Careers in
Psychology
I was one of those rare people who went off to college from
high school already knowing that I wanted to be a psychologist. Human and
animal behavior fascinated me. From the behavior of the chickens, rabbits and
dogs that we raised, to the seemingly intractable differences of opinion that
existed among Americans during the 1960s when I was in school, understanding why
organisms behaved as they did was what interested me. As an undergraduate, I
took the usual variety of psychology courses, but my interest remained
unfocused. Then, one day in my Abnormal Psychology class, we had a guest
lecturer who described the classic research of Harry Harlow on the effects of
early deprivation on later social behavior in rhesus monkeys. I had just
finished writing a paper on autism for that class and was struck by the
similarities in behavior between autistic children and the behavior of the
monkeys. I was also struck by how the behavioral deficits could be reversed in
the monkeys. After class, I approached the instructor and asked if could work
in her lab. I remember clearly going to the lab for the first time and seeing
her groups of monkeys, and the impact that had on me. I was hooked!
But compelling as they were (and they still are!), it was
not only the monkeys themselves that hooked me. My interest in monkey behavior
solidified my interest in Psychology, for a number of reasons. First, there
seemed to be so much going on in the monkeys' social groups that seemed to
affect their behavior - dominance relationships, male-female relationships, the
presence of infants, whether it was the breeding season, even the spatial layout
of the cage. What I observed in those cages highlighted for me the importance
of development, the role of learning and the environment, and the physiological
mechanisms underlying behavior - all traditional psychological topics.
Certainly an evolutionary orientation is important - common descent is the
reason, after all, why monkey behavior is similar to human behavior. But how
the environment (and in particular the social environment) facilitated or
hindered these evolution-based tendencies to behave in a particular way was what
got me. The second reason I stuck with a psychological orientation to
primatology was that psychology (at least the part that appealed to me) was
interested in whole organisms - not molecules or cells, except insofar as they
have an impact on a complete animal trying to get about in its world. Finally,
a psychological orientation emphasized rigorous experimentation in an attempt to
understand causal influences on behavior. Psychology departments still are
places where training in methodology and statistics is strongly emphasized.
To a large extent, my education took the same path as yours
would today if you were trying to make a career in primatology as a
psychologist. I got a broad background in psychology as an undergraduate by
taking a variety of courses. I did a student internship in a primate behavior
lab (I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to gain practical experience
in a lab while you are still an undergraduate!). I searched out (with my
undergraduate advisor's help) graduate programs where work was being conducted
that was of interest to me, and in graduate school broadened my background even
further with advanced coursework both inside and outside of Psychology. And
after receiving my Ph.D., I went on to obtain additional post-doctoral
training. It was at that point that I discovered a big hurdle in my career -
getting a job as a primatologist is hard! Primates are complex creatures, and
their care in captivity is expensive. Many small colleges and universities
cannot afford to keep even a small colony of primates for research purposes.
Zoos can be difficult places to try to conduct research because primates are
there for other reasons - primarily for display purposes - and the extent to
which you can experimentally manipulate situations is very limited. I spent a
summer at an island colony where there were two dozen troops of rhesus monkeys
to see if that was a feasible place to do research. I quickly came to
appreciate the kinds of hurdles that field researchers have to overcome, but got
frustrated by the lack of experimental control I had over the situation, and
felt that the kinds of questions I was interested in (most of which are
questions of the type 'what causes x') couldn't be answered to my satisfaction
in that environment.
So, what are the career options for someone with an
interest in primates from a psychological perspective? As my experience shows,
going the traditional academic route - a faculty position in a psychology
department - is hard, but not impossible. If you love what you are doing,
don't mind working long and hard to reach your goals, and have the flexibility
to relocate for the series of jobs you are likely to get, that's a good start.
You also need to have good ideas and be successful in getting support (grants,
fellowships, institutional aid) for your research, since the cost of primate
research is high. The traditional academic route, however, will not make you
rich! If you divide your salary by the number of hours you work, you will
quickly see that there are many more lucrative professions. Upon graduation,
for example, a good computer programmer - hardworking, dedicated - with a BS
degree will probably earn more money than you will with a Ph.D. If you're going
into it for the money, be advised that you can do better elsewhere!
What about if you don't want to earn a Ph.D. and go the
academic route? Other career possibilities include being a technician, an
animal caretaker, or an enrichment coordinator. These jobs can be found
both in academic labs and in labs in private industry, and generally require a
Bachelor's or Master's degree. They can offer reasonable salaries,
opportunities for advancement, and stimulating work. You can learn about
the availability of such jobs from reading Science magazine and other
professional publications, but the best source is probably the
Primate-Jobs section of the Primate Info Net website.
I rely heavily on a full range of technicians for all of my research. They are
active participants in my research program, and I value greatly their advice and
insights. Without technical help, much of the research conducted by
psychologically-trained primatologists couldn't be done.
Are there ethical issues that you might have to consider if
you are thinking about a career as a psychologically-oriented primatologist? It
is important to realize that there are ethical issues involved in virtually any
approach you may take to studying nonhuman primates (or any other living
organism). Everyone has their own 'zone of comfort' about what activities they
feel they personally can and cannot do comfortably with animals. Typically,
this 'zone of comfort' shifts depending on the species under consideration, and
it can also shift over time as new questions become of interest. Part of your
education as an undergraduate and as a graduate student (indeed, for your entire
career) should be to explore and understand your own comfort zone. For example,
much (but not all!) of what a psychologist studies is best studied in carefully
controlled situations in captivity. Some consider captivity itself to be
unacceptable ethically. Those of us who do captive research, however, recognize
that it is our responsibility to insure that our animals are not only physically
healthy, but also psychologically healthy. Both are not only possible in
captive situations but are essential for both ethical and scientific reasons.
Others have concerns about 'invasive' research. This is a phrase that some
people use very broadly, grouping together everything from drawing blood samples
to administering drugs to performing any type of surgery. Different peoples'
comfort zones are located at different places along this continuum. Where is
your comfort zone? Why is it located where it is? What assumptions about
yourself and about animals does the location of your own comfort zone imply?
How does it constrain the kinds of research questions you might ask? Of course,
not all psychological research involves using such procedures. But research of
this type (e.g., studies of stress, neuroscience studies) is leading to exciting
developments in understanding both human and nonhuman health and behavior, and
is of great interest not only to public and private funding agencies, but to the
general public at large. As you progress in your education and career, you will
have to find your own 'zone of comfort', and this will certainly influence your
career choices. Keep an open mind (a necessity for a scientist!), and don't shy
away from dealing with complex ethical issues.
A psychological perspective on primate behavior focuses on
some basic questions. How is an animal's behavior and physiology influenced by
its social environment, and how does the animal's behavior and physiology shape
its environment? Does the animal's relationship with its mother facilitate or
constrain its relationships with other animals when it gets older? What do
animals know about their world and about each other, and how do they come to
know it? How do the brain, the mind, and behavior interrelate? How are
different species of primates - both human and nonhuman - similar to each other,
and how are they different? A psychological perspective aims to help you 'get
into the mind' of another creature. The research is very exciting, stimulating,
and rewarding! You must be motivated, bright, flexible, inquisitive and
creative. Get as much experience as you can at the undergraduate level, and
plan on working hard. While all of these things will not guarantee you success,
they will give you an edge in a highly competitive, but very rewarding, career.
