To preface, it’s highly dependent on your team. In some cases, you could be the best at your role and it won’t matter whether you’re specialized or not. If the team has no room for upward mobility, you’ll be stuck where you start. Seniority and knowledge don’t matter if you’re treated the same way as fresh in the door new hires. If that’s the case, then loyalty doesn’t matter.

He’s not the only one feeling this way. Loyalty used to be the safest bet a mid‑career professional could make. Stay put, work hard, and your employer would reward you with steady raises, promotions, and a respectable exit into retirement. In today’s labor market, that stability has deteriorated. The question is not just whether corporations still deserve loyalty, but whether long‑term loyalty is even rational for workers in their thirties, forties, and fifties who are navigating AI, layoffs, and rapidly shifting business strategies.

Much like the “social contract” society has with its government, employees have a “psychological contract” between employee and employer. The contract is not written down anywhere, but both sides have expectations. The employee might provide stability, some overtime work, and discretion. In return, the organization provides competitive pay, development, and security. When the contract is intact, loyalty can be a powerful source of meaning and motivation. Once it begins to break, loyalty can turn into a trap.

Loyalty Can Still Pay

For mid‑career professionals who already have a track record inside a firm, there are still upsides. One benefit is reputational capital. Over years, you build trust with key decision‑makers, accumulate political savvy, and gain institutional knowledge that outsiders simply do not have. That knowledge can translate into being the one on speed-dial when something important needs to get done. When promotions or special assignments are decided informally, this embedded reputation often carries more weight than any bullet point on a résumé.

Loyalty can also support psychological needs that matter more as people move through mid‑career. Many professionals begin to value stability, predictability, and deep relationships at work more than they did in their twenties. Staying with the same employer can provide a relatively stable identity, which helps reduce the cognitive and emotional load of constantly re‑proving yourself in new environments. For people balancing caregiving responsibilities or managing chronic stress, the familiarity of one organizational culture can be a meaningful resource.

When Loyalty Doesn’t Pay

The downsides of loyalty have become more pronounced, however. The biggest is asymmetry: your loyalty is not always reciprocated. Companies that once promised “family” now pivot quickly when market conditions change, shedding people to hit quarterly numbers. Layoffs regularly hit high‑performing, long‑tenured employees who assumed loyalty would shield them. In psychological terms, this is a breach of the psychological contract, and it tends to produce anger, cynicism, and disengagement. Once you have watched loyal colleagues escorted out with cardboard boxes, it becomes harder to believe that your own loyalty is a safe strategy.

My colleague’s frustration illustrates another growing problem: the opportunity cost of staying put. Mid‑career is often when your market value peaks. If you spend a decade with one employer, your skills and salary may drift out of alignment with the broader market. External moves are often where the biggest pay jumps and title bumps occur. From an I‑O standpoint, careers have increasingly less boundaries. Advancement comes from moving across organizations and even industries, not just climbing one internal ladder. Loyalty can quietly morph into stagnation if your responsibilities expand but your learning and compensation do not.

The introduction of AI and automation adds another layer. Entire functions are being redesigned; tasks that used to define your value may soon be delegated to software. In this environment, attaching your identity too tightly to one job, one title, or one company becomes risky. The people who fare best during such transitions tend to see themselves as stewards of their own skills and careers, rather than as long‑term dependents of a single employer. Loyalty, in this framing, must be balanced with ongoing employability.

My Perspective

So is loyalty still beneficial? A more nuanced answer is that the old idea of unconditional, one‑way loyalty is obsolete, but strategic, conditional loyalty can still be a very smart move for mid‑career professionals. When loyalty is no longer guaranteed, it becomes a commodity that can be leveraged.

If your manager has made you feel replaceable, you probably are. We have a saying in I-O psychology that states every employee is the same to an accountant. That saying could be extended to include unmotivated managers. If you feel this is the case with you, it might be time for a new job, or even a new skill. Unless you have a mitigating factor like pay, location, or job satisfaction, you are limited as your opportunity costs rise.

I currently work for the best managers I’ve ever worked for, and on the best team I’ve ever worked with. They have earned my loyalty, but loyalty does not require me to remain on this team forever. I repay my team’s loyalty by letting them know my interest in promoting, giving them extra time to create an opening, and going over and above in my job. If things don’t work out, I will happily find and train my replacement.

Just like in any relationship, loyalty must be reciprocated. With commitment on the decline, loyalty becomes a currency. If your employer makes you feel replaceable, no loyalty is owed and no loyalty will be rewarded. If you are happy with your employer relationship but want more, make it known. Loyalty is a two-way street.

