. These workers also will be needed to help students whose educational, behavioral, or developmental issues impact their ability to learn.

Organizations will continue to use industrial—organizational psychologists to help select and retain employees, implement trainings, increase organizational productivity and efficiency, handle employee conflicts, and improve office morale.

Careers Related to Psychologists [ About this section ] [ To Top ]

Market research analysts.

Market research analysts study market conditions to examine potential sales of a product or service. They help companies understand what products people want, who will buy them, and at what price.

Marriage and Family Therapists

Marriage and family therapists help people manage and overcome problems with family and other relationships.

Physicians and Surgeons

Physicians and surgeons diagnose and treat injuries or illnesses. Physicians examine patients; take medical histories; prescribe medications; and order, perform, and interpret diagnostic tests. They counsel patients on diet, hygiene, and preventive healthcare. Surgeons operate on patients to treat injuries, such as broken bones; diseases, such as cancerous tumors; and deformities, such as cleft palates.

Postsecondary Teachers

Postsecondary teachers instruct students in a wide variety of academic and technical subjects beyond the high school level. They may also conduct research and publish scholarly papers and books.

School and Career Counselors

School counselors help students develop the academic and social skills needed to succeed in school. Career counselors help people choose careers and follow a path to employment.

Social Workers

Social workers help people solve and cope with problems in their everyday lives. Clinical social workers also diagnose and treat mental, behavioral, and emotional issues.

Sociologists

Sociologists study society and social behavior by examining the groups, cultures, organizations, social institutions, and processes that develop when people interact and work together.

Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors

Substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors advise people who suffer from alcoholism, drug addiction, eating disorders, mental health issues, or other mental or behavioral problems. They provide treatment and support to help clients recover from addiction or modify problem behaviors.

Survey Researchers

Survey researchers design and conduct surveys and analyze data. Surveys are used to collect factual data, such as employment and salary information, or to ask questions in order to understand people's opinions, preferences, beliefs, or desires.

Training and Development Specialists

Training and development specialists help plan, conduct, and administer programs that train employees and improve their skills and knowledge.

More Psychologist Information [ About this section ] [ To Top ]

For more information about careers in all fields of psychology, visit

American Psychological Association

For more information about careers for school psychologists, visit

National Association of School Psychologists

For more information about state licensing requirements, visit

Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards

For more information about psychology specialty certifications, visit

American Board of Professional Psychology

For more information about industrial—organizational psychologists, visit

Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology

For more information about careers and certification in neuropsychology, visit

American Board of Professional Neuropsychology

A portion of the information on this page is used by permission of the U.S. Department of Labor.

Explore more careers: View all Careers or the Top 30 Career Profiles

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Become a Research Psychologist

If you like the idea of immersing yourself in the body of knowledge that has been accumulated in the field of psychology since its inception way back in antiquity, then working as a  research psychologist  in the field of experimental psychology is exactly the jobs you should be looking for.

People who specialize in research psychology and experimental psychology:

• study behavior and cognition in humans and animals
• develop experiments to test different aspects of how the mind works
• formulate theories based on the results of their tests

By advancing the scope and depth of knowledge within the field of psychology, research psychology and experimental psychology professionals provide practitioners of all types of psychology with more and better tools to understand the human mind and help people live healthier and more enjoyable lives.

Specialists in research psychology and experimental psychology are generally found in academic environments such as colleges and universities, where they have access to libraries of supporting scholarly material and opportunities to learn from other psychology scholars and to teach students training for their own careers.

Psychology is a growing field that covers many areas. There are many different types of psychology, but the one thing they all have in common is that they study human behavior, including what people think, how they react, and how they feel. Research psychologists play an important role in the world today because they focus their research on human behavior so that they can help people and help the psychologist that may be offering services to this individual.

What is a Research Psychologist?

A research psychologist studies everything pertaining to an individual’s human behavior, including how they act, think, feel, and learn. They study many topics that affect people, including the effects of alcoholism or drug abuse, causes of depression, how different people learn, and even the effectiveness of the prison system.

They may work in various settings, including private industries or academia. There are various employment options a research psychologist may choose, but they are all based on and involve research. Research psychologists also study the role genetics plays in behavior.

Candidates who have an interest in both animal and human behavior typically find this the ideal career choice. In addition to performing intensive research, these professionals also do detailed observations, complete case studies, give interviews, and spend a lot of time analyzing the results of their findings. They also provide other psychologists with their findings and observations.

Required skills

In addition to meeting the education and training requirements for becoming a research psychologist, the individual must also possess other skills.

• Research skills – The majority of the research psychologist’s workday deals with research so the candidate must have good research skills.
• Analytical skills – Once the research is completed, the research psychologist must analyze what it means, so they must have good analytical skills.
• Ability to teach – This is especially important if the research psychologist chooses a career in academia.
• Extensive knowledge of the human mind – This is necessary because so much of the job entails analyzing what makes people think, feel and act as they do.
• Knowledge of brain anatomy – This is also important because it helps the research psychologist better understand human behavior.
• Community skills – A research psychologist needs good communication and interpersonal skills because they spend a lot of time interviewing patients and reporting their findings to others.
• Objectivity – The research psychologist must have the ability to remain objective regardless of what he obtains through research and analysis.

Students pursuing a career as a research psychologist will complete a variety of courses through each degree level. General education courses are generally required for entry into a bachelor’s degree program. Courses in a bachelor’s degree psychology program may include:

• Common issues in psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Behavioral neuroscience
• Clinical psychology
• Organizational psychology
• Abnormal psychology
• Human cognition

When completing the graduate degree program, you’ll have courses like:

• Social Psychology
• Child Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Experimental Psychology

In addition to all the courses required, students will also learn research methods and will perform extensive research on various topics. They’ll also learn the importance of delivering findings and analysis to other psychologists.

Doctoral degree students will also have to pass a comprehensive examination and write a dissertation based on research the student has completed. This degree typically requires the student to complete a fellowship or internship so that he or she can obtain state licensure.

Online programs

Research psychologist programs are offered as online programs at many colleges and universities. The online programs are offered at the bachelor and graduate degree levels. However, the online psychology programs are most often at the master’s or doctoral degree level. At this point in the student’s academic career, he or she has a good understanding of psychology.

The online programs offer the student the opportunity to work and earn the degree at the same time. Most students will work in psychology settings, which can give them additional work experience, fulfill internship requirements, and enhance their resume for when they do graduate and seek work as research psychologists.

The online psychology programs may be 100 percent online or hybrid programs. Rather than come to class on campus every day, the student logs in to the school site and participates through virtual learning or a variety of learning tools such as DVDs, virtual classrooms, streaming media, and more. Online programs have become very popular because of the flexibility they offer students.

How to Become a Research Psychologist – Several Steps

1. earn a bachelor’s degree.

Becoming a research psychologist requires several years of study and training. There is a step-by-step process a candidate must complete to become a research psychologist. First, you must earn a bachelor’s degree. While the bachelor’s degree doesn’t necessarily need to be in psychology, it will be very beneficial if it is in psychology because the bachelor’s teaches students the fundamentals of psychology.

2. Start your research

Additionally, if the student chooses the bachelor’s degree in psychology, the student can complete advanced psychology courses while also choosing specific areas of research they wish to develop. Psychology-based student groups and honors societies for psychology students are available for students to join. These help the students gain even more knowledge on research and psychology.

3. Gain work experience

The years spent earning the bachelor’s degree can also be spent working in research and psychology. The more research experiences a student obtains, the better it will help that student when it’s time to pursue an advanced degree. Working at a university can help the student work with professors that may provide letters of recommendation when the student is out of college and seeking work in that field.

4. Earn a master’s degree

The next step towards becoming a research psychologist is earning a master’s degree in psychology with a concentration in research psychology. The concentration may also be in experimental psychology since experimental psychology and research psychology are so similar. While still an undergraduate student, you can become gathering your letters of recommendation, writing personal statements, and taking the GRE, which are all required for entry into the master’s degree program.

5. Earn a doctoral degree

To become a research psychologist, an individual should have a doctoral degree in some sort of psychology field, such as clinical, developmental, cognitive, personality, social or experimental. The National Science Foundation indicates that a student can earn a research psychologist Ph.D. degree in seven to eight years from the time he or she starts the master’s degree program.

Salary and Career Outlook

A regular psychologist who spends much of his work time doing research is generally considered a research psychologist. The career outlook for psychologists, in general, is very good according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). They reported that psychologists could see job growth of six percent between 2021 and 2031.

Psychologists in the “all other” category, the group in which research psychologists are rated, are expected to see higher job growth. Psychologists with a doctoral degree, such as research psychologists, should have the best job opportunities and career growth. The BLS predicts that about 14,100 new jobs should be created for psychologists each year until 2031.

Psychologists earn annual wages ranging from $47,850 to $133,890 as of May 2021. Their average annual wage nationwide is $102,900. Their average hourly wage is about $50.86 according to the BLS. Research psychologists are often referred to as experimental psychologists, and they are among the highest paying jobs in psychology.

Salary.com reports that research psychologists in the U.S. earn an average of $101,409 as of May 2023. The actual wages earned by research psychologists can change from one wage reporting agency to another. These factors can also determine wage potential for research psychologists.

• Relevant work experience
• Certifications
• Type of employer
• Geographic location

Research psychologists work in a variety of settings. They often work in an academic setting but also perform fieldwork or work in laboratories. They can also find work in government settings, for private research facilities, in universities, or as part of a global or national team. Some research psychologists choose to work independently.

Graduates of doctoral degree programs in research psychology qualify for many different job titles.

• Environmental Psychologist
• Clinical Research Psychologist
• Staff Psychologist
• Medical Psychologist
• Principal Psychologist
• Psychologist
• Consultant Psychologist
• Personnel Research Psychologist
• Personnel Psychologist
• Operational Psychologist

Research psychology and experimental psychology jobs can be found in:

• Academic environments such as colleges and universities
• Private research institutions
• Non-profit foundations
• Government laboratories

These researchers and psychologists strive to understand mental or emotional phenomena or to cure or mitigate specific behavioral or cognitive disorders.

Q : Do research psychologists earn the same type of salary as clinical psychologists?

A : According to the American Psychological Association , research psychologist and clinical psychologist wages are quite similar. The only type of psychologists that earn higher wages are managerial psychologists.

Q : Are the online psychology programs as good as the on-campus programs?

A : As long as you choose an accredited college, you’ll be getting the same kind of education except it will be done at home. Look for schools that are accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) Commission on Accreditation .

Q : Can I work as a research psychologist with only a master’s degree?

A : Research psychologists should have a doctoral degree, especially if they wish to obtain licensure.

Q : When choosing a bachelor’s degree program, should it be a B.A. or B.S. ?

A : BA programs are very good programs, but a BS program is more geared toward a student who wants to perform research, which is what research psychologists spend most of their time doing.

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Introduction

Why people do the things they do is an age-old question. However, psychology—the science concerned with behavior, in both human and nonhuman animals—first appeared in the 1870s. Despite its youth, it is a broad discipline, essentially spanning subject matter from biology to sociology. Psychologists have doctoral degrees. They study the intersection of two critical relationships: one between brain function and behavior; and another between the environment and behavior. As scientists, psychologists follow scientific methods, using careful observation, experimentation and analysis. But psychologists also need to be creative in the way they apply scientific findings.

Psychologists frequently are innovators, evolving new approaches from established knowledge to meet the changing needs of people, organizations and societies. They develop theories and test them through their research. As this research yields new information, these findings become part of the body of knowledge that practitioners call on in their work with clients and patients, as well as with organizations and communities. Psychology is a tremendously varied field. Psychologists conduct both basic and applied research , serve as consultants to communities and organizations , diagnose and treat people, and teach future psychologists and those who will pursue other disciplines. They test intelligence and personality . Many psychologists work as health care providers. They assess behavioral and mental function and well-being, study how human beings relate to each other and also to machines, and work to improve these relationships. And because the United States is undergoing sizable change in its population makeup, psychologists provide important knowledge and skills to help better understand diverse cultures.

Many psychologists work independently and also team up with other professionals—for example, with other scientists, physicians, lawyers, school personnel, computer experts, engineers, policymakers and managers—to contribute to every area of society. Thus, we find them in laboratories, hospitals, courtrooms, schools and universities, community health centers, prisons, and corporate offices.

Psychologists traditionally study both normal and abnormal functioning and treat individuals with mental and emotional problems. They also concentrate on behaviors that affect the mental and emotional health and mental functioning of healthy human beings. For example, psychologists work with patients to help them change behaviors that are having negative effects on their physical health . They work with business executives, performers and athletes to reduce stress and improve performance. They advise lawyers on jury selection and collaborate with educators on school reform. Immediately following a disaster, such as a plane crash or bombing, psychologists help victims and bystanders recover from the trauma, or shock, of the event. They team with law enforcement and public health officials to analyze the causes of such events and prevent their recurrence. Involved in all aspects of our fast-paced world, psychologists must keep up with what’s happening all around us. When you’re a psychologist, your education never ends.

As has long been true, opportunities in psychology for those with graduate degrees will be more plentiful and at a higher level than for those with undergraduate degrees. An undergraduate degree remains excellent preparation for continued graduate work in psychology or in another field, such as business, medicine or computer science. Many employers are interested in the skills that psychology majors bring to collecting, analyzing and interpreting data and their experience with statistics and experimental design.

