Socialization in the Psycholog

y FieldAlyssa Proehl

“Starting Your New Job” by Katharine Brooks Ed.D.

The article that I chose was from a popular psychology online journal, Psychology Today. The article focused on what the socialization process looks like once you enter a new job. The article highlights what it's like, once freshly graduated, to enter a job field, or even just a job.

The article starts off with a key piece of advice “Know your limitations”. It continues to elaborate with the advice, “Don’t take on any task that you are not prepared to do.”(Brooks)

The author of the article then creates a list, to help ease into the socialization process. The list is as follows;

“Prepare to be stupid.” (Brooks) - She elaborates that, while it may seem obvious, it’s okay to not know everything immediately. It’s perfectly normal to get lost at first, and to not know how to do things that your new coworkers may assume is common knowledge, such as faxing papers or using the phone systems.

“It is okay to ask questions and get help.” (Brooks) - She goes on to explain that people love to help. Especially that one person who seems to know it all, so seek them out!

“Starting Your New Job” by Katharine Brooks Ed.D.

“Don’t talk in the elevator or the bathroom.” (Brooks) - This one came as a surprise to me. When I first read this I immediately wanted to know why. She explained that it's because you don’t know who is in there with you. You could be complaining about the stores management, with the president right behind you.

“Don’t say anything you don’t want repeated.” (Brooks) - This one seems a bit obvious. As the “new-bie” people are going to talk about you.

The article continues to list helpful tips to make socializing process easier, coming personally from someone who has worked as a psychology professor at many colleges and universities. She lists from experience the things that she has noticed make the socializing process much easier.

Reading this article, I was upset that I hadn’t found it sooner. The socialization process took a very long time at the job I am at now, and if I had read this article I would have avoided some social faux paus, and would have been accepted as a fellow employee much sooner.

The Concept of SocializationSocialization according to Organizational communication: Approaches and processes, Socialization is the process

of adapting as an individual through formal and in formal processes, to and organization. (Miller)

There are three different phases of socialization according to the book (Miller);

Anticipatory socialization - The socialization that occurs before entering into the organization. This phase of socialization encompasses both socialization to the organization, as well as to the occupation. For example, researching the company values before the interview, to fit in better with the employees of the company.

Encounter - Encounter is the phase of socialization during which a new employee actually enters the organization. It is a sensemaking stage. The new employee needs to let go of their old values and roles in adapting to the new organizations roles and expectations.

Metamorphosis - When completion has officially been reached. This phase is when socialization has been completed and the employee is accepted as an insider in the organization.

The Concept of Socialization (Continued)

There are a few tactics for information seeking as well (Miller):

Overt Questions - This tactic is sought by the new employee asking direct questions of information targets.

Indirect Questions - This tactic is sought by the new employee asking non interrogative questions, generally this is done by hinting.

Third Parties - In this particular tactic, the employee asks a secondary source (for example a co worker) rather than the primary source (for example, the supervisor).

Testing Limits - The new employee finds information by breaking or deviating from organizational rules and observing reactions.

Disguising Conversations - In this tactic, the new employee finds new information by disguising the information-seeking attempt as a natural part of the conversation.

The Concept of Socialization (Continued)Observing - The new employee seeks information by watching behavior in salient situation.

Surveillance - The new employee seeks information by making sense of past observed behavior.

Organizational Exit - Another important part of socialization is organizational exit. This is when the employee leaves the organization, whether it be just quitting and moving to another job, or through retirement. As the baby boomer generation more individuals are reaching retirement age. Retirement is being pushed to older and older ages. Because the large number of baby boomers, retirement will become increasingly important.

The exit process is not an event, it is a process, through which there is an anticipatory stage as well. Even “sudden” layoffs are anticipated.

Organizational exit doesn’t only affect the individual leaving the organization. It affects those who remain at the company as well. They may feel survivor's guilt, resentment, relief, etc.

How Socialization Works in the Psychology FieldOnline and Socialization - Start Online. Once you find a career in the psychology field, the first thing to do,

before the interview, is to do as much research you can on the company you are interested. Really focus on the values and the culture of the organization, and see if you can find what frevious employees had to say about the work environment. This will help loads with the anticipatory socialization phase, and really ease you into the encounter phase. (Miller)

Psychology as a general industry is pretty competitive. Because of this, the socialization process can be difficult when joining a practice. The people already with the organization tend to be pretty set in their ways, and opinions can quickly and easily differ. I think this is why the article is so important, the advice given, especially in the psychology field is absolutely wonderful.

The approach to the socialization process within psychology would depend on the specific section of psychology. Because I am interested in behavioral psychology, behavioral psychology tends to use a critical approach to the socialization process, meaning, “socialization is seen as a process through which organizational owners and managers develop and maintain hegemonic relationships with employees. Research might consider how socialization tactics serve as instruments of unobtrusive control of processes of emancipation through individualization.

How Socialization Works in the Psychology Field (Continued)

As of recent, job recruiters look into social media very often. They look into social media not only to recruit people for positions, but to screen applicants as well. For example, if I applied for a position at a university in the psychology department after I graduate, they would be very likely to look at my facebook, my instagram, and any other social media that I have. This is important. If I am writing poor things about my previous employers, or posting pictures of myself partying everyday, they may choose not to hire me on those grounds alone. It is important to keep social media clean. Even when things are “private”, potential employers may have ways of seeing those posts.

The interview process shows how the psychologist applicant will do in their career roles later on. The applicant's satisfaction of the interview is a good predictor of a second interview. While in recent more and more organizations are moving towards video interviews and such, most organizations within the psychology field remain using the classic, face to face means of an interview.