This article is also published on my X account:

At its core, I-O psychology is the scientific study of people at work. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), it involves deriving principles of individual, group, and organizational behavior and using that knowledge to solve real problems in the workplace. The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) describes it as the application of psychological principles to issues facing individuals, teams, and organizations. In plain terms: I-O psychologists use data, research, and evidence-based methods to improve productivity, employee well-being, fairness, and overall organizational health.

So that’s that’s the textbook answer, or maybe we’ll call it the LinkedIn answer, but I tend to apply it differently. Many folks with a master’s degree in I-O came from a business background or used it to compliment an MBA. I started out in clinical psychology, however, then moved to applied psychology. I take the Gestalt approach to organizations (yes, that’s another branch of psychology), seeing the organization as an individual. I see individuals not as employees needing to match their job, but rather individuals with God-given gifts with an intrinsic need to fulfill their purpose.

Folks with I-O degrees become consultants or go on to become I-O psychologists. I accepted a dream job as a consultant (not in psychology) a few months after I started the graduate program at Auburn, and I’m not going to put it on hold to get my doctorate, so officially the degree just looks good hanging on the wall. Unofficially, it comes in real handy in just about everything I do.

In 2024, right after I completed my graduate program, I ran for school board in Tecumseh, Michigan. I had no hope of winning, I just wanted to wake folks up. My I-O degree helped me address resistance to change in a town that almost always votes for incumbents (even when they have a dismal track record). I didn’t win, but I started a blog that now rivals the local paper as a local resource... and advocates for change.

I’m a proud Rotarian and work closely with my local @rotary clubs. I-O psychology comes in real handy when you find yourself helping run a hurricane shelter or organizing a pancake breakfast for a few hundred locals. Knowing how to place the right individual with the right task is an art as much as it is a science. It’s also very useful when personality conflicts get in the way of the mission. Many I-O psychologists evaluate personality as much as our clinical counterparts.

I use principles I learned in I-O almost daily at work when it comes to conflict. I love my job and enjoy my coworkers, but many of us are former military. We can be an ornery bunch. I-O psychology taught me to look past the disagreement to find what each party truly needs. Maybe the subject matter expert doesn’t need to be right, but rather just needs to be heard, for instance. It’s a soft skill that helps just about everywhere.

For me, it’s all connected. Humans need to work. It puts food on our table, it keeps our mind engaged, and it gives us dignity. To understand work is to understand human nature. Bob Marley understood this when he wrote the song “Night Shift” about driving a forklift in a Detroit warehouse before becoming a famous artist. While research and surveys and diagnostics are an important part of I-O, I enjoy it just as much in day-to-day interactions.

One example of this occurred at the shelter we ran during hurricane Irma. I met a missionary who left the tech industry to help the homeless. After the mini-concert we threw with our acoustic guitars we got at a pawn shop, he asked me who I was. I laughed and said, “I’m Jake”. He said, “but who is Jake?” I didn’t have an answer, and I never forgot the question.

Years later, I would end up completing a graduate program in a field of study that keeps asking one question: Who are you?

(This article is also published on X:

A year ago, I ran for school board as a last-minute, write-in candidate opposing an incumbent who somehow managed to slide into a partial term seat unopposed. I reached out to Kelli at the time to gain an understanding of district finance. I’m a strategic planner in my day job, so I know my way around the nerd talk enough to have had an intelligent conversation with her.

At first, Kelli was very helpful. She expected me to be clueless on school finance, and in many ways I was. What alarmed me was her reaction on topics that I did know a thing or two about, like risk analysis. She could explain the daily ins and outs with ease, but when pressed on more in-depth topics, she either froze up, changed the subject, or said she didn’t understand the question.

Months later, a board member pressed her on why we don’t have monthly statements for our financial outlook. In my line of work, we call this our “business rhythm”. Mrs. Glenn gave an awkward explanation that monthly statements are impossible given the nature of state and federal payments. Since Kelli was kind enough to help me before, I offered to return the favor by writing an article explaining the nuances of district finance, specifically the difficulty in calculating monthly statements.

No response.

Evading Accountability

As I attended subsequent meetings, I noticed that more and more excuses were being used. Her school board updates couldn’t be published, and couldn’t be distributed ahead of time. They were often late. She became easily flustered when asked simple questions. She was curiously absent when auditors were present. She was especially evasive in response to a question I asked: how much are we paying lawyers to settle lawsuits against the district?

Normally, this behavior would send up multiple red flags. Not in this small town. I chose to write about this specific incident because it mirrors other situations I’ve seen in places I’ve worked, organizations I’ve volunteered in, and especially in churches I’ve attended. I’ve found that there are a few themes these situations have in common.