Opportunities for people with advanced degrees in psychology are expanding in number as well as in scope. The move toward preventing illness rather than merely diagnosing and treating it requires people to learn how to make healthy behavior a routine part of living. Indeed, many of the problems facing society today are problems of behavior—for example, chronic health conditions or disease, drug addiction , poor personal relationships, violence at home and in the street , and the harm we do to our environment . Psychologists contribute solutions to problems through careful collection of data, analysis of data and development of intervention strategies—in other words, by applying scientific principles, the hallmark of psychology.

In addition, an aging America is leading to more research and practice in adapting our homes and workplaces for older people. The promises of the electronic revolution demand more user-friendly technologies and training. More two-career families in the workplace spur employers to accommodate the needs of families. Psychologists are helping to make the changes that are needed. The diversity in America today calls for psychologists to develop and refine treatments and approaches to meet the unique needs of different racial and ethnic groups. Furthermore, research advances in learning and memory, and the integration of physical and mental health care, make psychology more exciting than ever.

Most psychologists say they love their work. They cite the variety of daily tasks and the flexibility of their schedules. They are thrilled by the exciting changes taking place in the field — from adapting technology to benefit humans, to working as part of primary health care teams. They are endeavoring to provide answers to research questions in such diverse areas as prevention, perception and learning, and they are using new technology and knowledge to train the next generation. It is an exciting time to be a psychologist.

Psychologists specialize in a host of different areas within the field and identify themselves by many different labels. A sampling of those focal areas is presented here to give you an idea of the breadth of psychology’s scholarship and applications.

The field of psychology encompasses both research, through which we learn fundamental things about human and nonhuman animal behavior, and practice, through which that knowledge is applied to solving problems and promoting healthy human development. In each of the subfields, there are psychologists who work primarily as researchers, others who work primarily as practitioners and many who do both (scientist–practitioners). Indeed, one of psychology’s most unique and important characteristics is its coupling of science and practice, which stimulates the continual advancement of both. Additionally, many psychologists teach psychology in academic institutions, from high schools to graduate programs in universities.

Clinical psychologists

Clinical psychologists assess and treat mental, emotional and behavioral disorders. These range from short-term crises, such as difficulties resulting from adolescent conflicts, to more severe, chronic conditions, such as schizophrenia. Some clinical psychologists treat specific problems exclusively, such as phobias or clinical depression. Others focus on specific populations—for instance, youths; families, or couples; ethnic minority groups; gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals; or older people. They also consult with physicians on physical problems that have underlying psychological causes.

Cognitive and perceptual psychologists

Cognitive and perceptual psychologists study human perception, thinking and memory. Cognitive psychologists are interested in questions such as how the mind represents reality, how people learn and how people understand and produce language. Cognitive psychologists also study reasoning, judgment and decision making. Cognitive and perceptual psychologists frequently collaborate with behavioral neuroscientists to understand the biological bases of perception or cognition or with researchers in other areas of psychology to better understand the cognitive biases in the thinking of people with depression, for example.

Community psychologists

Community psychologists work to strengthen the abilities of communities, settings, organizations and broader social systems to meet people’s needs. They help people access resources and collaborate with others to improve their lives and communities. Instead of helping individuals cope with negative circumstances (e.g., trauma, poverty), community psychologists help empower people to change those circumstances, prevent problems and develop stronger communities. Examples of community psychology interventions include improving support for hurricane victims, partnering with neighborhoods to prevent crime, collaborating with schools to prevent bullying and helping change policies to improve health outcomes. Community psychologists blend research and practice, partnering with diverse citizens to plan and implement community changes, advance social justice and use research to inform and evaluate this work.

Counseling psychologists

Counseling psychologists help people recognize their strengths and resources to cope with everyday problems and serious adversity. They do counseling/psychotherapy, teaching and scientific research with individuals of all ages, families and organizations (e.g., schools, hospitals, businesses). Counseling psychologists help people understand and take action on career and work problems, they pay attention to how problems and people differ across the lifespan, and they have great respect for the influence of differences among people (such as race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability status) on psychological well-being. They believe that behavior is affected by many things, including qualities of the individual (e.g., psychological, physical or spiritual factors) and factors in the person’s environment (e.g., family, society and cultural groups).

Developmental psychologists

Developmental psychologists study the psychological development of the human being that takes place throughout life. Until recently, the primary focus was on childhood and adolescence, the most formative years. But as life expectancy in this country approaches 80 years, developmental psychologists are becoming increasingly interested in aging, especially in researching and developing ways to help older people stay as independent as possible.

Educational psychologists

Educational psychologists concentrate on how effective teaching and learning take place. They consider a variety of factors, such as human abilities, student motivation and the effect on the classroom of the diverse races, ethnicities and cultures that make up America.

Engineering psychologists

Engineering psychologists conduct research on how people work best with machines. For example, how can a computer be designed to prevent fatigue and eye strain in people? What arrangement of an assembly line makes production most efficient? What is a reasonable workload? Most engineering psychologists work in industry, but some are employed by the government, particularly the Department of Defense. They are often known as human factors specialists.

Environmental psychologists

Environmental psychologists study the dynamics of person–environment interactions. They define the term environment very broadly, including all that is natural on the planet as well as built environments, social settings, cultural groups and informational environments. They examine behavior evolving at various scales and from various processes (e.g., localization, globalization). They have a broad and inherently multidisciplinary focus. They recognize the need to be problem oriented, coordinating as needed with researchers and practitioners in the other fields of psychology, in related disciplines (e.g., sociology, anthropology, biology, ecology), as well as in the design fields (e.g., regional, urban and community planning; landscape architecture; architecture and engineering).

Environmental psychologists explore such issues as common property resource management, the effect of environmental stress on human effectiveness and well-being, the characteristics of restorative environments and human information processing. They also foster conservation behavior, helping people to craft durable behavioral responses to emerging biophysical limits.

Evolutionary psychologists

Evolutionary psychologists study how evolutionary principles such as mutation, adaptation and selective fitness influence human thought, feeling and behavior. Because of their focus on genetically shaped behaviors that influence an organism’s chances of survival, evolutionary psychologists study mating, aggression, helping behavior and communication. Evolutionary psychologists are particularly interested in paradoxes and problems of evolution. For example, some behaviors that were highly adaptive in our evolutionary past may no longer be adaptive in the modern world.

Experimental psychologists

Experimental psychologists are interested in a wide range of psychological phenomena, including cognitive processes, comparative psychology (cross-species comparisons), and learning and conditioning. They study both human and nonhuman animals with respect to their abilities to detect what is happening in a particular environment and to acquire and maintain responses to what is happening.

Experimental psychologists work with the empirical method (collecting data) and the manipulation of variables within the laboratory as a way of understanding certain phenomena and advancing scientific knowledge. In addition to working in academic settings, experimental psychologists work in places as diverse as manufacturing settings, zoos and engineering firms.

Forensic psychologists

Forensic psychologists apply psychological principles to legal issues. Their expertise is often essential within the judicial system. They can, for example, help a judge decide which parent should have custody of a child or evaluate a defendant’s mental competence to stand trial. Forensic psychologists also conduct research on jury behavior or eyewitness testimony. Some forensic psychologists are trained in both psychology and the law.

Health psychologists

Health psychologists specialize in how biological, psychological and social factors affect health and illness. They study how patients handle illness, why some people don’t follow medical advice and the most effective ways to control pain or change poor health habits. They also develop health care strategies that foster emotional and physical well-being.

Health psychologists team up with other health care professionals in independent practice and in hospitals to provide patients with complete health care. They educate health care professionals about psychological problems that arise from the pain and stress of illness and about symptoms that may seem to be physical in origin but actually have psychological causes. They also investigate issues that affect a large segment of society and develop and implement programs to deal with these problems. Examples include teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, risky sexual behaviors, smoking, lack of exercise and poor diet.

Industrial/organizational psychologists

Industrial/organizational (I/O) psychologists apply psychological principles and research methods to the workplace in the interest of improving productivity, health and the quality of work life. Many serve as human resources specialists, helping organizations with staffing, training and employee development. They may provide employers with testing and other valid selection procedures in their hiring and promotion processes. Others work as management consultants in such areas as strategic planning, quality management and coping with organizational change.

Neuropsychologists (and behavioral neuropsychologists)

Neuropsychologists (and behavioral neuropsychologists) explore the relationships between brain systems and behavior. For example, behavioral neuropsychologists may study the way the brain creates and stores memories, or how various diseases and injuries of the brain affect emotion, perception and behavior. They design tasks to study normal brain functions with imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Clinical neuropsychologists also assess and treat people. And with the dramatic increase in the number of survivors of traumatic brain injury, neuropsychologists are working with health care teams to help brain-injured people resume productive lives.

Quantitative and measurement psychologists

Quantitative and measurement psychologists focus on methods and techniques for designing experiments and analyzing psychological data. Some develop new methods for performing analyses; others create research strategies to assess the effect of social and educational programs and psychological treatment. They develop and evaluate mathematical models for psychological tests. They also propose methods for evaluating the quality and fairness of the tests.

Rehabilitation psychologists

Rehabilitation psychologists work with stroke and accident victims, people with mental disabilities and those with developmental disabilities caused by such conditions as cerebral palsy, epilepsy and autism. They help clients adapt to their situation and improve their lives, and they frequently work with other health care professionals. They deal with issues of personal adjustment, interpersonal relations, the work world and pain management.

Rehabilitation psychologists are also involved in public health programs to prevent disabilities, including those caused by violence and substance abuse. And they testify in court as expert witnesses about the causes and effects of a disability and a person’s rehabilitation needs.

School psychologists

School psychologists are engaged in the delivery of comprehensive psychological services to children, adolescents and families in schools and other applied settings. They assess and counsel students, consult with parents and school staff, and conduct behavioral interventions when appropriate. Most school districts employ psychologists full time.

Social psychologists

Social psychologists study how a person’s mental life and behavior are shaped by interactions with other people. They are interested in all aspects of interpersonal relationships, including both individual and group influences, and seek ways to improve such interactions. For example, their research helps us understand how people form attitudes toward others and, when these are harmful — as in the case of prejudice — provides insight into ways to change them.

Social psychologists are found in a variety of settings, from academic institutions (where they teach and conduct research), to advertising agencies (where they study consumer attitudes and preferences), to businesses and government agencies (where they help with a variety of problems in organization and management).

Sport psychologists

Sport psychologists help athletes refine their focus on competition goals, become more motivated, and learn to deal with the anxiety and fear of failure that often accompany competition. The field is growing as sports of all kinds become more competitive and attract younger children.

Psychology graduates generally report being pleased that what they studied in school has helped prepare them for both life and work. As a woman who opened her own business shortly after earning a baccalaureate in psychology stated, “After all, psychology is the business of life.” Although the majority of those with bachelor’s degrees in psychology work in areas other than psychology, they continue to be excited by the changes taking place in the field that relate to what they are now doing.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS, 2011) expects that opportunities in psychology will continue to grow over the next decade. “Job prospects should be the best for people who have a doctoral degree from a leading university in...[a] field such as clinical, counseling or health, and those with a specialist or doctoral degree in school psychology... Employment will grow because of increased demand for psychological services in schools, hospitals, social service agencies, mental health centers, substance abuse treatment clinics, consulting firms and private companies.” The push to place health service provider psychologists in community health clinics and as core participants in health care practices will provide opportunities. Psychologists are also needed to work with an aging population and one that is diversifying rapidly.

According to the BLS (2011), “the demand for school psychologists will be driven by a growing awareness of how students’ mental health and behavioral problems, such as bullying, affect learning. School psychologists will be needed for general student counseling on a variety of other issues, including working with students with disabilities or with special needs, tackling drug abuse and consulting and managing personal crisis.”

Although psychologists may compete with providers from other disciplines such as psychiatry, clinical nursing, social work and counseling, “clinical psychologists will continue to be needed to help with the rising health care costs associated with unhealthy lifestyles, such as smoking, alcoholism and obesity, which have made prevention and treatment more critical. There also will be increased need for psychologists to work with returning veterans” (BLS, 2011).

The BLS also states that “industrial-organizational psychologists can help employers understand their organizations better and sort out restructuring so as to help boost worker productivity and retention rates in a wide range of businesses. Industrial-organizational psychologists will help companies deal with issues such as workplace diversity and anti-discrimination policies. Companies also will use psychologists’ expertise in survey design, analysis, and research to develop tools for marketing evaluation and statistical analysis.” The need for psychologists’ abilities in applied research settings and activities such as survey and market research will be particularly acute in the next decade.

Widespread retirement of government employees at both the state and federal levels will provide openings over the next decade across the board for psychologists, particularly in research, administration and management roles. Opportunities will be available at all degree levels but particularly at the doctoral level.

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2011). Occupational outlook handbook (2010–2011 ed.).

Doctoral graduates.

Analyses of 2009 Doctorate Employment Survey data from the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Center for Workforce Studies (Michalski, Kohout, Wicherski, & Hart, 2011) found that 72 percent of responding psychologists who earned their doctorates in 2008–2009 secured their first choice when looking for a job. In addition, at least 73 percent of the respondents were employed within 3 months of receiving the doctorate. Nearly 40 percent rated the job market as “good” or as “excellent” and 35 percent as “fair.” Just over three-fourths of respondents to the 2009 online survey (the most recent study available) said that they were not underemployed. As might be expected, the highest paid and greatest range of jobs in psychology are available to those with doctorates in psychology. Unemployment and underemployment levels remain below those noted for other scientists and engineers. Few drop out of the field.

