Factors Influencing the Recruitment of Psychologists

In APA's Project B (Clark, 1957), a large segment of professional psychologists were asked to recall reasons why they chose to enter the field of psychology. In terms of outlining factors motivating persons to select psychology as a career, and a future recruitment program for psychology, Project B doubtless will have far reaching implications. The question may be posed, however, whether factors professional psychologists recall as having been instrumental in their selection of psychology as a career are the factors influencing psychology majors now in college to make the same choice. The present study was, in part, an investigation of the applicability of the results of Project B to a sample of 211 graduate and undergraduate psychology majors. The trend of the results indicated that the graduate subjects who plan a career in psychology closely resemble the APA respondents, in that both groups give similar factors as important determinants in their selection of a career.