How To Become A Professor Of Psychology: What It Is and Career Path

What is a professor of psychology and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Fabio Lanza,

Christopher Was Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a professor of psychology. For example, did you know that they make an average of $40.24 an hour? That's $83,689 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 12% and produce 159,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a professor of psychology?

Fabio Lanza

Professor, Ashford University

I tell them not to expect that they can achieve the same, old-style academic career (like mine, for example). A tenure-track job in a research university to be clear. Those jobs exist but they are becoming rarer and rarer. I also tell them that if they forecast incurring in serious (or even non-serious) debt in order to get a PhD, they should not do it. They should not pursue that path at all. In the program, they should take all the chances they have to learn new skills, including skills that don't seem directly related to an academic career.

ScoreProfessor Of PsychologyUS Average

Salary

6.5

Avg. Salary $83,689

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.4

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.28%

Asian 11.31%

Black or African American 7.06%

Hispanic or Latino 10.07%

Unknown 4.92%

White 66.36%

Gender

female 61.57%

male 38.43%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

5.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a professor of psychology

Explore professor of psychology education requirements

Most common professor of psychology degrees

Bachelor's

46.0 %

Master's

32.6 %

Doctorate

16.3 %

Start to develop specific professor of psychology skills

Skills	Percentages
Philosophy	12.55%
Developmental Psychology	8.28%
Clinical Psychology	7.28%
Course Curriculum	7.09%
Organizational Psychology	6.20%

Complete relevant professor of psychology training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New professors of psychology learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a professor of psychology based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real professor of psychology resumes.

Research professor of psychology duties and responsibilities

Used blackboard online to manage students tests, grade papers and assign materials.
Educate students in the general principles of grammar, spelling, and sentence and paragraph structure.
Instruct college freshmen through college seniors in a variety of courses including literature, grammar, and composition.
Experiment with different surface chemistry to improve quality of yields -participate in poster session and presentation to faculty and graduate students.

Prepare your professor of psychology resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your professor of psychology resume.

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