Psi Chi is the International Honor Society in Psychology, founded in 1929 for the purposes of encouraging, stimulating, and maintaining excellence in scholarship, and advancing the science of psychology. Membership is open to graduate and undergraduate men and women who are making the study of psychology one of their major interests and who meet the minimum qualifications.
What is Psi Chi?
Psi Chi is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies and is an affiliate of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Association for Psychological Science (APS). Psi Chi's sister honor society is Psi Beta, the national honor society in psychology for community and junior colleges.
Psi Chi functions as a federation of chapters located at 1,000 senior colleges and universities in the USA. The National Office is located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A National Council, composed of psychologists who are Psi Chi members and who are elected by the chapters, guides the affairs of the organization and sets policy with the approval of the chapters.
Psi Chi serves two major goals--one immediate and visibly rewarding to the individual member, the other slower and more difficult to accomplish, but offering greater rewards in the long run. The first of these is the Society's obligation to provide academic recognition to its inductees by the mere fact of membership. The second goal is the obligation of each of the Society's local chapters to nurture the spark of that accomplishment by offering a climate congenial to its creative development. For example, the chapters make active attempts to nourish and stimulate professional growth through programs designed to augment and enhance the regular curriculum and to provide practical experience and fellowship through affiliation with the chapter. In addition, the national organization provides programs to help achieve these goals, including national and regional conventions held annually in conjunction with the psychological associations, research award competitions, and certificate recognition programs.
The Society publishes a quarterly magazine, Eye on Psi Chi, which helps to unite the members, inform them and recognize their contributions and accomplishments.
The quarterly Psi Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research, fosters and rewards the scholarly efforts of undergraduate psychology students and provides a valuable learning experience by introducing them to the publishing and review process.
Students become members by joining the chapter at the school where they are enrolled. Psi Chi chapters are operated by student officers and faculty advisors. Together they select and induct the members and carry out the goals of the Society. All chapters register their inductees at the National Office, where the membership records are preserved for reference purposes. The total number of memberships preserved at the national office during the first 73 years is over 422,000. Many of these members have gone on to distinguished careers in psychology. For more information about the chapters in your area, visit the Psi Chi Chapter Directory.
Becoming a Member
Membership in Psi Chi is open to those who are making the study of psychology one of their major interests and who are students or faculty members in an institution where a chapter is located. Both undergraduate and graduate students who have registered for major or minor standing in psychology or for a program psychological in nature may be eligible for membership if other requirements are fulfilled.
Eligibility for undergraduates includes:
- completion of 3 semesters or 5 quarters of the college course
- completion of 9 semester hours or 14 quarter hours of psychology courses
- ranking in the top 35% of their class in general scholarship
- a minimum GPA of 3.2 (on a 4.0 scale) in both psychology classes and in cumulative grades
Students and faculty are elected to membership by the chapter at the institution, according to the provisions in the national Psi Chi Constitution. Any chapter, at its discretion, may establish higher academic standards for eligibility, but may not require service standards for eligibility. Membership in Psi Chi is open to qualified candidates of any age, sex, sexual orientation, race, handicap or disability, color, religion, and national and ethnic origin.