Psychological Organizations and Graduate Programs

National and international societies the sponsor conferences and publish journals relevant to personality include:

Graduate Departments of Psychology with Personality Programs

By no means a complete list, the following universities have graduate training programs in personality research or individual differences. Two comments: some departments offer training in "psychopathology" that is almost identical to those programs that offer training in "personality".

European universities that have active research programs in individual differences include:

Graduate Programs in related fields

A much more complete list of graduate departments is available from the Social Psychology Network server managed by Scott Plous at Wesleyan University.

The US National Research Council rankings of graduate deparments of psychology are provided by Wesleyan University which also maintains a list of Social Psychology in Action.


How to apply to graduate schools

Very good advice for undergraduates interested in graduate schools is available from PSYCH WEB, a project of Russ Dewey at Georgia Southern University. Marshall Dermer offers frank advice to graduate students and their advisors. He also has offered An insider's guide to choosing a graduate advisor. Advice geared to applicants to clinical psychology graduate programs is also useful.

Most graduate schools in the United States require taking the Graduate Record Examination. Information about the Advanced GRE in Psychology is available from Kaplan, one of the groups that provide coaching on the GREs.

Being a scientist

The National Academy of Sciences offers advice on Being a Scientist:Responsible Conduct in Research.This includes discussions and examples of such problems of whom should get publication credit, the difficult relation of graduate advisors and students, and general issues in research ethics. The NAS also offers a publication and online information about careers in science.

See also the online publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) devoted to the next generation of scientists. The pages include discussion forums on problems faced by graduate students and post doctoral fellows, as well as information on job availabilities and salaries in multiple disciplines.

The Ethical Principles of the American Psychological Association should be consulted to understand how psychologists deal with human subjects, publication credit, other work related aspects of academic and professional psychology. The code "applies only to psychologists' work-related activities, that is, activities that are part of the psychologists' scientific and professional functions or that are psychological in nature. It includes the clinical or counseling practice of psychology, research, teaching, supervision of trainees, devel- opment of assessment instruments, conducting assessments, educational counseling, organizational consulting, social intervention, administration, and other activities as well. These work-related activities can be distinguished from the purely private conduct of a psychologist, which ordinarily is not within the purview of the Ethics Code."

Graduate students may consult the Graduate School Survival Guide written by a computer science student, but useful for all or advice on may be found by searching for "How to Survive in Graduate School" on . Also see the compilation of Graduate Student Resources on the Web.

Then, once you are almost finished with graduate school, you might want to think about how to get an academic job. Guidelines for the job interview (missing) are very useful.

Why people want to teach and study at research universities was discussed in a commencent speech, "In praise of the research university" by Harry Mairson at Brandeis.


Faculty at most of the schools listed above may be contacted by searching either the departmental or the university directories.