The skillful psychology student: How to empower students with workforce-ready skills by teaching psychology

By Karen Z. Naufel, PhD, Stacie M. Spencer, PhD, Drew C. Appleby, PhD, Aaron S. Richmond, PhD,  Jerry Rudmann, PhD, Jaye Van Kirk, MA, Jason Young, PhD, Bernardo J. Carducci, PhD, and Paul Hettich, PhD

“You can’t do anything with an undergraduate degree in psychology.”
“None of my friends who majored in psychology are using their psychology degrees."

These comments highlight a ubiquitous problem that students encounter: It’s not always clear how psychology relates to career skills. However, undergraduate coursework in psychology can equip students with a skillset that employers across occupations seek. Instructors can further help students translate their psychological knowledge into occupational skills by teaching content related to these skills. The Skillful Psychology Student Working Group aims to help instructors with this endeavor.

Convened by the APA Committee on Associate and Baccalaureate Education, this working group identified what workforce-ready skills an undergraduate-level psychology curriculum could provide. We searched for jobs in Indeed.com that featured the attributes of a psychology major (e.g., careful, skeptical) listed in the "Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major: Version 2.0" (APA, 2013). Additionally, we identified seven evidence-informed lists of skills desired by employers. Collectively, these sources represent hiring information from LinkedIn, an analysis of data in the Occupation Information Network, and domestic and global surveys of employers. A set of five skill domains with a total of seventeen skills emerged:

• Cognitive: analytical thinking; critical thinking; creativity; information management; judgment and decision making.
• Communication: oral communication; written communication.
• Personal: adaptability; integrity; self-regulation.
• Social: collaboration; inclusivity; leadership; management; service orientation.
• Technological: flexibility/adaptability to new systems; familiarity with hardware and software.

A complete list of skill domains with corresponding skills and examples of terms used in job descriptions is provided in The Skillful Psychology Student: Prepared for Success in the 21st Century Workplace (PDF, 40KB).

This list provides insight for how psychology prepares undergraduate students for employment. Yet, these skills are only useful to the extent that students acquire them, implement them and connect them to workforce skills. Psychology instructors can facilitate this process with the following steps:

• Teach skill-related content. Psychology instructors have the unique opportunity to teach the fundamental knowledge related to these skills in their courses. For instance, social psychology instructors may teach content related to group behaviors, such as groupthink and ways to overcome it. Similarly, a cognitive psychology instructor may teach content related to enhancing problem-solving skills. The fundamental content pertaining to work-related skills can therefore be included across a psychology curriculum.
• Offer opportunities for application. Students need the opportunity to apply these skills. These opportunities can come in the form of assignments that explicitly connect content to experiences. For example, the social psychology instructor who discusses group processes may assign a team-based project in which students have to document how they mitigated groupthink.
  
  Opportunities for application may also implicitly relate to these workforce skills. For example, instructors may incorporate policies into their syllabus that require students to exercise these skills. Deadlines may promote self-regulation, diversity statements may promote inclusivity, and academic honesty policies may promote integrity.
  
  Additionally, an instructor may implicitly promote skills through assignments. For instance, an instructor may assign statistics homework to be done with two statistical software programs to teach students how to interpret data. As a bonus, students are practicing flexibility when using new technological systems.
• Connect the dots. Students may not realize that the knowledge and skills gained in psychology courses and through co-curricular and extracurricular activities apply to life after college. Thus, it is important for teachers to help students make these connections. Three simple, powerful ways to do this are:

Instructors can teach skill-related concepts, provide opportunities for application, and/or help students make connections in individual courses. Or, these steps can occur throughout the curriculum to reinforce the value of psychology in the workplace. Either approach will clarify for students the ways in which psychology courses provide the skills needed to succeed in the workforce.

About the authors

Karen Z. Naufel, PhD, is a professor and undergraduate curriculum coordinator at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. Her research interests are in the domain of applied social cognition. She also has strong interests in the ethics of research, increasing public understanding of psychological science, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. She loves teaching everything from introductory psychology to psychology of evil. At the graduate level, she enjoys teaching research design and seminar in teaching psychology. Her accomplishments in teaching have been recognized at the university level, with the 2014-15 Award for Excellence in Instruction, and nationally, with the 2010 Jane S. Halonen Early Career Teaching Award from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology.

Stacie M. Spencer, PhD, is professor of health psychology at MCPHS University (formerly known as Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences) and the director of the BS in health psychology program. She received her BA in psychology from Allegheny College and her PhD in experimental social and personality psychology from Northeastern University. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in behavioral medicine at the University of Miami and a post-doctoral fellowship in psycho-oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. Spencer’s research focus is on professional development and interprofessional education. She is recipient of the 2006 MCPHS Trustees’ Award for Teaching Excellence.

Drew Appleby, PhD, earned his BA from Simpson College in 1969 and his PhD from Iowa State University in 1972. He chaired Marian University’s psychology department, was the director of Undergraduate Studies in the Indiana University Purdue School of Science Department of Psychology (IUPUI), and served as the associate dean of the IUPUI Honors College. He used his research on teaching, learning, advising and mentoring to help students develop academic competence and achieve their career aspirations. He published over 200 books and articles; made over 600 professional presentations (including 29 invited keynote addresses); received 44 institutional, regional and national awards for teaching, advising, mentoring and service; and was honored for his contributions to psychology by being named a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the 30th distinguished member of Psi Chi. Over 300 of his students earned graduate degrees in a wide variety of professional fields, and he was designated as a mentor by 777 IUPUI psychology majors, 222 of whom indicated he was their most influential mentor by selecting the following sentence to describe his impact: “This professor influenced the whole course of my life and his effect on me has been invaluable.” Appleby retired from IUPUI with the rank of professor emeritus in 2011.

