Skills
Psychology Professor Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in psychology professors, and how to build and show them.
What skills do psychology professors need?
Psychology Professors need technical skills such as psychological science, research methods, and statistics, plus people skills like mentoring and communication. They also use tools such as Survey platforms and SPSS and R.
Technical (hard) skills
- Psychological science
- Research methods
- Statistics
- Experiment design
- Research ethics
- Curriculum design
People (soft) skills
- Mentoring
- Communication
- Empathy
- Organization
Tools, equipment and technology
- Survey platforms
- SPSS and R
- Experiment software
- Learning management systems
- Eye trackers or EEG
- Presentation tools
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how psychology professors put their skills to work:
- How to teach research methods with a class study
- How to submit an IRB protocol
- How to run a student research lab
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Psychological science” and “Research methods.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “mentoring,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as Ph.D. in psychology near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our psychology professor glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Psychology Professor training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.