In general, career opportunities and employment settings have not varied greatly from those of the previous decade, although the prototype solo clinical practice is less common today than it was a decade or more ago. According to data from the Doctorate Employment Survey (see Table 3 in Michalski et al., 2011), the leading full-time employment settings for those with new doctorates in psychology in 2009 were universities/4-year colleges (25.9 percent) and hospitals/other human services (25 percent). Other human service settings included university/college counseling centers, outpatient clinics, and primary care offices or community health centers. About 16 percent of new doctorates worked in government/VA medical center settings, 10 percent in business/nonprofit settings, 8 percent in schools/other educational settings, 6 percent in medical schools/other academic settings, and slightly less than 6 percent in independent practice.

Master’s graduates

While the doctoral degree is the standard for independent research or practice in psychology, the number of psychology students who pursue a terminal master’s degree has increased sixfold since 1960; master’s degrees totaled at least 21,400 in 2008 (National Center for Health Statistics [NCES], 2009). Just under one-fifth of master’s graduates were full-time students in 2006, and 56 percent were employed outside psychology (National Science Foundation, 2006).

Graduates with a master’s degree in psychology may qualify for positions in school and I/O psychology, although in most states they will be prohibited from using “psychologist” as their job or professional title. By APA policy and licensing laws, the term psychologist is reserved for individuals with doctoral education and training. Master’s degree holders with several years of experience in business and industry can obtain jobs in consulting and marketing research, while other master’s degree holders may find jobs in government, universities, or the private sector as counselors, researchers, data collectors and analysts. Today, most master’s degrees in psychology are awarded in clinical, counseling and I/O psychology. Two of these three fields — counseling and I/O psychology — enjoy established occupational niches.

Persons with master’s degrees often work under the direction of a doctoral psychologist, especially in clinical, counseling, school and testing and measurement psychology.

Some jobs in industry — for example, in organizational development and survey research — are held by both doctoral- and master’s-level graduates. But industry and government jobs that focus on compensation, training, data analysis and general personnel issues are often filled by those with master’s degrees in psychology.

Bachelor’s graduates

According to the CIRP [Cooperative Institutional Research Program] Freshman Survey (Higher Education Research Institute, 2008), psychology was the second most popular undergraduate field in 2008, chosen by 5.1 percent of incoming freshmen. Only general biology was more popular (chosen by 5.2 percent of incoming freshmen). When regarded as a single field and not as a constellation of fields (as are business, biology or education), psychology outdrew all other fields. In 2008, 92,587 students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology — although many had no plans to pursue a career as a psychologist (NCES, 2009). Some students stop with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and find work related to their college major (e.g., they may be assistants in rehabilitation centers). If they meet state certification requirements, they may be able to teach psychology in high schools.

The study of psychology at the bachelor’s degree level is also good preparation for many other professions. In 2008, 5 percent of recipients of bachelor’s degrees in psychology were working in psychology or in an occupation related to psychology. Of the small proportion working in psychology, over 80 percent were in educational settings, broadly defined.

People with bachelor’s degrees in psychology often possess good research and writing skills, are good problem solvers and have well-developed, higher level thinking abilities when it comes to analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information. Many find jobs in administrative support, public affairs, education, business, sales, service industries, health, the biological sciences and computer programming. They may also work as employment counselors, correction counselor trainees, interviewers, personnel analysts, probation officers and writers.

Higher Education Research Institute. (2008). 2008 CIRP Freshman Survey .

Michalski, D., Kohout, J., Wicherski, M., & Hart, B. (2011). 2009 Doctorate Employment Survey .

National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resource Statistics. (2006). National Survey of Recent College Graduates, 2006 (Table 2) (PDF, 29KB).

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2009). Digest of education statistics (Table 315).

Psychology is an extraordinarily diverse field with hundreds of career paths. Some specialties, like caring for people with mental and emotional disorders, are familiar to most of us. Others, like helping with the design of advanced computer systems or studying how we remember things, are less well known.

What all psychologists have in common is a shared interest in the minds and behaviors of both human and nonhuman animals. In their work, psychologists draw on an ever-expanding body of scientific knowledge about how we think, act and feel and they apply the information to their areas of expertise.

Many psychologists work in more than one setting. For instance, college professors often consult for industry or see clients on a part-time basis. Although it is possible to identify a host of different work settings, for the purpose of this booklet, we’ll consider some of the most prominent examples.

Where psychologists work

Note: The chart represents employment settings for those with recent doctorates in psychology. Totals amount to 97 percent due to rounding and exclusion of 17 "not specified" responses. Adapted from D. Michalski, J. Kohout, M. Wicherski & B. Hart (2011), 2009 Doctorate Employment Survey (Table 3) (PDF, 33KB).

Psychologists conduct research.

Many psychologists conduct research that runs the gamut from studies of basic brain functions to individual behavior to the behavior of complex social organizations. Subjects of such scientific study include nonhuman animals, human infants, both well-functioning and emotionally disturbed people, older persons, students, workers and just about every other population one can imagine. Some research takes place in laboratories where the study conditions can be carefully controlled; some is carried out in the field, such as the workplace, the highway, schools and hospitals, where behavior is studied as it occurs naturally.

Much of the laboratory research is conducted in universities, government agencies (such as the National Institutes of Health and the armed services) and private research organizations. Whereas most psychological scientists are engaged in the actual planning and conduct of research, some are employed in management or administration — usually after having served as active researchers.

I earned my BA at Carleton College. Although I began my college career as an astronomy major, my courses in astronomy got me interested in people’s abilities to compare the brightness of stars, and that led to my interest in the senses. I switched my major to psychology. After receiving my PhD from Brown University, I worked at the Natick Army Research labs (where research related to food for military personnel is conducted), then went to the Pierce Foundation and Yale University in New Haven, Conn., and am now at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Psychology contributes to health in significant ways. As an academic working in the health professions, I have collaborated with dentists and physicians in using psychophysics to quantify symptoms, thereby advancing the understanding of disorders in my field (taste/oral pain) and promoting patient well-being. Psychology and the science supporting it have never been more relevant to the world around us.

I spend a typical workday at my computer and with patients. My students and I design experiments to study the sense of taste, run the experiments and then analyze the data. Sometimes I serve as a subject in experiments, because I never do an experiment on another person that has not been done on me first.

I believe that to be a psychologist, a good background in mathematics and science is useful, and you need to observe the world around you and yourself. Behavior is fascinating. Psychology includes many subspecialties. The more you learn about them, the easier it will be to pick an area that will use your skills and give you great satisfaction.

I love being a psychologist. We study the behavior we see, but we know how to look beneath the surface to explore mechanisms. We are sophisticated and tolerant thinkers, yet we recognize nonsense. We have an impact on the lives of real people, and we care about them. To me, there is no better way to spend one’s life...I feel very lucky to be able to do the work that I love. The best advice that I ever gave myself was to go with my heart!

His love of research was sparked at Swarthmore College, where one professor encouraged students to conduct their own experiments in visual perception. Recalls Dr. Rescorla, “It was exciting to be the first person in the world to know the answer to something.”

After graduating in 1962, he earned a PhD in psychology in 1966 at the University of Pennsylvania. Inspired by a book by one of the field’s early researchers, Dr. Rescorla and Dr. Richard Solomon embarked on a classic series of experiments on the mechanisms of learned fear. Their findings have helped to shape effective therapies for treating phobia and other anxiety disorders.

Dr. Rescorla began his teaching career at Yale University. In 1981, he returned to the University of Pennsylvania, where in 1986 he was appointed the James M. Skinner Professor of Science. He studies not only how animals and humans learn that one stimulus signals another, but also how they learn that this relationship no longer holds. Dr. Rescorla also figured out how to measure the strength of learning, the key to documenting his observations.

This lifelong researcher has seen his work help to relieve human suffering. Armed with insights into associative learning, clinical psychologists have developed ways to “extinguish” the phobias that develop when people learn to fear a stimulus because it signals a painful experience.

Dr. Rescorla encourages more undergraduate research because, as he learned, “Once you do it, you’re hooked.” At Penn, he has chaired the psychology department and been dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He was elected to the Society of Experimental Psychologists in 1975 and to the National Academy of Sciences in 1985.

For students considering psychology, he recommends a broad liberal arts education and adds, “Take the psychology intro course, and then sample broadly around it so you can find out what psychology is, whether it’s right for you, and what particular topic within it grabs you.”

Dr. Rescorla also urges students to study more biology and math. “Psychology increasingly has a biological component — not just in the laboratory but in the applied world, for various therapies. Plus, you will need more of a quantitative background.”

I am a professor of psychology and the director of the Center for Excellence in Diversity at Palo Alto University. Unlike psychologists who specialize in a technique or a theory, I specialize in a population. Much of my work focuses on Asian American and ethnic minority clients, who often have special needs, especially if they immigrated to the United States.

I went to an all-boys technical high school and wanted to be a television repairman. Within a year, I became disinterested in electronics and woodworking, so I switched schools and tried to prepare myself for college. Along the way, I decided I wanted to become a clinical psychologist even though I was quite naive and didn’t know what a clinical psychologist actually did. But I remember always watching a television program called The Eleventh Hour that featured both a psychiatrist and a psychologist and thinking that this is what I wanted to do.

I told my father that I was interested in psychology, particularly clinical psychology. He’s Chinese from the old country and couldn’t understand what a psychologist does and how one could make a living at it. But I persisted and went to the University of Oregon to major in psychology and then to the University of California, Los Angeles for graduate work. Since then, my three brothers have gone into psychology. The oldest brother even married a psychologist!

At the Palo Alto University center, we focus on cultural and group issues involving diversity dimensions such as ethnicity; race; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues; gender; and social class. We conduct research, develop programs to promote diversity, integrate such issues into our courses, and recruit and train students to work effectively with diverse groups.

My particular area of interest is to study rates of mental disorders among Chinese people in the United States. Little is known about Asian Americans in this regard. Many people have said that Chinese and other Asian Americans don’t have many mental health problems. But we know that they have problems just like any other group of people, although there are some differences in the distribution of disorders.

What we have found generally, however, is that Asian Americans tend to underutilize mental health services and that those who do use the services tend to be very disturbed. This means that Asian American people with mild disturbances tend not to come in until their problems are serious.

We’re also trying to determine the factors related to mental disturbances among some Chinese people in this country and the factors that seem to insulate others in this population from mental problems. Several researchers at the center are also studying parent–child conflicts in Asian American families to see if the conflicts are different from those affecting other ethnic families and to identify ways to resolve the conflicts. Other investigators are looking at husband–wife problems to ascertain if they’re unique because of cultural differences.

One researcher has developed a scale that measures “loss of face,” which is a particularly important concept for people of Asian descent; fear of losing face affects how they behave. We are also going to look at how to improve the delivery of effective mental health services to Asian Americans.

Psychologists study social development

Developmental psychologists study the many behavioral and psychological changes that occur throughout the life span.

Developmental psychologists look at the changes that occur across an entire lifetime. It is a fantastic area because you can do so many different things. You can focus on language development, for example, and study why children’s speech may not reflect their thinking. You can look at adolescents and the problems they have in establishing identity. Or you can examine families, from how they use discipline to how they develop attitudes.

There is also a growing interest in adult development and aging, partly because of the graying of America and partly because we are beginning to realize that we don’t stop growing when we reach puberty. Instead, we continue to change and develop in many areas all our lives. Developmental psychologists can investigate adult learning issues at the workplace or the effects of aging on cognition.

I was always interested in science; even as a child I had played with chemistry sets. At Howard University in Washington, D.C., I majored in chemistry and thought about becoming a medical doctor. But because so many of my friends were taking psychology as an elective, I did, too. Psychology, I learned, is about both science and the application of science to people. I fell in love with the subject, switched my major to psychology, and then went to graduate school and earned my doctorate in educational psychology.

As a researcher and professor in psychology for many years, I specialized in social development; the effects of gender and culture were my primary interest. Today, as the president of Saint Joseph College in Connecticut, I still get a great deal of pleasure from teaching and research. I enjoy helping my students prepare for leadership roles by studying how leaders develop and what factors influence their leadership styles from childhood through adulthood.

In some of my past studies, I investigated why girls act in certain ways and why boys behave in different ways. One small body of research had suggested that women and girls are typically more interested in babies than men and boys are. But all this research had been conducted on White children and adults.

So I looked at both Black and White children and found no difference between African American boys and girls! In 8- to 10-year-old middle-class children, the White girls liked the babies (they looked at them, touched them, and smiled at them), the African American girls liked the babies, and even the African American boys liked the babies. Only the White boys appeared uninterested. As often happens, the research led to more questions. Now, instead of asking why girls are more interested than boys in babies, the question became are we socializing White boys so that they don’t like babies?

I also conducted research with children who lived in shelters because their families were homeless. I learned about the stresses they undergo so that we can understand how some children cope and others do not. For me, the important thing is that in psychology, you can research the questions that you are interested in, not only those that someone else has posed.

There are many ways to enter the field of psychology, but the best way is to understand your strengths and what it is you want to accomplish. I started my academic career as a music major. One of my professors helped me see that my strengths, however, were in another area. I decided that there had to be a better fit for me in a different career. One day, it occurred to me that most of my friends and family would seek me out to talk about things going on in their lives. I felt I had a natural ability to help people see the options that were before them. It was at that moment that I decided to explore what I could get out of (and offer) the field of psychology.

