Best Master's Degrees in Social Psychology

Obviously, people who are interested in social psychology will often major in psychology during undergraduate school. However, education and health sciences are also popular undergraduate degrees for social psychology. Students with a major in other fields can rest assured that they can still have a productive graduate and postgraduate career in social psychology. Most psychology departments accept graduate students with all types of bachelors degrees, provided that the students complete any necessary prerequisites.

The benefit of earning a bachelor's degree in psychology before getting your master's is that you will already be familiar with statistical methods, experiment design, foundations of psychology, personality theory, and other building blocks of study in psychology. Taking prerequisite courses in graduate school may delay graduation to some extent, but the benefit of having a non-psychology background is that you bring along the unique perspectives and tools of your previous discipline.

Admissions requirements vary for social psychology master's programs, especially since so many of them are combined MA and PhD programs.

You might be relieved to hear that many programs don't require GRE or GMAT scores. However, some do, so be sure to check the admissions page on your school's website. You'll have to submit undergraduate transcripts, and a GPA of 3.0 or above is generally expected. Most reputable programs will also ask for a statement of purpose and two or three letters of recommendation. You might have to submit additional writing samples or response essays as well. Additionally, you will need to submit a resume, or CV, that details your experience and education (this is a great reason to work as an intern or research assistant during undergraduate school).

If you're interested in studying why humans behave the way they do, social psychology is a great field for you. Some of the topics you'll discover include how personality works, why peer pressure is so powerful, what causes performative behavior, and how our attitudes and ideas change in response to relationships and social influences. With your degree, you'll be equipped to teach these concepts to your own students, or perhaps become a researcher and continue to investigate social behavior. There are many jobs in social psychology that are both interesting and well-paid.

If you do want to become a researcher or professor, a master's degree is an essential step toward your career. An MA will pave the way for you to begin your doctoral studies, which are required for these jobs.

Other social psychology careers in various settings usually require at least a master's degree. There are certainly jobs for social psychologists with only a bachelor's degree, but they are neither as numerous nor as highly paid as jobs for professionals with an MA or PhD.

The methods you use to determine which program is right for you will largely depend on what you want to do after you graduate.

If you want to become a researcher or teach at the university level, you will definitely want to look for MA programs that transition smoothly into a PhD program, or graduate programs in social psychology that lead directly to a PhD.

The majority of social psychologists do earn doctoral degrees, but feel free to stick with a master's if you want to work as a consultant, manager, program evaluator, or similar role in a workplace such as a company, government agency, educational institution, etc. If you want an MA for practical purposes like those, then you should search for "applied social psychology MA."

Whatever your desired level of education, you should visit any schools where you intend to apply and meet the faculty with whom you'll be working. You will want to ensure that your personalities are somewhat compatible with the personalities of your instructors, as you'll be partaking in a lot of lab work and field work. In an optimal professor, you don't get just an instructor, but a mentor as well.

Before embarking on your graduate school journey, you should be aware that master's degrees in social psychology are often "informal" degrees. These degrees are master's degrees in "general" psychology with a special focus on social psychology. As a result, your diploma may or may not contain the words "social psychology."

What this means for you is that you'll have to declare an interest or emphasis in social psychology and then work with an advisor to take courses that steer you in that direction. You won't be automatically shunted into a social psychology concentration, but rather, you'll essentially have to create your own degree by choosing the electives that align with your informal concentration.

Knowing this information, you might choose a school that does offer a formal social psychology concentration, if only to take the guesswork out of your degree. Just make sure to read the fine print as you browse through degree programs so you'll know what you're getting into.

An MA alone usually takes 30 to 36 credit hours or one to two years, with a thesis project as the culminating event. Combined MA-PhD programs take around 60 hours and require more extensive research and a dissertation.

Social Psychology Foundational Courses

The primary courses for a master's in social psychology always include research methods, statistics, and psychology of social behavior. They may also include social cognition, theories of personality, social psychology of attitudes, affective neuroscience, and an introductory course in developmental psychology.