Aaron S. Richmond, PhD, is a professor of educational psychology and human development at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Richmond is a passionate teacher and approaches teaching by focusing on model teaching skills, such as, engaging students, being caring, respectful and prepared. As a result of his approach and dedication to teaching, Richmond has garnered several awards for excellence in teaching and mentoring including the Psi Chi Excellence in Teaching Award and the Society for Teaching of Psychology Jane S. Halonen Award for Excellence in Teaching. Additionally, in more than 75 peer reviewed journal articles, books and book chapters Richmond has explored effective pedagogical approaches to instruction in both k-12 and higher education. He specifically investigates cognitive and elaborative processes, model teaching competencies, the efficacy of instructional strategies, and various other topics in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Furthermore, as evident by publishing and presenting research with over 25 undergraduate and graduate students, Richmond strongly believes in mentoring students through the research process in hopes to help shape future leaders in psychology and SoTL research.

Jerry Rudmann, PhD, is professor emeritus of psychology at Irvine Valley College. Jerry’s career experience includes human factor engineering for Rockwell International (7 years), director of institutional research at Coastline College (7 years), Executive Director of Psi Beta (13 years) and teaching psychology fulltime (35 years). Rudmann has served on many of APA’s Board of Educational Affairs task forces.

Jaye Van Kirk, MA, is a lifelong learner earning a BA in psychology (San Francisco State University), MA in experimental psychology (CSU Fullerton), ABD in psychobiology (Ohio State University) and MA in Zoology (Miami University). As a professor of psychology (San Diego Mesa College) she teaches career opportunities in psychology, introduction to research methods, physiological psychology and human sexuality. Jaye was invited to participate in two national conferences sponsored by APA including the 2008 National Conference on Undergraduate Education in Psychology and the 2016 APA Summit on National Assessment of Psychology. She is currently serving on the CABE 21st Century Skills task force. She served as a civic scientist advocate for APA for Psychological research on Capitol Hill. Her honors include: Virginia Staudt Sexton Faculty Advisor Award, Asian Heritage Award (Education), SACNAS Community/Tribal College Mentor award and Weiten Teacher of the Year Award. As past national president for Psi Beta, she shares her passion for connecting students to opportunities for academic and professional development to help students successfully traverse the academic pipeline from undergraduate to graduate levels. She served as co-director of the NIH Bridges to the Baccalaureate program bridging ethnic minority scholars to opportunities to develop into the next generation of research scientists in biomedical and behavioral sciences.

Jason Young, PhD, is professor of social psychology in the department of psychology at Hunter College of the City University of New York. His research investigates the impact of emotion on judgments and decision-making, such as how news media influence fear of crime, and how math anxiety affects every day financial decisions. From 2007-2014, he served on Psi Chi’s board of directors, including the role of society president, during which major efforts were introduced to provide students with more effective tools for developing research and employment skills. More recently, he has been a member of several education-focused committees at APA to enhance not only the psychology major in general, but also the learning and occupational opportunities that we afford our graduate and undergraduate students. Recent projects he has been involved in include the APA Summit for the National Assessment of Psychology, and the booklet Top 20 Principles From Psychology for PreK-12 Teaching and Learning.

Bernardo J. Carducci, PhD, was a professor of psychology at Indiana University Southeast, where he taught classes on personality psychology and introductory psychology for the 37 years and was the director of the Indiana University Southeast Shyness Research Institute. He was a fellow of Div. 1: General Psychology, Div. 2: Teaching of Psychology, Div. 8: Personality and Social Psychology, and Div. 52: International Psychology of the American Psychological Association; past national president of the Council of Teachers of Undergraduate Psychology, founding editorial board member of the Journal of Business and Psychology, past vice president and president of the Association of United Italian Psychologists. In addition to his research interest in the study of shyness, Bernie’s professional writings related to such topics as teaching activities to enhance classroom instruction, student development and career opportunities for psychology majors have appeared in journals such as Teaching of Psychology and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in psychology and many other American Psychological Association sponsored publications on teaching. In 2015, Bernie was the first inductee into the Community College Pathway Psychologists (CCPP) Hall of Fame. Sponsored by Psi Beta, the National Honor Society in Psychology for Community and Junior Colleges, the CCPP Hall of Fame recognizes psychologists graduating from a community college or junior college who have made a significant contribution to the study of psychology.

Paul Hettich, PhD, earned degrees in psychology from Marquette University, New Mexico State University and Loyola University Chicago. He served as an Army personnel psychologist, program evaluator and applied research scientist — positions that created a “real-world” foundation for a 35-year career at Barat College (Illinois). He chaired the psychology department, served as academic dean and directed institutional research, grant writing and community college articulation. He was Barat’s first recipient of the Sears-Roebuck Foundation award for teaching excellence and campus leadership, and taught at St. Clare’s College in Oxford and the University of Stirling (Scotland). Following DePaul University’s acquisition of Barat College, he headed the psychology program and retired as professor emeritus. Hettich is a fellow in Divs. 1 (General Psychology), 2 (Teaching of Psychology) and 52 (International Psychology) of APA. He has spoken at numerous conferences, published several peer reviewed journal articles and three book chapters, coauthored three books (including "Your Undergraduate Degree in Psychology from College to Career" with R E Landrum, 2014), and writes the “Wisdom from the Workplace” column for Eye on Psi Chi. His interest in workplace readiness issues derives from alumni and employer complaints about the disconnect between university and workplace cultures and practices.