Having to master statistics and research methodology was an intimidating prospect. In fact, the very idea of having to learn this material was so worrisome that I almost decided not to apply to graduate school at all! But once I started learning the material and applied these skills to real-life situations, it made sense and became enjoyable. Statistics became a tool I would use to actually provide the clinical services for which I was in training. This was the best part of my academic experience because the very thing that almost kept me out of a graduate program became the means to achieving my goals.

During my course work in counseling psychology at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, I was fortunate enough to have worked with one of my professors and participate in a study he was directing. The design of this project was to learn about the use of various coping strategies by middle-school students living and interacting in a multicultural setting. This experience became even more important to me when I realized that we were also searching for ways to get our findings back to the community that had agreed to participate in the study. With great enthusiasm, we presented our findings to the parents and teachers of those students at an open meeting.

Through all of this, I learned that the need for psychologists to bring crosscultural considerations and multicultural competency to their work is increasing daily because of the changing cultural and ethnic composition of our country. As members of the larger and increasingly diverse society, we need to meet the needs of people from different backgrounds and communities, thus allowing them to build on their strengths. Also, let us not forget the role of language. We must understand the context from which language (and behavior) emanates in order to be successful psychologists, whether we are conducting research, teaching or providing therapy.

Since completing my doctoral degree, I have worked as a full-time and part-time faculty member and have taught in undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs and in college counseling centers. I have also been involved with the Veterans Affairs initiative to integrate mental health with primary health care; worked as a consultant for businesses and academic programs; and conducted research. Currently, I am the program director of a VA substance abuse treatment program. Each professional experience has helped to shape my own journey and has added to my satisfaction and success within the field of psychology. My best advice is to seek out diverse experiences that match your interests, be ready to transform a “not-so-great” job description into a great work experience, and never take yourself out of the running to achieve a goal you want to attain.

Psychologists teach and provide services to students

Psychologists provide a number of services — both direct and indirect — to children, youth and families in schools at all levels, from early childhood education settings through college. Some focus on improving student learning and behavior through research on topics such as motivation and cognitive processes, while others provide psychological services within educational settings. Psychologists work within specialty areas of learning, too, such as the arts and sports.

School psychologists help students with learning or behavior problems in the classroom and serve as members of the interdisciplinary teams that develop individual educational plans for students with learning disabilities, social and emotional issues, or other special needs. They work with students and staff members on schoolwide issues such as bullying prevention, and they consult with teachers on problems in the classroom.

Schools are essential to our democratic society. I find them fascinating as organizations and recognize how important they are to children’s learning and mental health. I enjoy solving problems in schools and am never bored.

As an undergraduate at Cornell, I took Urie Bronfenbrenner’s child development course and became aware of how much settings contribute to behavior. Years later, after obtaining my degree from the University of Wisconsin in educational psychology, with a major in school psychology, I maintained my focus on settings and learning environments. Over the course of my career, I have worked as a school psychologist in the Madison (Wisconsin) public schools and as a school psychology faculty member at Fordham University in New York City, Temple University in Philadelphia, and the University of Maryland. I have been engaged in teaching, research and consultation with state education departments and with school systems around the country. My work has consistently been about enhancing learning environments for staff and students.

Schools today are diverse institutions, reflecting the multicultural nature of our society. There is consensus that schools have a mission to educate all students, including those of color, those with mental health and learning issues and those whose impoverished backgrounds have limited their learning opportunities. School psychologists play a key role in this essential work. As a faculty member in Fordham University’s urban school psychology program, I initiated a bilingual school psychology specialty to reflect our urban mission. We recruited and funded bilingual students and also provided all the school psychology students in the program with a better understanding of how culture and language affect teacher perceptions of students and student outcomes.

School psychologists engage in direct interaction and service to students, as well as focus on prevention (such as bullying prevention) and intervention through consulting with school staff about student concerns. My focus has been on using consultation skills to support school staff in promoting positive student outcomes, particularly for students at risk of developing more severe academic and behavior problems.

Through my work on consultation, I recognized the importance of helping schools develop structures so that staff can support their students’ development more effectively and efficiently. My colleagues and I created Instructional Consultation Teams (IC Teams), which we developed at the Lab for IC Teams at the University of Maryland. We embedded evidence-based process skills and content into a team structure and figured out how to help schools implement and sustain IC Teams, which are now conducted in multiple states and school districts.

People spend a large part of their lives in school. When you return as a school psychologist, you see the schools in a new way. Helping to create healthy environments in which children and youth can flourish is a rewarding life’s work.

Psychologists promote physical and mental health

Psychologists as health providers span a large and diverse spectrum of subfields. Some psychologists work alone, with patients and clients coming to the psychologist’s office. Others are involved in health care teams and typically work in hospitals, medical schools, outpatient clinics, nursing homes, pain clinics, rehabilitation facilities, and community health and mental health centers.

Increasingly, psychologists in independent practice are contracting on either a part-time or a full-time basis with organizations to provide a wide range of services. For example, a psychologist can join a health practice and work with a team of other health care providers, such as physicians, nutritionists, physiotherapists and social workers, to prevent or treat illness. This team approach, which is likely to become more common in the future, frequently includes efforts to change unhealthy behaviors and ensure that patients follow the recommended treatment. The team also helps patients cope with stress.

Psychologists also instruct students who are training to become health care professionals, such as physicians and nurses, about the psychological factors involved in illness. And they advise health care providers already in practice so that illnesses with symptoms that have a psychological component can be better diagnosed and treated.

It’s important to pick a career that suits your temperament and your likes and dislikes. I grew up in a family that values helping people who are less fortunate and less able to take care of themselves. So psychology was a natural choice for me. I studied clinical psychology in graduate school.

I also went into psychology because I thought it would provide me with more variety than any other field. I have been a practicing psychologist, an administrator, a consultant and a researcher. I now work for the American Psychological Association as assistant executive director for state advocacy.

Before coming to APA, I was a clinical psychologist and the administrative director of a large group practice — The Traumatic Stress Institute (TSI) — in Connecticut. At TSI, my colleagues and I dealt with trauma — everything from natural disasters and industrial accidents to physical and sexual abuse. The institute is a model for independent practice because we did more than sit in an office for 50 minutes of psychotherapy with a patient — although we did that, too. But we also did research, training and community education to help traumatized individuals get their lives back on track as quickly as possible.

At TSI, my colleagues and I valued professional involvement and advocated for public policy that provides services and secures the rights for those who have experienced traumatic events. Over time, I became more involved in advocacy efforts on a number of fronts, primarily through my various roles in the state psychological association and also at APA.

Ultimately, I changed careers and began working full-time at APA on a broad range of issues affecting the professional practice of psychology at the state and national levels. For the past several years I’ve worked on health care reform, changes in health finance and reimbursement as they affect psychological and mental health services, and parity in mental health insurance coverage.

All of these opportunities to advance the practice of psychology stemmed from my earlier role as a practitioner interested in contributing to the field through state advocacy efforts. It is essential more than ever that psychologists think both locally — regarding their individual practices — and globally — concerning how they can contribute to the larger world. Through involvement in a broad range of institutions (e.g., educational, health care, business/corporate, correctional, environmental systems), psychologists can have a significant impact on the psychological well-being of others.

I can’t think of a single part of our culture, a single part of the world that we live in, where psychology doesn’t have something to contribute. I get excited when I think that I can make a difference in somebody’s life. I love the field.

I like to help people solve their problems. My work as a clinical psychologist with an independent practice in New Jersey allows me plenty of opportunity to do so. I help individuals from teenagers to octogenarians, and some couples, who have varied psychological or relationship concerns.

I earned my PsyD, a professional psychology doctorate, in 1976, was licensed in 1978 and since then have practiced psychodynamic therapy, which assumes that a person’s early years are a critical part of his or her current problem and explores them in the context of the patient–therapist relationship.

I listen with the ear of someone who is trained to understand the dynamics of what the person is saying. If medication is indicated for the patient, I coordinate the treatment with a local psychiatrist.

Psychology wasn’t my first career. I was originally trained to teach because that’s what most women who went to college in the 1950s did. Beginning when my children were in preschool, I earned two master’s degrees (in reading education and school psychology) at New Jersey’s Kean College. I went on to earn the newly offered PsyD, a doctoral degree designed for people who want to practice psychology, at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology. It was important that the schools I attended be close to home so that I could combine my education with being a mom — and Rutgers is 35 minutes from home!

I earned my doctorate so that I could be licensed to have a clinical private practice. As a school psychologist, I did a lot of the assessing of problems but never got to help alleviate them.

To be a good psychologist, you should be a good listener, nonjudgmental, smart and flexible in order to apply scientific theory to people in a nonformulaic way, which takes a certain creativity. I advise students entering the field to prepare for many years of education, all the way to the doctorate. The rewards are just so great. It’s so gratifying to be helpful to people on an ongoing basis.

I am past president of the American Psychological Association and current president of the American Psychological Foundation. I’ve written many articles and several books, including "Women in Power" (with Dr. Toni Bernay), "What Do You Want to Do When You Grow Up?" and "Finding Your Voice." And I’ve appeared as an expert on many television shows, including Good Morning America, Prime Time Live and the Today show.

What lies ahead? I expect psychology to become more of a part of the bigger health care system, as people come to understand how mind and body interact. I hope that people will go for mental health checkups the way they go for physical health checkups.

As for my career, my role model was a 90-year-old psychologist who worked until her death. I plan to write a few more books. And then, as always, I’ll see what opportunities present themselves. There are just so many opportunities for psychologists.

My passionate interest in helping people live their lives to their fullest potential is what attracted me to psychology. My early training and experiences prepared me for career opportunities that I could scarcely have imagined as an undergraduate in college. Ultimately, I identified as a health psychologist because it is a field that goes beyond traditional mental health and addresses broader health concerns.

When I started as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I hadn’t decided on my major. To help finance my education, I took a part-time job in a child development research program sponsored by the psychology department. There, I observed inner-city children in settings designed to enhance their learning. I saw firsthand the contributions psychology can make, and I knew I wanted to be a psychologist.

After completing undergraduate work in psychology, I went on to earn my doctorate, focusing on children, both in school and in the community. When I graduated, there was no such thing as a health psychologist. I started as an assistant professor in a doctoral program in school psychology at the University of Tennessee. But soon I went on to direct a children’s program at Meharry Medical College in Nashville. As a psychologist in a medical setting, I could help children with health problems as well as their families and physicians.

At Meharry, I was in charge of an extensive and innovative program with an interdisciplinary staff. We worked with children who had developmental disabilities, dealt with child abuse and neglect, developed partial hospitalization for children with emotional problems, and created prevention programs for youths at risk. I then became assistant dean at the Wright State University School of Professional Psychology in Ohio, where I trained clinical psychologists and directed a program to prevent homicide and violence among minority youths.

Most of my career was spent at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where for 15 years I served as the director of the Division of Violence Prevention at the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (I retired in 2011). The division, with its budget of more than $100 million, manages research, surveillance, and programs in intentional injury; homicide, suicide, and youth, family and intimate partner violence prevention; and rape and sexual assault prevention.

As director of this CDC division, I oversaw the world’s largest concentration of public health experts working on violence issues and prevention. These experts come from a variety of fields, including psychology, medicine, sociology, economics and epidemiology. I was also involved in global efforts to prevent violence through the World Health Organization and Pan American Health Organization.

Through my work, I was able to achieve a career level unprecedented by a psychologist — I was the first psychologist to serve as the director of a division of the CDC. As you can see from my experience and background, my early work as a health psychologist was the basis for — but just the beginning of — this adventure. Psychology is much more than the traditional roles you may be aware of. When you think of a career in psychology, think beyond those limited roles!

I was always interested in human behavior; it seemed to be a key component to so many aspects and issues in life. I was also strongly influenced by my father, who was both a sociologist and psychologist. When I was a child, he would talk to me about the work of Freud and B. F. Skinner. I knew words like classical conditioning and super ego before I reached the 9th grade! I wanted to contribute to society and engage in a variety of activities such as teaching, clinical practice and research. Psychology offered the opportunity to fulfill these goals in a meaningful way.

After majoring in psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, I graduated with a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University Medical Center, which was an amazing experience. On my first day I joined the cardiac rehab team and talked to patients about health behavior change while walking on a track with them. What a shift from the traditional 50-minute therapy session! From then on I realized that the knowledge and skill base in psychology could be adapted to fit almost any setting and, moreover, could have a significant impact on a person’s quality of life, health status and overall functioning.

Today I am director of integrated care at Cherokee Health Systems (CHS), which is a comprehensive community health organization that provides integrated primary care and behavioral health services in east Tennessee. CHS is both a federally qualified health center and a community mental health center, with a mission of improving the physical and mental health of everyone in our community. As a community health organization, we see everyone in our communities regardless of their ability to pay. Therefore, we are able to bring progressive, evidenced-based health care to everyone, including people who are uninsured. Working in community health means I can fulfill my personal and professional mission to work with the underserved in our communities.

As director, I am responsible for implementing the clinical model of integrating behavioral health and primary care to optimize functioning and quality of life for our patients. I am also involved in teaching and consulting with other organizations as part of CHS’s training and outreach initiatives on integrated care. I serve on teams that provide oversight and guidance regarding clinical activities and procedures within the organization. In my leadership role, I am responsible for many of CHS’s wellness, chronic care and research initiatives. As training director of CHS’s APA-accredited internship program, I am closely involved with teaching, clinical supervision, and program administration.

