Social Psych PhD, how necesary is a undergrad degree in psychology?

[justinmcducd]

Hey guys, I've been mainly interested in political science programs that feature political psychology as a strong focus... but after a good bit of research it seems that social psych has a leg up both in the field and across academia in general (i.e. placements).

I'm just hoping you guys may be able to save me some cash in application fees if I'm too far out of the ballpark ;-)

Here's my background:

BA, philosophy, concentration neurophilosophy with solid course work in neuroscience, and lots of outside reading in cog psych, social psych, etc.

I presented my elective senior thesis to the International Society of Political Psychology (~50/50 spread of poli sci and social psych), and then my major thesis to a regional philosophy conference.

I went on to work as a political consultant and policy researcher a few years, and am recently finishing up my MPA...

My masters thesis, though done in a school of public affairs/policy, studies the impact of conceptual transference of deep functional properties of complex adaptive systems from physical systems to social systems, and how such transference impacts policy preferences (sorry I know this is vague).

All things considered, should I bother, not having lab time and being somewhat lacking in formal psych training?

Thanks guys!

[lewin]

The ISPP stuff is nice, there are a lot of good social psychologists involved with that. (I went to the political psych preconference at the society for personality and social psychology meeting last year.)

You mentioned the job prospects of social psych over other related disciplines, but the differences are more than just window dressing, it's often a completely different way of tackling the research questions. The task for most social psychology graduate students is to design and run experiments. Do you have things in your background that show you know how to think experimentally?

Or it might be worth putting out feelers to potential advisors to see whether they're willing to consider somebody who likes their research questions but comes with an atypical background. Your political and policy work could be very attractive to those profs.

Unrelated personal question. If you have an masters and steady employment, why do you want a PhD?

[justinmcducd]

Thanks for the response. Why do I want to go on for the phd? I'm interested in the big questions, mainly how the traits of human cognition influence world affairs, and how educational inovations can possibly produce smoother functioning societies. Working in an area that is truly and deeply interesting to you seems more attractive than making money doing something that doesnt stir anyting inside of you ;-)

The only lab type research I have is the experiment I'm designing myself for my masters thesis... I'm kind of flying blind, though I do have inputs from a couple psychologists and a statistician to make sure I'm carrying out things correctly.

I'm wondering if that will come off as ambitious or foolheaded to admissions committees!

[lewin]

The only lab type research I have is the experiment I'm designing myself for my masters thesis... I'm kind of flying blind, though I do have inputs from a couple psychologists and a statistician to make sure I'm carrying out things correctly.

I'm wondering if that will come off as ambitious or foolheaded to admissions committees!

That'll probably depend on the quality of the end product