A priority of APA's Strategic Plan is to promote a broader understanding of psychology as a STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) discipline. Our goal is for psychology to be a routine part of science education and for all citizens to benefit from the knowledge and insight psychological science offers.
A diverse portfolio of programs, public education and advocacy supports APA's priority in this area.
One is APA's Psychology: Science in Action campaign, which provides a wealth of real-life examples of psychological science in daily life. Science in Action resources include videos, posters, fact sheets and stories about psychologists. The campaign demonstrates the impact of psychological science across a diversity of settings, including business, education, health, the environment and public service.
APA has also supported the public's understanding of psychology as a STEM discipline by sponsoring exhibits at all three of the USA Science and Engineering Festivals. This year's exhibit — The Science of Kids: Ask, Play, Learn! — was developed in partnership with the Living Laboratory of the Museum of Science, Bostonopens in new window (see A beneficial partnership). It featured interactive tasks used in cognitive development experiments with young children and was one of the few focusing on behavioral or social science research. Thousands of adults and children heard our message: the critical idea that human thought and behavior can be studied scientifically.
A third example of our advocacy for STEM is our Stand for Science campaign, through which psychological scientists inform their elected representatives about the importance of social and behavioral research. Ever since its start in the 1950s, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has supported research in psychological science — and there can be no doubt that NSF includes psychology among the STEM disciplines. Yet some in Congress see it differently and seek to diminish or even eliminate the social and behavioral sciences from the NSF portfolio. The Stand for Science campaign was developed in response to this threat.
As I discussed in July's Monitor on Psychology, students who complete an undergraduate degree in psychology should be recognized as having earned a degree in science. In partnership with psychology departments across the country, APA continues to advocate for colleges and universities to classify the psychology major with the proper STEM-related CIP codes.
The college psychology major plays an important role in STEM education. For many years, the U.S. Census Bureau has included psychology in its analyses and reports of STEM fields. Of particular interest is a new data visualization reportopens in new window published earlier this year by the Census Bureau. This interactive tool shows the occupations followed by students who majored in one of the STEM disciplines, including psychology.
The census report on college majors and occupations shows that fewer than half of students in computers, mathematics, statistics and engineering take jobs in STEM-related fields. Only 25 percent of physical science majors work in such fields, and fewer than 15 percent of students who major in biological, environmental and agricultural sciences work in STEM-related fields.
This is not an unusual pattern of employment for college students who complete STEM majors. Psychology is not much different. About 10 percent of psychology majors find themselves in STEM-related jobs. Psychology majors — like many students who major in the sciences — are represented in large numbers across many sectors of employment, including health care, social services and industry.
A college major in a STEM-related discipline does not necessarily translate into a job in a STEM-related field. But it does translate into a scientifically literate workforce, which is a good thing for society. Most psychology majors will not pursue jobs and careers in science-related areas. They will, however, carry the knowledge and insights of psychological science everywhere they go.