On any given day, I may see patients, work on a grant, develop a training schedule, address operational and clinical issues that arise at any of our clinics, provide clinical supervision (i.e., supervise the work of other providers) and participate in a management meeting. I love the variety and stimulation in my work. I get to work with bright, mission-oriented individuals with a range of expertise in different fields, including medicine, behavioral health and business management.

Working in a community health setting with a mission to the underserved provides tremendous professional and personal satisfaction. Primary care psychology offers exciting opportunities for psychologists to practice in a unique and rewarding setting. It is a significant growth area in the field. My advice to new psychologists: Work hard, be guided by a sense of mission and purpose, think outside of the box and be open to new possibilities. You will be amazed by the opportunities that will come your way.

My doctoral degree was in clinical psychology. I do clinical work, research and teaching at the University of Virginia. All three aspects of my career are very important to me.

For example, I work in a memory disorders clinic as part of a team of neurologists, nurses and medical technicians. I oversee patient treatment apart from medication. What I learn in my research, I use in my clinical practice. And in my clinical practice, I learn the important questions to ask in my research.

One of my patients who has Alzheimer’s disease is in a clinical drug trial involving an experimental medication. No one knows if he is receiving medication or a placebo, which is something that looks like the medication but is actually inert (i.e., an inactive substance or preparation). I assess this person periodically and also talk with his wife occasionally to determine whether his condition has changed. I test his ability to remember things, and I look to see if the kinds of judgments he makes are the same kinds of judgments you or I would make. I test his ability to know the time, date and place — to see if he knows generally where he is. I look at his ability to copy drawings and also to remember those drawings. I also check his attention span.

I use computers to run experiments. This morning, I tested a patient’s spatial memory: He had to remember where words were placed on the screen. I also use computers for statistics — to analyze what my data mean.

I teach in the Department of Neurology, and some of my work involves supervising graduate students. It’s important that my students are truly interested in psychology and in the projects they’re working on. They need to think creatively, be determined and work thoroughly and carefully.

I’m helping one graduate student learn to do therapy and to assess patients. Another graduate student works with me on research studies. She helps me guide people through the research program on the computer. She analyzes data, and she’s learned to do statistics and how to design studies. We write papers together for publication.

If you’re interested in psychology, I’d advise you to take psychology courses as an undergraduate. And try to work in a research laboratory so that you can get some insight into what the field is really like.

Many of today’s students are encouraged to take time off between undergraduate and graduate school because it’s a long haul and it takes a lot of determination. Sometimes I think it’s nice for people to have a break in there. It takes persistence to earn a doctorate in psychology, along with a great interest in psychological research, science and people. It takes a long time — but I think it’s well worth it!

I was raised in the South during desegregation and have always been interested in the underlying values and behaviors that can bring different individuals, groups or cultures together. This process is a common thread in my professional life, whether working to strengthen couples and families or in primary care teams with physicians, psychologists and other clinicians.

My father was an obstetrician/gynecologist who loved being a physician. It was clear to me that I wanted to do meaningful, rewarding work, too. My interest in science came from him. My emotional intelligence came from my mother. Put those with the irrational events of the time I grew up in, and you have the makings of a budding psychologist.

When I went to college in the early 1970s, I wanted to study stereotyping and why people generalize across groups. This led to a double major in cultural anthropology and psychology at Duke. I loved studying the effect of culture on behavior and language but thought psychology might be a more practical choice for graduate school. I was fortunate to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in clinical psychology, working with many talented clinical and research professors, including William Stiles, with whom I did my dissertation on language (verbal response modes) in psychotherapy. Probably because of my strong southern family, I went to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston for internship and worked with pioneering family psychologists Harry Goolishian and Harlene Anderson. Family therapy made immediate sense to me. It is applied anthropology — understanding individual behavior in the context of the group.

A fascination with mind–body interaction led me to accept a part-time job as a faculty member in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Rochester (the first woman and first PhD on the faculty) in 1981. These bright, dedicated residents wanted a more organized behavioral science curriculum that would prepare them for the huge proportion of primary care practice that is psychological in nature. They were also interested in what family therapy had to offer family medicine.

Collaborating closely with family physician Thomas Campbell, we developed a practical curriculum that taught family medicine residents to evaluate the mental, behavioral, and interpersonal difficulties of their patients along with their biomedical problems. We combined the biopsychosocial approach with a family systems approach that is particularly well suited to primary care. The problems people bring to their primary care doctor aren’t always physical and are often difficult to evaluate. Having systems skills to understand the individual, family and community components is extremely helpful for assessment and successful treatment planning. It is also useful in enlisting family input and support and in promoting team functioning among the disciplines that make up the primary care team.

The Family Medicine Department has been a wonderful home. I see my own patients in the primary care setting (and see many patients who will not enter the traditional mental health system). My systemic/family skills are now put to use in promoting healthy faculty functioning, leadership coaching, and helping to transform primary care practice into patient-centered medical homes that are psychologically healthy.

The year after I joined the family medicine faculty (1982), I joined the psychiatry faculty when a family therapy training program began there. I eventually took over as division chief and developed the Institute for the Family, which has clinical, training, and research functions. We train family medicine, psychiatry, pediatric and internal medicine residents. By design, faculty members work both in the Institute and in another clinical department (i.e., ob/gyn, pediatrics, the epilepsy center, internal medicine, family medicine) to provide behavioral health at the point of service as part of a heath care team.

Health care — patients, families and other health professionals — needs psychologists. There is enormous opportunity for psychologists with clinical, systems, health and research training. Some opportunities are defined and posted, others (like the coaching program) are innovative and an obvious fit with our skill set. Like my father, I have meaningful and rewarding work that I love. You can, too.

Psychologists support community and individual well-being

Community psychologists focus on changing community settings to increase opportunities for individuals and families to successfully participate in community life. While they may work in different locations (e.g., as university faculty, in government or nonprofit agencies, as part of consulting firms, or as individual practitioners), they collaborate with professionals and community activists from different disciplines and with the people who are being served. They use their psychological training to address community issues and use community-based participatory research to guide community decision making.

Through a career in community psychology I have been able to live my passion for promoting social justice. As a professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, I teach in our community social psychology program; conduct applied research addressing gender, racial and ethnic differences; and direct a Center for Women and Work. I am also a resident scholar at the Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center. But I did not start out knowing that this is what I wanted to do.

When I started graduate study in clinical psychology, I knew I wanted to “help people,” but something was missing for me. I took a 2-year leave of absence, during which I worked in a residential treatment center for adolescent girls. I returned to school to discover a new program emphasis on community psychology. With its focus on empowerment, prevention and changing social conditions to improve people’s lives, I knew I had found the right professional home.

My investment in social change predates my career decisions. I have been attuned to issues of inclusion since my years at a multiracial high school where I was in a minority as a White girl, which taught me much about relating across differences. This introduction to racial inequity has shaped my career-long work on the dynamics of diversity in organizational settings. Influenced by the feminist movement, I worked at the grassroots level on issues such as domestic violence and women’s health care. This interest in women’s rights propelled me through a nontraditional dissertation about what sustains women’s activism. Community psychology, which integrates research and action, has allowed me to pursue both my interests: helping individuals and addressing the systemic causes of injustice.

My career exemplifies how letting your interests guide you can take you on a rewarding, albeit circuitous, path. Following my clinical internship, I provided management training and organizational consultation to agencies serving individuals with developmental disabilities, and I became active in the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA: Division 27 of APA). As co-chair of the SCRA Women’s Committee (the first of many leadership roles in this organization), I became interested in barriers to women’s professional development, which led to research on sexual harassment and the realization that I enjoy research, particularly when there are clear action implications. After 6 years as an entirely applied psychologist (i.e., a psychologist who applies the theories, principles and techniques of psychology to practical concerns), I sought an academic job — violating the common advice that you must decide in grad school if you desire an academic career.

I have been at UMass Lowell for 22 years, and my work has continued to evolve — both because community psychology is a diverse field and because academic positions provide great flexibility. In our applied community psychology master’s program, I help new professionals bridge theory with skills for promoting social justice. For almost 15 years, I have directed a Center for Women and Work, with an interdisciplinary group of scholars, and I have been able to partner with community members on numerous action projects.

At the university, I work much more than 40 hours/week, but I have the flexibility to pursue what I am most passionate about. Naturally, there are unmovable commitments to teaching, mentoring and meetings, but I choose where to focus my research, initiate action projects that I care about, and become involved in social issues of importance to me. Additionally, this flexibility allows me to navigate the roles of professor, activist, partner and mother more smoothly.

Psychologists study the work environment and performance issues

Anywhere people work, and anything they do while at work, is of interest to psychologists. Psychologists study what makes people effective, satisfied and motivated in their jobs; what distinguishes good workers or managers from poor ones; and what conditions of work promote high or low productivity, morale and safety.

Some psychologists design programs for recruiting, selecting, placing and training employees. They evaluate, monitor and improve performance. They help make changes in the way the organization is set up. Others help design the actual tasks, tools and environments people must deal with when doing their jobs. These specialists can also help design the products that organizations create and conduct research related to product design. For example, they play a big role in making computer hardware and software more user friendly.

Psychologists with training in mental health and health care also deal with the health and adjustment of individuals in the work setting. They work with employee assistance plans that provide help with drug or alcohol addiction problems, depression and other disorders; they also foster healthy behavior. Others work on performance issues in areas such as sport psychology, where they may provide athletes with counseling, work with them to improve motivation and performance, explore psychological considerations in sports injuries and rehabilitation, and perform a range of tasks related to sports performance and education.

If we’re going to keep up with the “bad guys,” we need to keep our workforce skills, knowledge and competencies continuously developing. As an industrial/organizational (I/O) psychologist, I helped lead the drive to heighten airport security after Sept. 11, 2001. This involved the largest civilian mobilization effort in the United States — to hire more than 50,000 airport screeners for the government in less than a year. The undertaking, called for in the Aviation and Transportation Security Act that President Bush signed into law soon after the attacks, sought to strengthen airport security screening by federalizing it and enhancing the workforce skill standards.

At that time, I was the director of Standards, Testing, Evaluation and Policy for the newly formed Transportation Security Administration (TSA). I created a team of I/O psychologists, HR professionals, medical experts and trainers to develop higher standards and the accompanying tests for screeners’ cognitive, customer service, X-ray detection and physical abilities. Using future-oriented job analyses, the team validated new post–9/11 skill standards for every aspect of the new screener rotational job design and then designed an assessment process, including automated application screening, computer-based tests and in-person structured interviews and medical evaluations, that could process masses of applicants efficiently. Applying the newly established standards, the TSA processed more than 1.8 million applications and hired and trained about 50,000 screeners by the congressionally mandated 1-year deadline. Throughout the process, the team faced many obstacles, but we did get it done — we raised the standards for the workforce and national security, and we did it against unbelievable odds.

During my nearly 6 years with the TSA, I developed numerous testing and assessment programs for screeners, law enforcement officers and armed pilots; implemented enhanced training, including the automated Learning Management System; implemented a mandatory, annual certification program for all screeners; instituted a pay-for-performance program; and designed and implemented a career progression program for the screeners.

In 2007, I became the deputy associate director of National Intelligence for Human Capital at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (established in 2005). I help to drive the collaboration and integration of the 17 agencies that make up the Intelligence Community (IC). My work includes setting common competency directories for the occupations of the IC, supporting culture change through common performance standards and appraisal processes, developing common leadership programs and succession management processes, establishing a consistent workforce planning template and annual process, and designing a common professional development framework and associated metrics.

It is very rewarding to know that the programs I build as an I/O psychologist touch every employee and greatly improve the workplace. I continuously see how our work directly improves the nation’s ability to enhance and ensure national security during this most challenging time in our history. A lot of it has to be done with creativity and innovation.

When I began my career as an industrial/organizational (I/O) psychologist, there was an emphasis on testing — ability testing, personality testing and so on — in an effort to put the right person in the right job. Today, the emphasis is turning to establishing the atmosphere most conducive to productivity and quality work.

The field has become extremely influential — starting in the late 1970s — in part because of the overwhelming competition from Japan and the success of their products. Studies indicated that Japanese companies tended to manage the way I/O psychologists say people should be managed.

Most I/O psychologists maintain that people go to work wanting to do good work. Nevertheless, when we look at a company that has a problem — let’s say, a drop in customers or a large turnover in labor — we see large percentages of people not working very hard. When we analyze what causes people to lose their motivation, the answer usually has to do with how they’re being managed. For example, if management treats employees like children or criminals, the employees are likely to become demoralized.

I had wanted to be a psychologist since I was a psychology major at the City College of New York (I originally thought I would go into engineering). One great influence on me was my father. He was a strong union man. From him I learned that workers’ opinions are very important to a company’s overall well-being. While earning my doctorate in social psychology at the University of Michigan, I also became enamored of survey work at the university’s Institute for Social Research.

I was an I/O psychologist for IBM for 13 years and then set up my own consulting firm, Sirota and Associates, in New York City. (I sold the firm a few years ago.) It is now called Sirota Survey Intelligence and does work for companies, government agencies and nonprofits all over the world. Earlier in my career, I also taught at a number of universities, such as MIT and the Wharton School.

