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Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary

Also called: Instructor, Professor, Psychology Instructor, Psychology Professor

What they do:

Teach courses in psychology, such as child, clinical, and developmental psychology, and psychological counseling. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.

On the job, you would:
  • 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.
On the job, you'll need:

Math and Science

  • psychology
  • sociology and anthropology

Arts and Humanities

  • English language

Education and Training

  • teaching and course design

Health

  • therapy and counseling

Basic Skills

  • using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things
  • reading work related information

Problem Solving

  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

People and Technology Systems

  • thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one
  • figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it

Verbal

  • communicate by speaking
  • communicate by writing

Ideas and Logic

  • make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information
  • use rules to solve problems

Social

People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking.

  • Achievement/Effort
  • Dependability
  • Independence
  • Persistence
  • Initiative
  • Integrity

Analytical or scientific software

  • IBM SPSS Statistics
  • The MathWorks MATLAB

Computer based training software

  • Learning management system LMS
  • Moodle

Word processing software

  • Google Docs
  • Microsoft Word

Video courtesy of CareerOneStop.

Job Outlook

The job outlook for this position is Bright.

New job opportunities are very likely in the future. This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Median Annual Salary: $78,810

Education

Doctoral degree or post-doctoral training is usually needed.

Explore More

See other careers in the Education industry.