Even though social psychology is a division of general psychology, it's still a very broad field of study, and you'll have plenty of room for electives. Most programs only require 12 to 15 credit hours of core classes for the master's degree, leaving you with 15 or more credit hours to select according to your specialty, which in many cases is designed by you.

Social Psychology Specialist & Elective Courses

The list of potential elective courses in social psychology is long, and you should spend the early part of your graduate career considering which electives to put together to create your specialty. If you're in a general psychology program, you should ask your advisor for guidance in creating your informal social psychology concentration. If you're in social psychology, you might want to take courses from a particular pool of electives in order to specialize even further.

Your electives may include psychology of emotion, culture, criminal behavior, violence, discrimination, and diversity. You could also take psychology of gender, health psychology, counseling psychology, or group dynamics.

Some of your elective hours will be consumed by your thesis, internship, or research project, which normally comes at the end of your degree program.

Licensure & Certification in Social Psychology

Licensure and certification are not usually required to be a social psychologist. However, there are cases where licensure or certification may be necessary. For example, if you are combining studies in social psychology with studies in counseling or psychotherapy, you will need a license to practice as a therapist, or if you're double majoring in social psychology and social work, you will need to be licensed as a social worker. If your goal is to study human behavior in an academic context, like most formal social psychologists, then you will only need to complete your graduate education to be eligible for your desired career.

The majority of social psychologists choose to earn doctoral degrees in order to become researchers and teachers of social psychology at colleges and universities around the country. A PhD in social psychology is a standard degree for those who wish to have such a career, and you can choose to pursue a PhD right after finishing your MA, or you can do a combined program that allows you to earn both at the same time.

Some graduates may pursue a Doctor of Psychology (PsyD), which is designed for applied psychology in clinical settings. Unless you have combined social psychology with another branch of psychology in your master's degree and are preparing to work in a clinical, non-academic environment, then this is most likely not the best option for you.

Becoming a member of at least one or two professional organizations will be an important component of your career in social psychology, as you'll benefit greatly from opportunities to network with other psychologists in both social psychology and other branches. Professional organizations also offer fantastic resources like database access, workshops and conferences, information about education and research, and even research grants and scholarships.

You should begin by joining the largest and broadest association in your field: the American Psychological Association, or APA. Within the APA, there are dozens of divisions for the various offshoots of general psychology, and you can join one or several of them. While still in graduate school, you can join the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS). Since you're likely to have a specialty as a social psychologist, or at least be curious about several different strains of psychology, you might enjoy participating in multiple branches of the APA. Divisions that might interest you include:

• Division 8: Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP)
• Division 9: Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI)
• Division 32: Society for Humanistic Psychology (This division is devoted to the "Rogerian, transpersonal and existential orientations, and phenomenological, hermeneutic, constructivist, feminist and postmodern psychologies" according to the main APA website. It's more academic than practical, but you may find theoretical discussion stimulating and useful to your practice.)
• Division 35: Society for the Psychology of Women
• Division 36: Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality
• Division 44: Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity
• Division 50: Society of Addiction Psychology
• Division 51: Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinities

With only a master's degree in social psychology, you still have plenty of options when it comes to the job market. Trained social psychologists may, for example, work as consultants and directors for marketing departments, help to manage and guide political campaigns, evaluate learning outcomes and design educational programs, oversee nonprofit organizations, work in government agencies, or even become social media specialists.

In today's world, there's a place for a growing number of social psychologists in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion departments of many companies and organizations as the concept of social justice is becoming more widespread.

If social psychology interests you, but becoming a university professor doesn't, there are still dozens, if not hundreds of ways to use a master's degree in a satisfying career.

Job Outlook for a Master's in Social Psychology

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the job outlook for psychologists is growing as fast as the national average at 3%, but states that individuals with doctoral degrees have better prospects than those who don't. Given that social psychologists almost always continue to a PhD, they do tend to have better job prospects. Psychologists on the whole made an annual median wage of $80,370 in May 2019, according to BLS, while the median annual wage of psychology teachers at the postsecondary level was $76,620 in 2019.