My particular branch of the field focuses on data collection. We diagnose an organization’s problems by surveying people in the organization through questionnaires, informal interviews, focus groups or a combination of all three methods. Why do employees stay with the company? What helps them produce quality products or quality service? Do they have the right training, the right equipment, the right management, the right whatever? Does the way management treats employees cause them to feel good or bad about the company’s customers? Often we interview the customers, too. All these variables constitute the heart of what we do.

We come back to management with our analysis. We try to be candid, but not abrasive, pointing out what’s being done well and the opportunities for improvement. We then try to get the managers involved in coming to their own solutions.

Unlike a doctor who finds out what’s wrong with you and then writes a prescription, most I/O psychologists want people to become their own doctors. We’re not necessarily interested in people liking each other or becoming “nice guys,” per se. Of course, it’s good if they do, but what we want is for them to deal with what has to be done in terms of business objectives.

There are many different paths that may lead to a career in psychology, and many opportunities that present themselves along the way. In my case, my passion to work as a psychologist in athletics guided my journey to create my dream job.

I always knew as a child that I loved sports and wanted my career to involve athletics. I was a dedicated high school athlete who was fortunate enough to earn an athletic scholarship to the University of North Carolina. After college, I followed my passion for sports to become a professional track-and-field athlete who competed on the international circuit for 4 years. My involvement in sports and my experience as a coach helped me understand the sports culture.

Early in my academic training, I realized that I wanted to focus on positive psychology and help individuals in their pursuit of excellence. In my studies, I was drawn to biology and the relationship between brain and behavior. Although I was primarily trained as a neuropsychologist through my formal education, I emphasized and integrated sport psychology course work into my curriculum at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and focused rotations were part of my internship and postdoctoral training. I had to be innovative in creating a training program that met formal guidelines in neuropsychology and also provided appropriate training in sport psychology. It worked out beautifully for me, as I found a career that allowed me to pursue my passion for sports and neuropsychology with a population focused on athletic achievement.

My schedule differs on a daily basis, and flexibility is an essential part of my job. For example, 2 days a week I work in an athletics setting at Purdue University, where my time is spent providing counseling and assessment services in the athletic department. As a sport psychologist, I have been trained in the applied practice of sport and performance psychology, and I work with “elite” performance issues and positive psychology applications. Another focus of sport psychology is to provide individual counseling for mental health issues and consultation services for coaches, teams and administrators.

My job often involves travel, and I frequently work with clients on weekends and in the evenings to accommodate their busy schedules. The focus of sport psychology is to use psychological interventions to enhance athletic and overall performance. The nature of athletics creates some specialized needs for athletes, who must manage and deal with rigorous practice, workout schedules, extensive travel, injuries, fatigue, high expectations and media exposure, in addition to normal stressors.

If you are interested in becoming a sport psychologist, you’ll need to establish proficiency within the field. APA’s Division 47 (Exercise and Sport Psychology) provides appropriate guidelines for establishing competency as a sport psychologist.

Pursuing my interests in neuropsychology and sport psychology has certainly been challenging, but it has taught me that if you know what you want to do, there is always a way to make it happen.

If you are interested in a career as a psychologist, you have to complete graduate school in psychology . While most graduate programs in psychology are in academic departments located in university colleges of arts and sciences, some are located in professional schools of psychology, education, business, medicine and engineering.

Take time to research your choices. The program should match your interests. Although most psychology departments offer a breadth of education in the discipline of psychology, they vary in their strengths or areas of emphasis. You need to find out what those are and match them to your graduate education interests. The areas of expertise and research interests of individual faculty members may be a guide to you in matching your career interests with a specific area of research or practice in psychology.

A graduate or professional school’s catalog, brochures and website are generally the best and most current sources of information about the nature of each graduate program and its program and admission requirements. APA’s Graduate Study in Psychology can also assist you in your research and make the process more manageable. This online tool allows you to access admissions information and criteria for over 1,500 programs in the U.S. and Canada at nearly 500 departments of psychology.

Throughout the application process, discuss your plans with an advisor or undergraduate faculty members. Apply to a number of programs that offer you a reasonable chance of acceptance. For more information, contact the APA Education Directorate at 750 First Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20002-4242 ( email / web ).

High school preparation

A strong college preparatory high school education is a good beginning for a career in psychology. High school psychology courses, whether Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or regular psychology courses, can give you an overview of the field. In addition, courses in science, math, English, history, social studies and a foreign language are important. Science and math are particularly important because they provide the necessary skills for research and analysis in college psychology courses. You can also conduct a research project in psychology, find a volunteer job where psychologists work or read about psychology in newspapers and magazines to explore the field. APA’s Monitor on Psychology ® monthly magazine is a great source of information for anyone interested in the field. Do not be misled, however, by popular stereotypes of the field. Psychology is a broad behavioral science with many applications.

Bachelor’s degree

Most undergraduate programs require a blend of science and liberal arts courses for a bachelor’s degree in psychology. The courses usually include introductory psychology, research methods and statistics. Other required courses may be in learning, personality, abnormal psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology, physiological or comparative psychology, history and systems, and tests and measurement. Typically, you will be ready to take electives in psychology by the time you are a college junior. This is a good time to make graduate school plans that so you can make wise choices about future courses and extracurricular activities during the last 2 years of college. Only about 15 percent of graduate programs in psychology require an undergraduate psychology major. However, most graduate programs require at least 18 credits of basic course work, including statistics, research methods and a lab course.

The value of the undergraduate degree

Psychology majors, whether they have gone on to careers in psychology (the majority do not) or other fields, cite courses in the principles of human behavior as especially important to life after college. The additional insight gained from these courses helps them, whether they are functioning as parents at home, managers on the job or professionals in other fields. Many bachelor’s degree holders credit their college psychology courses with teaching them how people, including themselves, learn. “I use information on learning theory every time I conduct a training session for my employees,” says a manager in a consumer products company. Above all, it is the rigorous training in the scientific method — the need to do thorough, objective research, analyze data logically and put forth the findings with clarity — that stands psychology majors in good stead as they pursue their future careers.

Graduate school

Most graduate departments make entrance decisions on a variety of factors, including test scores, GPA, course selection, recommendations and practical experience. Most departments furthermore require that you take a standard aptitude test, usually the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). Programs vary in the weight they attach to test scores. In August 2011, the GRE introduced a new scoring system. Scores now range from 130 to 170, measured in 1-point increments. Contact the psychology office at the schools to which you are applying to determine if your GRE scores will qualify you for consideration by those programs. Competition for spaces in graduate school is keen.

Master’s degree

Undergraduate course requirements for a terminal master’s degree are relatively few: usually, a background in introductory or general psychology, experimental psychology with a laboratory course and statistics. The university usually takes the undergraduate grade point average into account as well.

The top three programs for terminal master’s degrees are clinical psychology, counseling psychology and industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology. In programs such as I/O and social psychology that include a heavy emphasis on research, facility with research methods, statistics, computers and technology is important. Course work at the master’s level often also includes study in ethics, assessment, program evaluation and personality-related topics.

A master’s degree in psychology, along with preparation in the natural sciences or mathematics, is increasingly valued by doctoral programs in psychology. Data indicate that those who enter a doctoral program with a master’s degree are more apt to complete the program than those who do not have a master’s. Each doctoral program decides which credits earned at the master’s level will be accepted for transfer. Occasionally, students need to repeat some course work. Some institutions will not accept a master’s degree from any school other than their own. For these reasons, it is important to ask questions about these and other issues early in the application process.

Doctoral degree

Each graduate program determines its own entrance requirements. Some doctoral programs require applicants to have a master’s degree in psychology. More commonly, students can enter the doctoral programs with a bachelor’s degree and work directly on a doctoral degree.

Most doctoral degrees take 5–7 years to complete. Some institutions require their students to complete their doctoral studies within 10 years of admission to the institution. The sequence of education and training in a doctoral program depends on the area of the degree in psychology and the emphasis placed on research productivity for the degree and program. You will need to check on the specific requirements for the degree of interest. In addition, you must pass a comprehensive exam and write and defend a dissertation or other scholarly product.

If you want to be a professional psychologist in clinical, counseling or school psychology, you will also have to complete a 1-year internship as part of your doctoral study in these areas of practice. Accredited doctoral programs are required to provide information on their websites about the match rate of their students-to-internship placements. Some universities and professional schools offer a PsyD degree in lieu of the traditional research doctoral degree (PhD) or EdD degree. These PsyD degrees, with their emphasis on clinical psychology, are designed for students who primarily want to do clinical work exclusively.

The importance of accreditation

Accreditation is the mechanism used to ensure educational quality at the institutional and programmatic level, as appropriate. At the institutional level, there are regional and national accrediting agencies. There are six regional accrediting bodies that accredit colleges and universities in different geographic regions. National accrediting bodies accredit institutions or specific vocations. Specialized and professional accrediting bodies generally accredit at the program level. To ensure the accrediting body acts in a reputable manner, both the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) recognize — or “accredit” — the accrediting bodies.

Membership in APA requires that one’s education and training occur in a regionally accredited institution. Accreditation of programs in psychology occurs only for the specific practice-related areas of clinical, counseling and school psychology (as well as combinations of these areas). As such, most state licensing boards in psychology require, at a minimum, an applicant to have completed a program in a regionally accredited institution. Many also require graduation from an accredited program.

The APA Commission on Accreditation (CoA) is recognized by both the U.S. Department of Education and the CHEA as an accrediting body that meets their standards of recognition. The CoA accredits doctoral programs in clinical, counseling and school psychology as well as programs that combine these areas; internship programs in professional psychology; and postdoctoral residency programs in professional psychology and in specialty areas. Increasingly, employers and health services reimbursement companies require that the psychologists whom they employ or reimburse be graduates of programs in professional psychology that are accredited by the APA CoA.

If you need financial aid

You may be able to get financial aid to attend both undergraduate and graduate school. Assistance comes in different forms: fellowships, scholarships, grants or subsidies, work study programs, federal loans and teaching or research assistantships. Graduate assistantships and work study require part-time work.

In many PhD programs, financial aid packages that include tuition, some benefits and a stipend are available. Students applying to PhD programs will want to check on the availability of such packages and their eligibility for them. For those accredited programs in professional psychology (clinical, counseling and school), the program must provide information on its website about cost, financial aid, time to degree, attrition and so forth.

Students seeking financial aid for a graduate degree should get advice as early as possible. Consult with both the psychology office and the office of financial aid on your own campus and also with the office of financial aid at the school to which you are applying. Students of ethnic minority background should also contact the APA Minority Fellowship Program .

Licensure and certification

You must be licensed as a psychologist for the independent practice of psychology anywhere in the United States or Canada. Before granting you permission to take the licensing exam, the state licensing board will review your educational background. A doctoral degree does not automatically make you eligible to sit for the licensing exam; requirements vary from state to state. States require, at a minimum, that the doctorate be in psychology or a field of study “primarily psychological in nature” and that it be from a regionally accredited institution. You must also have had at least 2 years of supervised professional experience. Information about state and provincial licensing requirements may be obtained from the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB) at the following addresses: P.O. Box 3079, Peachtree City, GA 30269 or the website .

The American Psychological Association—an important resource center for psychologists and those studying to be psychologists—has worked for more than 100 years to advance psychology as a science, as a profession, and as a way to promote health and human welfare. APA is the world’s largest psychological association, with more than 150,000 members and affiliates.

Student affiliates

Undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in psychology are eligible for membership in APA as student affiliates . Student affiliates receive subscriptions to the American Psychologist ® and the Monitor on Psychology . the Monitor and covers information psychologists need to succeed in their careers, as well as extensive job listings. Student affiliates may purchase APA publications at special rates and attend the APA annual convention at a reduced registration fee.

All graduate student affiliates of APA are automatically members of the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS), created in 1988 as a voice for psychology students within the larger association. (Undergraduates can join APAGS by paying a small additional fee.) APAGS was formed by graduate students as a means of establishing communication between students and other members of the psychological community, including universities, training centers and other members of the APA governance structure, in order to advocate on students’ behalf. APAGS represents all graduate study specialties of the discipline and is run by student leaders elected by the APAGS membership. In addition to sponsoring a variety of other initiatives, APAGS sponsors programming at the APA annual convention.

Student membership in APA divisions

APA student affiliates are encouraged to apply for affiliation in one or more APA divisions . The divisions bring together psychologists of similar or specialized professional interests.

APA Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs

The APA Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs (OEMA) is a central resource clearinghouse for students of color interested in pursuing careers in psychology. OEMA offers information and materials for students who are at any stage in the psychology education pipeline. For example, students of color in community college might be interested in any one of the Psychology Education and Careers guidebooks, a series which includes a guidebook for high school students of color interested in a career in psychology. Undergraduate students of color may find the links to potential funding sources, honor societies in psychology—especially Psi Alpha Omega—and OEMA’s internship program useful. Graduate students of color and postdoctorates could benefit from information about the Jeffrey S. Tanaka Memorial Dissertation Award in Psychology; the CEMRRAT Richard M. Suinn Graduate Minority Achievement Award, which honors graduate psychology programs that demonstrate excellence in the recruitment, retention and graduation of students of color; and other career and professional development opportunities. Links to the four major ethnic minority psychological associations can also be found.

APA Minority Fellowship Program

The APA Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) provides financial support, professional development activities and guidance to promising doctoral students and postdoctoral trainees, with the goal of moving them toward high achievement in areas related to ethnic minority behavioral health services.

The Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Fellowship provides fellows with financial support; professional development; mentoring; potential support for tuition, health insurance and the dissertation; internship application assistance; and lifetime access to the MFP network. Predoctoral fellowships support training for doctoral students in clinical, counseling, school or related psychology programs that prepare them to provide behavioral health services or develop policy for ethnic minority populations. Postdoctoral fellowships support the training of early career doctoral recipients who have primary interests in the delivery of behavioral health services or policy related to the psychological wellbeing of ethnic minorities.

The MFP also sponsors the Psychology Summer Institute, a week-long intensive training for advanced doctoral students and early career psychologists that provides mentoring and career development to assist participants in developing projects on ethnic minority issues.

Publications

APA publishes about 60 peer-reviewed journals and more than 800 books in the major interest areas in psychology. APA also produces several electronic databases —APA PsycInfo ® , APA PsycArticles ® , APA PsycBooks ® , APA PsycExtra ® , APA PsycCritiques ® , APA PsycTests ® and APA PsycTherapy. APA PsycInfo contains abstracts of the psychological literature from 1887 to present. APA PsycArticles and APA PsycBooks contain the full text of journals and books published by APA and allied organizations from the mid-1800s to the present.

APA produces two magazines: the Monitor on Psychology , sent to all members (including student affiliates) 11 times a year. The Monitor provides information on the science and practice of psychology and how psychology influences society at large; it also provides extensive job listings.

To help individuals negotiate the sequence of activities involved in becoming a psychology student and a psychologist, APA has developed a line of books for undergraduate and graduate students as well as those who are just now planning to go to college.

"Psychology as a Major: Is It Right for Me and What Can I Do With My Degree?" offers a comprehensive picture of psychology and its subfields and helps prospective and current students better understand themselves and their motivations for pursuing study in the field. "Career Paths in Psychology: Where Your Degree Can Take You" (2nd ed.) offers psychologists’ perspectives on 19 different graduate-level careers in psychology. Undergraduates gain a competitive edge by reading "The Insider’s Guide to the Psychology Major: Everything You Need to Know About the Degree and Profession," which, like a good mentor, motivates and empowers them with information and interactive tools to proactively chart their educational careers and increase their chances of success. "What Psychology Majors Could (and Should) Be Doing: An Informal Guide to Research Experience and Professional Skills" zeroes in on strategies for actively participating in research and the real world of psychology, so that undergraduates can distinguish themselves in the realms of graduate school and the workforce. "Your Practicum in Psychology: A Guide for Maximizing Knowledge and Competence" prepares undergraduate students for field placement in mental health settings by providing a wide range of both practical and theoretical information.

For psychology students who do not have graduate school in their immediate plans, "Finding Jobs With a Psychology Bachelor’s Degree: Expert Advice for Launching Your Career" shows how to leverage their bachelor’s degree to find a career with intellectual, emotional and perhaps even financial rewards.

Students interested in graduate school find that "Getting In: A Step-by-Step Plan for Gaining Admission to Graduate School in Psychology" helps to guide their decision making, structure the application process and maximize their chances of being accepted and getting financial aid. Graduate Study Online complements "Getting In" by summarizing programs of study in psychology, requirements for admission for each program, deadlines for applications and other relevant details about specific programs in the United States and Canada. "Applying to Graduate School in Psychology" inspires readers to home in on their program choices. Through personal accounts from both peer and expert perspectives, it illustrates the ins and outs of applying and preparing for the graduate school experience and the commonalities and differences among student experiences from a variety of academic institutions and programs.

"Surviving Graduate School in Psychology: A Pocket Mentor" helps students master the complexities of graduate school life (such as managing money, maintaining personal and professional relationships, and navigating departmental politics) as they transition from student to psychologist.

International students considering studying psychology in the United States will find resources tailored to their needs in "Studying Psychology in the United States: Expert Guidance for International Students." It weighs the pros and cons of studying psychology in the United States and provides direction on finding university resources geared toward international students, financing one’s education, handling visa and work permit matters, cultural considerations, mentoring relationships, academic development, internships and training, and whether to pursue employment in the United States or abroad.

The "Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Concise Rules of APA Style," and "Mastering APA Style: Student’s Workbook and Training Guide" help both undergraduate and graduate students with their class papers and, for those who go on to graduate school, prepare them to submit articles to psychology journals. The "Publication Manual" is often required reading for students in psychology and many of the other social sciences. Spanish-language versions of each of these essential books are available. Undergraduate students will find detailed, step-by-step help with writing papers in " Undergraduate Writing in Psychology: Learning to Tell the Scientific Story ," including such topics as how to craft a research question or thesis; how to search, analyze and synthesize the relevant literature; how to draft specific parts of the paper; how to revise; and how instructors gauge the quality of a paper.

Additional resources to help both undergraduate and graduate students include "Presenting Your Findings: A Practical Guide for Creating Tables" (English and Spanish versions) and "Displaying Your Findings: A Practical Guide for Creating Figures, Posters, and Presentations."

"Reading and Understanding Multivariate Statistics" helps graduate students understand the scientific articles they will be required to read as a major part of their training. Because these books clearly explain which multivariate statistics are most appropriate for which kinds of research questions, they also help prepare students for graduate statistics courses and for eventually conducting their own research.

"Finish Your Dissertation Once and for All!" combines psychological support with a project management approach to equip students to overcome negative thoughts, feelings and behaviors; to work effectively with dissertation chairpersons and committees; and to practice self-care on the dissertation journey.

Research has shown that students who are mentored enjoy many benefits, including better training, greater career success and a stronger professional identity. "Getting Mentored in Graduate School" advises students on how to find a mentor and get the most out of that relationship.

Doctoral-level students will find " Internships in Psychology: The APAGS Workbook for Writing Successful Applications and Finding the Right Match " an invaluable guide to successfully navigating the internship application process. Helpful checklists, sample real-life application materials and realistic advice for writing cover letters are included.

Finally, The Compleat Academic: A Career Guide" provides sage advice to future psychologists and young psychologists in academia by passing along some of the “tacit knowledge” that can make the difference between success and failure in a new career.

Many public and university libraries carry these books. You can also order them or other books from APA’s extensive catalog by calling (800) 374-2721 or (in Washington, D.C.) call (202) 336-5510. Books may also be ordered by email .

APA’s Center for Workforce Studies

APA’s Center for Workforce Studies (CWS) collects, analyzes and disseminates information relevant to psychology’s workforce and education system. CWS provides data on salaries, employment, sources of support and debt, and other topics of interest to those pursuing a career in psychology.

APA on the Internet

APA's website contains information for psychologists, psychology students, the media and the general public, including a searchable resource listing of grants and scholarships.

APA’s online career center

PsycCareers , APA’s online career resource, provides up-to-date career information and job listings for psychologists. PsycCareers offers in-depth career services and tips on professional development, interviews, and job searching. There are jobs listed for every career stage, including fellowship, internship, early career, and experienced levels, as well as in a wide range of psychology disciplines. Both full-time and part-time opportunities in practice, at world-renowned institutions and with industry leaders are available on the site.

Job seekers benefit from PsycCareer’s membership in the National Healthcare Career Network, which offers additional postings from numerous other job boards, including those from the American Hospital Association, the National Association of Social Workers, and various APA-affiliated state-level psychological associations. Not only do candidates have the ability to search through and apply to jobs directly on the site, but they can also upload resumes so that employers can locate them as well. These benefits are free to those who create an account. PsycCareers can easily be found from any page on APA.org by clicking on the Careers heading.

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Where Do Psychologists Work?

FAQ About Employment Statistics, Schedules, Pay Rates, and Outlook

• Employment Statistics
• Where Psychologists Work

Work Schedules Can Vary

• Job Outlook

Psychology careers are diverse and highly varied. Psychologists work in many settings, including hospitals, schools, governments, and private practices. If you want to become a psychologist, it's important to learn more about where you might work, what you'll do, and how much you might earn.

So exactly where do psychologists work? According to the American Psychological Association, you can find psychologists working in:

• Research laboratories
• Universities
• Community health centers
• Corporate offices

At a Glance

Where psychologists work and what they do depends on a lot of factors, including their job title and duties. Some work as therapists in mental health settings. Others perform research or work in real-world settings to help solve practical problems that affect people's daily lives. Let's take a closer look at some statistics, salary information, and job outlook to get a better idea of where psychologists and therapists work and what they do.

Statistics on Where Psychologists Work

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, psychologists held 196,000 jobs in 2022. Of these professionals:

• 67,500 were clinical and counseling psychologists
• 62,200 were school psychologists
• 56,300 were other types of psychologists
• 10,100 were industrial-organizational psychologists

So where exactly do all of these psychologists work? The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports:

• 28% are self-employed
• 27% work in elementary and secondary schools
• 21% work in ambulatory healthcare services 
• 8% work in government
• 4% work for state, local, and private hospitals

Many psychologists and therapists work independently in research or working with clients to treat mental health conditions. Others work in more collaborative settings. They make up part of a therapeutic team and work alongside physicians, psychiatrists , social workers , and other healthcare professionals.

Places Where Psychologists Work

Common employment settings for psychologists and therapists include:

• Mental health clinics
• Hospitals and physician offices
• Private clinics
• Prisons and correctional facilities
• Government agencies
• Schools, colleges, and universities
• Veterans hospitals
• Non-profit agencies
• Independent practice

Educational Settings

As of 2022, an estimated 27% of psychologists work in elementary and secondary school settings.  Some psychologists may work in teaching positions, but others may serve as counselors or other educational positions.

Educational institutions often employ psychologists in positions other than teaching, like counseling, testing, research, curriculum design, and administration.

School psychologists , for example, work in elementary and secondary schools to help kids with social, behavioral, emotional, and academic challenges.

In addition to the previously mentioned jobs, many psychologists hold faculty positions at colleges and universities.

While educational requirements vary depending on the specific job role, most psychologists who work in educational settings have a minimum of a master's degree. Some positions may require a specialist degree in an area such as school psychology, counseling, or educational psychology.

Government Settings

Approximately 8% of psychologists work for government agencies. The government often employs psychologists to work in public hospitals, clinics, correctional facilities, and other settings.

While many positions in this employment area require a master's or doctorate, some positions may be available with a bachelor's degree .

Healthcare Settings

Around 21% are employed by ambulatory healthcare services, and another 4% work in state, local, and private hospitals. Ambulatory care services refer to those that provide mental health services on an outpatient basis.

Those who work in health care often work for:

• Mental health practitioners
• Outpatient mental health
• Substance abuse centers
• Private hospitals

Some entry-level positions are available with a bachelor's degree, but most advanced positions will require at least a master's level or doctorate degree.

After several years of experience, some psychologists, usually those with doctoral degrees , can enter private practice or set up private research or consulting firms.

Other Settings

Psychologists are also employed in several other areas:

• Many psychologists work in research positions in various subfields of psychology .
• Some additional areas of employment include positions in industrial-organizational psychology and human-factors psychology .
• Other psychologists work in business as managers, consultants, and marketing researchers.
• Some religious organizations also employ psychologists.

A psychologist's work schedule depends largely upon the specialty area in which they work and who employs them. Those who work in school, business, government, or healthcare settings often work full-time each week during normal business hours.

Those who are self-employed or work for outpatient clinics may find that their work hours are less regular. They can often set their own schedules, but they may also find themselves having to work evenings or weekends in order to accommodate clients or deal with client emergencies.

Where psychologists work can have an impact on things like stress , job satisfaction, and burnout . For example, those who work in healthcare settings may experience more workplace stress and be at a higher risk for burnout.

Salaries Based on Where Psychologists Work

The median salary for all psychologists in 2022 was $85,330, which translates to $41.02 per hour. Median salaries for specific jobs include:

• Clinical and counseling psychologists: $90,130
• School psychologists: $81,500
• Industrial-organizational psychologist - $139,280
• All other psychologists: $106,420
• Psychologists working in government: $106,690
• Psychologists working in hospitals: $101,030
• Psychologists working in ambulatory healthcare services: $92,170
• Psychologists working in elementary and secondary schools: $81,620

Job Outlook for Psychologists and Therapists

Employment for psychologists overall is predicted to grow 6% from 2022 to 2032. The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that this is faster than the average outlook for most other careers.

For clinical and counseling psychologists, the estimated growth is 11%. The growing need for mental health services, as well as an aging population, may help drive the demand for psychologists to increase in the coming years.

What This Means For You

Psychology is a diverse field, which explains why psychologists and therapists work in many different settings. If you are interested in the field of psychology, it is essential to consider where you plan to work once you enter the job field. Employment setting may influence how much you earn, your work schedule, and the type of work you will be doing.

American Psychological Association. Careers in psychology: Introduction .

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Psychologists . Occupational Outlook Handbook .

Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care. Defining ambulatory care .

Williams AM, Reed B, Self MM, Robiner WN, Ward WL. Psychologists' practices, stressors, and wellness in academic health centers .  J Clin Psychol Med Settings . 2020;27(4):818-829. doi:10.1007/s10880-019-09678-4

Bureau of Labor Statistics. Psychologists: Pay . Occupational Outlook Handbook .

Bureau of Labor Statistics. Psychologists: Job outlook . Occupational Outlook Handbook .

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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How Many Hours a Week Does a Psychologist Work?