Anticipatory socialization often occurs during the interview because the applicants generally have some feel for the university, or practice office culture by how the interview is set up.

How Socialization Works in the Psychology Field (Continued)

According to the Leader-Member Exchange Theory (Miller), role development begins as soon as the new employee enters the organization. For this case specifically it would mean rold development would begin as soon as being hired and entering the university psychology department. This role development continues through ongoing interactions. This would mean that role development occurs as socialization occurs.

There are 3 phases to this (Miller);

Role taking - The supervisor assigns tasks to learn about skill and motivation of employee. For example, the dean having the new psychology professor fax a few papers over to a nearby hospital.

Role making - “The negotiation process in which the supervisor and employee exchange resources in the further development of role definitions”.

Role routinization - The previously developed role becomes understood from the first two phases. Roles range from In group (High trust and support) to Out group (Low trust, and little support).

Why is there Socialization in the Psychology Field

Socialization exists in all industries, as new employees enter the field. As new employees enter organizations in the psychology field, the socialization process begins. Psychology as a field is very similar to any other field. When going into a career in psychology, one could go into developmental psychology and work with the development of children, or one could go into industrial/organizational psychology, and work in an organization where one would apply psychology to human resources as well as marketing and sales etc. Regardless of the organization, working with new people is an adjustment.

The article is really applicable to socialization in psychology because the socialization process is particularly tough in psychology. One of my favorite pieces of advice given in the article on socializing in a psychology field is “Chose your work place wisely”. (Brooks) I have learned from experience that that is really important, and you can’t always know if you will be a good fit with the culture before you try to socialize.

Where Do We See Socialization in Psychology?

We see socialization in all industries. The specific sections that would have the most difficult time socializing would be areas of clinical psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, and general psychology. This is because these are the areas where there are the most people with tenure positions who have been there forever. It’s always difficult joining something that someone has been a part of for so long.

Another reason these areas are so difficult to socialize in is because they are high stress, high demand areas of psychology. This affects the relationship between supervisor/employee, and in turn affects the socialization process.

Where Do We See Socialization in Psychology? (Continued)

Clinical, counseling and school psychology are the areas of psychology where we have the most job opportunities for graduate students. This map shows where exactly those specific areas are hiring the most.

Questions:Does the gender gap in psychology affect the socialization process?

Yes. According to the article Men: a growing minority? many men in the psychology field feel as if their voice isn't here or is drowned out by the women, because there are so few men in the field. Not only do they feel not heard, but they feel excluded. They miss out on many of the social events because they all seem to be “girls nights out” etc. Many of the men had commented that they feel lonely in their profession.

This effect men coming into the organizations because if there are very few men, then they may have fewer people they feel they can identify with, and they may be the only one with a male perspective. They may also feel less comfortable if the office they are coming into is all women.

Questions: (Continued)

What are the biggest challenges in the socialization process, particularly in the psychology field?

I think that the article listed the challenges best. It's hard at first, getting lost, not knowing who you can talk to, and having so many questions and not knowing if they are all dumb questions. For me personally, I like knowing what I am doing. So not knowing what I am doing at a new job, as well as trying to make new friends is particularly hard. I have to work really hard to refrain from saying anything to get my new coworkers to like me (at my most recent job, I bought tickets to concert, that I don’t particularly enjoy, because I wanted to be liked)

Another difficult part of the socialization process in the psychology field is showing that you are smart, and worth the hire. That you have great ideas for the future of psychology, at the same time as making friends.

Lastly, a challenge for me in particular, is trying to socialize and become part of the organization, without becoming BFF’s with everyone. It’s difficult for me to keep work relationships professional sometimes. Not in a romantic sense, just in a way, where I want to be everyones best friend.

Questions: (Continued)

For the Future:

Will the socialization process be the same as technology advances? Will it be easier or more difficult?

No, I don’t think it will be. Interviews are starting to be done through webcam, which changes the anticipatory socialization phase of socialization greatly. I think psychology will be one of the later fields to succumb to some of the sillier more “convenient” technological advances like the webcam interview.

I think that technology advances will make socialization more difficult. We already see it in today’s youth, they have trouble simply carrying a conversation because they are so used to texting and such. I think that webcam interviews, may lead to online orientation, and even telecommuting positions, we already see it today, a disconnect with companies and coworkers because of the technology. I think that it may lead to a similar disconnect eventually in the psychology field if we aren’t careful.

Questions: (Continued)

For the Future:

What can we do to make the socialization process easier within psychology?

One thing that we can do to make the socialization process easier is to diversify the fields. Having a broader array of jobs would not only help more people, and be more like the healthcare industry, it would open up more jobs, and make it easier for people to come in as new. Having no seniority gets rid of the mentality of “I worked here longer so I am better than you”. Also, innovation leads to success and when we are helping people and working together, we are bonding and becoming friends.

"We need to expand career options and venues, We've got to be way broader than health care." Just as attorneys find employment in fields other than law, psychologists should be able to find employment outside of the traditional health fields and psychology departments. Having more career options might boost salaries for everyone and attract more men to the field, she says. Douce points out that many recent suicides have been among college-age men. Psychology needs men to help think up ways to reach men who won't ask for help — and to help the psychology field be the most robust profession it can be.?” (Willyard)

Work Cited Brooks, K., Ed.D. (2013, November 6). Starting Your New Job. Retrieved February 28, 2016, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/career-transitions/201311/starting-your-new-job

Miller, K. (1999). Organizational communication: Approaches and processes (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub.

Willyard, C. (2011, January). Men: A growing minority? Retrieved January 15, 2016, from http://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2011/01/cover-men.aspx