Photo: Biswarup Ganguly (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Job description
Beyond delivering lectures on topics such as cognitive processes or work motivation, the job includes building course materials from scratch (syllabi, assignments, exams) and then grading the work that comes back. Professors also lead classroom discussion, which means thinking on their feet as much as presenting prepared material. Staying current matters too, so much of the time outside class goes to reading new research, attending conferences, and talking shop with colleagues. Many split their time between teaching and running their own research program rather than teaching exclusively.
Pros
- High upside earning potential, up to $154k
- Faster than average projected growth (3.6%)
- Considerable independent judgment over course and research direction
Cons
- Requires a PhD in psychology, a long and competitive path to the classroom
- Above-average hours, often exceeding a standard 40-hour work week
- Entry-level pay starts around $49k despite the doctoral requirement
A typical day
The 9am intro lecture covers classical conditioning for 150 students, built around a live demonstration because the professor knows attention data better than most. Office hours follow: a student wants into the professor's research lab, another needs help interpreting their exam performance. The afternoon belongs to research — running participants through a memory study, mentoring a graduate student's dissertation analysis, revising a manuscript for the third time at a journal's request. A department colloquium at 4pm brings an outside speaker and the sharp Q&A academics consider recreation. Evenings often hold grading and reviewing others' journal submissions, the field's unpaid civic duty.
Tasks at the job
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as abnormal psychology, cognitive processes, and work motivation.
- Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, laboratory work, assignments, and papers.
- Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
- Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
- Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
Workplace & working conditions
Work happens indoors in a climate-controlled setting, and most of the day is spent sitting at a desk.
There's a regular, moderate amount of time pressure, and you're expected to exercise significant independent judgment day to day. The work is highly structured, following set procedures.
Education necessary or common
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in psychology
Common college majors
Career path
Related fields
Courses to take
- AP Psychology — the field itself, previewed
- AP Statistics — psychology research runs on it
- AP Biology — behavioral neuroscience foundations
- AP English Language — an academic career is a writing career
- Computer Science — modern labs analyze data in R or Python
Clubs, activities & competitions
- Psychology club
- Science fair with a behavioral research project
- Tutoring — teaching practice starts now
- Science Olympiad
First steps you can take now
- Design and run an ethical mini-study (reaction times, memory) and write it up in journal format
- Email a psychology professor and ask about their path and their lab
- Read one real journal article and one pop-psych article on the same topic; note the differences
- Look up what a psychology PhD involves: 5-6 funded years, research-first
