It seems that the SIOP membership is excited for GIT!

After the first GIT Blog post, we have received a lot of positive feedback from SIOP members.  People are enthusiastic about this new initiative, supportive of its success, and most of all: interested to know “how can I help?”  SIOP members want to see I-O Psychology featured in Introduction to Psychology textbooks, and they want to help make it happen.

  1. Talk with Faculty who Teach Introduction to Psychology: Do any of your colleagues currently teach the class?  Do they include any I-O content in the course? If not, you can start by just asking them why they don’t.  
    • Many instructors don’t include I-O because they believe it is “less important” than other areas of Psychology.  But you can remind your colleagues about how in-demand our field is; US News and World Report recently listed I-O as the #2 best science job, #19 best STEM job, and #79 best overall job (based on multiple factors, such as job growth, employment rate, and work-life balance).
    • Many instructors don’t include I-O because they don’t feel familiar enough with it to feel comfortable teaching it.  But you can let your colleagues know that SIOP has created 1-page summaries of I-O content areas as well as lots of powerpoint presentations that instructors can use in their own classes. Also: keep your eyes open for future posts on this blog, because more work will soon be done around this!
  1. Offer to Guest Lecture or Present: As an I-O Psychologist yourself, you could offer to share your expertise and spread the word about our field.
    • You could offer to go into an Introduction to Psychology class to guest lecture on the topic. This way, the students can hear first-hand what the field is all about (and how great it is)!  You can offer to do this in either undergraduate classes or even high school classes.  Did you know that I-O Psychology is featured in the AP Psychology Exam?  Many people (including high school Psychology teachers) don’t know that!
    • You could also offer to give a presentation on the field to student groups, such as the Psi Chi Psychology Honors Society.  You don’t have to be an academic for this; students would also benefit from hearing the perspectives of practitioners as well as academics.  Keep your eyes open on this blog for future posts on this as well; the GIT task force will be creating opportunities to help connect people around this.
  1. Start Conversations with other Psychologists: Let’s start planting the seed and putting the idea out there that I-O Psychology should be included in Introduction to Psychology classes.
    • Are you involved with APA, The Society for the Teaching of Psychology (APA Division 2), or the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology (NITOP)?  Start talking to folks about this issue.  It seems from many people that the reason why I-O isn’t included is because it never has in the past – but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t.  Let’s start a conversation!
    • SIOP member Eden King will be a sponsored speaker at the upcoming NITOP 2019 conference and will speak on this issue.  We will keep you posted here on this blog about how these conversations go.

What do you think?  What will you do?  If you do something to promote I-O Psychology in Introduction to Psychology classes, we want to hear!  Post about what you did on social media - use the hashtag #GITSIOP!  We want to see what everyone is up to!

What exactly is GIT?  Check out our first blog post explaining who we are!

Do you have any other thoughts on how SIOP members can be involved with GIT’s efforts?  We would love to hear from you!  If you have any questions, ideas, thoughts, or suggestions, please feel free to contact anyone from the task force!  This blog is maintained by Nick Salter nicholas.p.salter@hofstra.edu

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