There are various jobs within the field of public relations specialists that offer popular careers for social psychologists with only an MA (such as social media specialist, marketing specialist, etc.), and the BLS estimates that the median annual wage for PR specialists was $61,150 in May 2019, well above the national median.

While you may be under the impression that social psychology leads to a career in social work, the two are actually very different. If you're interested in careers in social work or social welfare, you should pursue their specific degrees. Master's degrees in social work and social welfare (MSW and MASW) do pair nicely with social psychology degrees, but they are not the same. In fact, social psychology degrees, social work, and social welfare degrees can result in vastly different types of careers.

How to Become a Psychology Professor

Step One

The initial step to becoming a tenured social psychology professor is earning a bachelor's degree in either general psychology or social psychology. The availability of a formal social psychology track will largely depend on the size of your school, and only a handful of schools in the nation offer it. However, general psychology degrees are available nationwide.

Step Two

Next, you should get your MA in social psychology. Choosing a combined MA/PhD program can not only speed up the process of earning the degrees necessary to become a professor in psychology, but can also save you a lot of stress (and application fees) when it comes to searching for and applying to graduate programs. While you're in school, you should consider a graduate assistantship, which will both help you with the cost of your education, and provide you with valuable experience.

Step Three

If you were not enrolled in a combined program, the next step would be to get your PhD in social psychology. At this time, you should be involved in an internship, preparing your dissertation, and focusing on your specialization. You should also consider joining at least one professional organization as you get closer to finishing your PhD.

Step Four

When you first accept a position at a college or university, you'll be a tenure-track assistant professor. Basically, this means you're on a trial period where you must prove your merit in order to be contracted to teach each year. Your university will watch your performance to see whether you'll perform well enough to become a tenured associate professor.

Step Five

After you've made it through five or six years of tenure-track assistant professorship and your university approves of your contributions, you'll receive tenure and be promoted to associate professor.

Tenure means that you won't have to worry about getting rehired each year, and you'll get to pursue the research projects you're passionate about. Introduction to Psychology, commonly known as Psych 101, is a course often instructed by new psychology professors.

If you continue to work hard, you may one day be promoted to full professor. At that point, you'll be able to teach graduate students, not just undergrads, and you'll have even more freedom when it comes to research and writing.

How to Become a Public Relations Specialist

Step One

You can begin your journey toward becoming a public relations specialist by earning a bachelor's degree in psychology, social psychology, public relations, communications, or another closely related field. It can be beneficial to double major or to add a minor.

Step Two

The next phase in your career path is earning your MA in social psychology. You could theoretically get a master's in public relations, but social psychology will give you an edge since you'll understand not just how to navigate social structures, but how the human brain creates and operates within those structures.

Step Three

As you begin applying for jobs, look for job titles like "social media specialist," "director of public affairs," "director of media," "publicist," or even "copywriter." There will likely be some skills that you have to learn on the job, or before getting hired, but having completed your master's degree, you're prepared to take on jobs like these.

The APA offers a myriad of awards, research grants, and scholarships to graduate students in every field of psychology. You can apply for one or more of these awards through their website by choosing from a list of ongoing awards or by searching for scholarships that apply specifically to you.

Your university may also have programs to help fund your education, such as graduate assistantships or graduate fellowships. You'll have to put in consistent work in order for these to pay off, as opposed to winning a one-time award, but they can reduce your financial burden significantly.

It should go without saying, but don't forget to apply for federal financial aid by filling out the Federal Application for Student Aid (FAFSA), which can help you obtain student loans at a low interest rate in addition to providing grants and scholarships. The FAFSA also helps colleges determine your eligibility for work-study programs and need-based tuition assistance in any other form. Federal aid is likely the most comprehensive aid package available, so you'll want to take full advantage of it.