While hours among psychologists employed in different fields can vary greatly, the American Psychological Association Research Office reports that the average psychologist works 35 hours per week. Psychologists work in many environments, including clinics, universities, businesses and private offices.

Psychologists employed by businesses and universities often work regular daytime hours, although those in academia sometimes teach weekend and evening classes. Those employed at the university level may also have to spend time on administrative duties in addition to teaching classes and performing research. Psychologists who run their own private practices must often work evenings and weekends to better accommodate clients. Psychologists’ hourly wages can vary greatly, from around $20 per hour on the low end to over $60 per hour on the high end.

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Dr. Rand Walker is the co-founder (along Dr. Tim Rehnberg) of Educational & Psychological Services (EPS) which was established in 1993. Dr. Walker has taught at both regional universities as clinical faculty and published in the areas of anxiety and advanced techniques in psychotherapy (including chapters in the Encyclopedia of Psychotherapy). Although all of the clinical staff are generalists (i.e. qualified to treat a broad range of issues and disorders) he has established a notable reputation for anxiety disorders as well as childhood disorders. He has a doctorate from the California School of Professional Psychology (now Alliant International University), a post-doctoral fellowship from Washington State University, and formal post-doctoral training in school psychology from the University of Idaho. Dr. Walker also founded the University of Idaho Child and Youth Study Center that provides assessments and consultations for children (at the Center of Disabilities and Human Development). He is also a musician playing guitar and singing with his group "Jon and Rand and Band."

Stephen A. Bergdahl, Ph.D.

Stephen Bergdahl, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist who provides psychotherapy in addition to a wide variety of educational and neurocognitive assessment services. He earned a Ph.D. and M.A. through the California School of Professional Psychology in Fresno, CA and published a dissertation titled The Mediating Effects of Spirituality Between Negative Life Events and Trauma-Based Symptoms, and he is published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress. Prior to professional psychological studies and practice, Dr. Bergdahl served for five years as a high school teacher in the biological sciences, including a pioneer neuroscience high school course. In addition to expertise in the psychological realm, Dr. Bergdahl is familiar with the education system and its demands for social, emotional, and learning disability assessment and support. He has a background in neurobiology from the University of California, Davis, and his current practice is informed by brain-based neurological research. Overall, he possesses a unique set of skills that make him effective as a psychotherapy and assessment clinician.

Angela Stone, Psy.D.

Angela holds a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Central Michigan University. Both her graduate school program and her predoctoral internship site were accredited by the American Psychological Association. Her primary approach is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, but she is also trained in and implements additional treatment modalities, which incorporate best practices and focus on the best outcome for each client. She specializes in treating an array of anxiety disorders, depression, trauma, grief, and relationship issues. Dr. Stone has worked in both inpatient and outpatient settings since 1994 and works primarily with adults and adolescents who are 15 years of age and above. Angela believes in working in partnership with clients, utilizing their strengths to help them understand their challenges and achieve their goals.

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Glenn Vaughn is a licensed clinical professional counselor. His undergraduate work was done at Westmont College, a private Christian liberal arts school in California. Post graduate work was through the University of Idaho and he is licensed in the State of Idaho. Mr. Vaughn considers himself a general practitioner with particular interests in couples counseling, EMDR, depression and anxiety. The ages of his clients range from seventeen to seventy-one years.

David Wait, M.D.

Dr. David Wait was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and is a graduate of Augustana College. He obtained his medical degree at the University of South Dakota School of Medicine. His residency was at the Psychiatric Research Institute and its affiliated University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. David has over 30 years&#39; experience in psychiatry, with special interest in strengths and wellness-based treatment. He brings a valuable combination of extensive expertise and empathy in a practice that instills hope to people with mental health challenges while maximizing their strengths and personal growth. His approach is to empower patients to make and practice choices that lead to improved health and well-being, using an integrative model that recognizes that mental, physical, social, and spiritual health are one. Following residency training, Dr. Wait continued to work in research and program development as projects director for the Arkansas Mental Health Research and Training Institute, focusing on developing, researching, implementing, and then teaching novel strengths focused care for people with mental illness for the first 12 years of his career. Following this, Dr. Wait moved with his wife and 3 children to beautiful Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. He has been in clinical practice and leadership roles in the area since. In this work, Dr. Wait successfully helped people from all walks of life with a diverse range of emotional, psychiatric, and substance abuse challenges. Dr. Wait is board certified as a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He is licensed to practice medicine in Idaho and Washington.

Heather Lannigan, LCSW 

Heather Lannigan is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in both Idaho and Washington. She received her undergraduate degree at Washington State University and her Graduate degree from Eastern Washington University. Heather enjoys providing mental health counseling to people of all ages across their life span. While her primary therapy approach is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, she is also trained in other treatment modalities which help to aid people in their overall treatment goals. Living on the Palouse for the last 25 years has allowed Heather to raise her family and enjoy all this region has to offer. 

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Abigail Lawton is a counselor focused on working with children and adolescents. She earned her Master of Education degree through Montana State University and then pursued a Master of Education Specialist degree through Eastern Washington University. Before professional psychological practice, Abigail was a school counselor and school psychologist and is very familiar with the education system. Abigail is passionate about educating youth on mental health and aiding them in developing the skills they need for success.  

Fidget is a Labradoodle, bred and trained as a therapy dog to determine when and how she is needed. Her breeding combines the intelligence of a Poodle and the playful relational orientation of a Labrador Retriever. Her training, which began immediately after she was born, continued with consistent work by the breeder and one primary trainer, continuing on into the home and care of Glenn Vaughn and his wife, Karen. Fidget can typically be found at EPS with Glenn on Wednesdays and Thursdays, using her instincts to know whether she is needed or can just rest calmly. While she is an intuitive, gentle therapy dog, Fidget will always be accompanied by a therapist (most often Glenn) while in your company, at least until you get acquainted. If you have any thoughts or questions, please let us know. Fidget does not have to be in the room with you during therapy; other arrangements can be made during your session, and no feelings will be hurt. Fidget's role at EPS is that of a therapy dog, attuned to sense when she can provide assurance, companionship, and care.

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More From Forbes

‘fauxductivity’: your boss might fake it more than you, new survey finds.

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New research shows that your boss might be faking productivity more than you are.

You’ve probably heard the popular phrase, “Dance like nobody’s watching,” but the opposite trend has gained momentum in the U.S. workplace. Threats of layoffs, the rise of surveillance tools and concerns over the effectiveness of remote work have led to “productivity theater” and “the mouse shuffle, ” in which employees work like their employers are watching.

‘Work Like Everybody’s Watching’

Last year Visier surveyed 1,000 U.S. based full-time employees to better understand their need to “play productive” and the factors that drive decision-making in the workplace. They found that when businesses pressure employees to perform, workers react by prioritizing tasks that make them appear productive and visible to management instead of impactful work.

This troubling pattern has emerged because employees feel pressured to “look busy” instead of “being busy.” They want to prove they’re working by constantly moving their mouse, appearing online by keeping their laptop screen awake or prioritizing tasks that make them appear productive and visible to their organization as opposed to actually working. On the surface, this pattern might not seem harmful, but continuing to take on “visible” tasks for the sake of appearing productive is a productivity killer that threats a company’s efficiency and bottom line.

Even more troubling is a study by BambooHR in June of this year that reveals productivity theater is still alive and well in the 2024 workplace. The results show that visibility is more important than actual productivity. Over 79% of in-office employees and 88% of remote workers say they must use performative tactics to show they’re working. In that study, a quarter of executives actually admitted they hoped for employee turnover when implementing recent return-to-office policies.

‘Fauxductivity’: A Toxic Culture Of Performative Work

Even more shocking, a new study from Workhuman uncovers what they call “fauxductivity”—or fake productivity, highlighting how misaligned perceptions and top-down pressures are creating a toxic culture of performative work.

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According to their findings, the majority of employees (67%) deny faking activity. But almost half of managers (48%) say it’s a common issue on their team. The biggest head scratcher, though, is that it’s happening among managers and the C-suite executives at higher rates. Additional key findings include:

• 37% of managers and 38% of C-suite executives admit to faking activity, versus just 32% of individual contributors, higher than the 33% average of all respondents and 32% of non-managers.
• Top reasons for faking productivity across the board include better work-life balance, appeasing management and burnout.
• Of the managers who admit to faking activity, 69% say faking activity is a common issue on their team versus 37% of managers who do not fake activity.
• Over 50% of respondents feel pressured to respond immediately to messages and be available for after-hours meetings.
• 54% of disengaged employees report they do the bare minimum to get through the day.

What’s behind “fauxductivity”? The majority of managers blame either distractions (56%) or burnout/low well-being (53%) for faking, and 40% cite personal responsibilities while 33% say it’s laziness. The managers who admit faking productivity say it was a desire for work-life balance, to appease management or burnout.

A Final Word: Addressing Psychological Safety

“Productivity anxiety”—the feeling employees have that they must be “always on” and that there’s always more they should be doing—is pervasive in the workplace in this country. Over 50% of respondents report they’re expected to immediately respond to all Slacks, messages or emails, and 52% say they’re expected to be flexible with their working hours to accommodate after-hours meetings.

A previous Workhuman analysis found that 61% of U.S. workers say they’re productive at work, but it comes at a cost. A total of 80% report they have “productivity anxiety” and over one-third have it multiple times a week. Obviously, this strain impacts individual workers and permeates team dynamics—ultimately shaping the culture and bottom line of an entire organization, according to Meisha-ann Martin, senior director of people analytics and research at Workhuman.

Martin believes it’s essential to cultivate a culture of psychological safety to offset productivity anxiety and fauxductivity. “It’s an understatement to say that today’s employees are up against a lot: both professional and personal stressors, burnout, overwork and disengagement can contribute to low well-being,” she notes in the report.

The Workhuman report concludes that low productivity and fauxductivity are symptoms of poor culture, “creating a toxic cycle of performative productivity and performance anxiety.” It further suggests that the solution resides in addressing systemic cultural issues rather than scrutinizing individual workers.

“Managers especially are in the position to promote a workplace culture that allows employees to be human and say when they’re struggling—not turn to performative productivity,” Martin points out. “That means managers themselves need to resist the urge to keep up appearances and instead be vocal about when they’re taking a break. The re-energized, re-committed people that return to work after recharging will achieve better outcomes and better well-being than those who stay quiet and stay online.”

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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK

Laboratory Coordinator

• Pathology and Cell Biology
• Columbia University Medical Center
• Opening on: Sep 14 2024
• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Standard Work Schedule:
• Salary Range: $63,700- $80,000
• Hours Per Week:

Position Summary

The CUIMC Personalized Genomic Medicine has a position opening for a dynamic individual with significant understanding of molecular biology/technology who is able to work in a fast-paced high-volume environment. The individual will perform complex laboratory procedures in order to analyze clinical samples; this will require extensive, accurate, and efficient hands-on work. The Laboratory Coordinator will be operating, maintaining and troubleshooting complex instrumentation. Attention to detail, strict adherence to protocols, maintenance of extensive and accurate documentation is expected.

Duties will include:

1. Perform nucleic acid extraction, amplification, sequencing, Southern Blotting, RT-PCR and other technical tasks as needed. Compile, analyze and document procedures performed.

2. Operate, maintain, calibrate, and troubleshoot complex equipment. Follow-up and troubleshoot un-expected data, investigate non-conformities and notify supervisor/manager of instrument malfunctions or unexpected data.

3. Interact with physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals on issues related to testing performed by the laboratory.

4. Maintain accurate and extensive documentation in accordance with internal and external regulatory agencies.

5. Sample receiving, processing, data entry.

6. Maintain inventory, request orders as needed and verify receipt and storage.

7. Develop or assist in the development and validation of clinical assays and generate the corresponding documentation of recommendations and findings.

8. Provide technical guidance and instruction to students, and new personnel, as assigned.

9. Attend continuing education, safety and compliance training as necessary.

10. Maintain continuous and accurate communication with supervisor/manager on all pending and current issues.

Responsibilities

• Perform existing technical assays- 70%
• Validating new assays- 10%
• Troubleshooting technical problems- 10%
• Quality assurance, management, and improvement- 5%
• Perform other duties as assigned- 5%

Minimum Qualifications

• Requires a bachelor's degree or equivalent in education and experience, plus three years of related experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Requires strong communication skills, both written and oral.
• Should be able to perform efficiently in a fast-paced environment and meet strict deadlines.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office and similar software programs.
• Experience with Southern Blotting, RT-PCR, microarray analysis and DNA sequencing and analysis.
• Master's degree in biology/ related field or a Bachelor's degree in biology/ related field plus 4 years of related experience.

Other Requirements

• The candidate must be Licensed or License eligible to practice as a Clinical Laboratory Technologist/Technician according to New York State licensure requirements. Continued employment will require obtaining a limited permit or a license within 3 months. Experience in morphological identification of tumor, light microscopy, histology and microdissection is preferred. Related experience in a clinical laboratory, or in a laboratory with a molecular or genomics focus is preferred. Should be available to attend out-of-lab discussions and presentations, and must work well in a group environment. Requires strong communication skills, both written and oral.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.

Commitment to Diversity 

Columbia university is dedicated to increasing diversity in its workforce, its student body, and its educational programs. achieving continued academic excellence and creating a vibrant university community require nothing less. in fulfilling its mission to advance diversity at the university, columbia seeks to hire, retain, and promote exceptionally talented individuals from diverse backgrounds.  , share this job.

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