Small Town

The small town mentality was definitely to blame here. Board members would commonly say, “we trust the experts” when other board members would challenge data in a financial presentation. The word “expert” here is an assumption of expertise that is unverified. In small towns, the “expert” is a cousin, a friend of a friend, or the high school quarterback in ‘94 who hired his wide receiver from that same year.

A few years ago, this same district removed its high school principal, Dennis Niles, from his position for “non-sexual touching” with students. When pressed on the matter, then-superintendent Rick Hilderley confessed in a recorded telephone conversation that he did not do a background check on Niles because he “knew him”. (Read Here). The phone conversation was never published, but I’ve heard it myself.

In my former town of Crestview, FL, a similar issue occurred. Our mayor, the prior high school band director, hired a chief of police from Central Florida with a record of sexually harassing employees. When a barbie doll was served to a female officer at a Christmas party with its mouth taped shut, it became a scandal (Read Here). The mayor explained that he never ran a background check. Same story, different city.

This mentality affects churches as much as school boards. I once discussed the issue with former Okaloosa County C.O.P. Larry Ward, a fellow Rotarian. He mentioned the difficulty prosecuting those who steal from churches, as church boards can be reluctant to prosecute. Before I joined the military, my own church at Calvary Chapel Merritt Island had $1.2m stolen by their long-time treasurer over the course of years. (Read Here).

To be clear, Mrs. Glenn did not steal anything, nor is anything nefarious suspected. My point is the reluctance of governing boards, or the community, to audit one of their own. This mentality comes with suspicion of outsiders, even when they are more qualified than a “hometown boy”, or girl. For Tecumseh, it bit us in the ass this time. I believe this is why oversight is tough in small towns. It’s not easy to criticize the church pianist, or your student’s father, or especially your 4th grade teacher now that you’re an adult.

Lack of Oversight

I want to take aim at the “trust the experts” mantra I often heard from our school board. I generally agree with this statement in areas with which I’m not informed. I have a masters in business psychology, so I would be inclined to trust my doctor about side effects of mediation over my own judgement. It’s not my lane, and that’s ok. The issue I take in this instance is that the school board serves as an oversight commission. You don’t need an MBA to ask questions.

I often find that lack of oversight is not trust, but laziness. Last year, this same board urged us to “trust the experts” in passing a new sexual education curriculum. When a local parent found a link in the new curriculum for a website advocating for abortion services without parental consent, the socially conservative board president was shocked. In “trusting the experts”, he was sanctioning a curriculum that went against his own beliefs, and board bi-laws. It wasn’t trust, it was laziness.

Midwestern Culture

I was born and raised in Florida, growing up on the Space Coast and stationed on the Emerald Coast. My “culture” is mostly Southern, with some Latin-American and coastal vibes. I noticed something distinct after moving to Michigan. In the South, we’ll get in your face and tell you what we think, then laugh together over a glass of sweet tea. You can hate me, but you better shake my hand and look me in the eye. That’s not the case in the midwest.

Up here, at least in rural areas, disagreement tends to be seen as malicious. It’s offensive. Saying, “I see it differently” in a conversation will shut the conversation down quickly. This plays out in our elections and board meetings frequently. I once attended a town meet-and-greet as a school board candidate at our local VFW. When I approached Trustee Brooks (a board member I openly disagreed with) to shake her hand, she looked at me with a look of disgust not even my mother could conjure. It was unthinkable that I would expect a handshake.

Single Points of Failure

I find the most difficult problem in organizations is a single point of failure. This could be failure in a process, but it could also be a person. If one person holds all the knowledge, then one person holds all the power. If one person has everyone convinced that they hold the knowledge, they still hold all the power. When one person holds all the power, success or failure becomes dependent on that individual.

In his book Citizenville, California Governor Gavin Newsom recounts the 2008 crisis involving San Francisco network engineer Terry Childs, who single-handedly built and controlled the city’s critical FiberWAN system, amassing total administrative access due to bureaucratic silos and lack of oversight. When Childs locked out all colleagues by changing passwords, paralyzing government operations, he was arrested on felony tampering charges and jailed with a $5 million bail; for eight days, he refused to divulge the credentials, claiming he was protecting the network from incompetence.

Newsom visited Childs in jail to plead with him to release the info. The mayor of one of the largest cities in America was brought to his knees, literally, by a single point of failure. In Tecumseh’s case, Mrs. Glenn had that power. Board president Greg Lewis even admitted that with the sudden departure of Glenn and another employee, the district was left with little to no expertise in the midst of a crisis.

Open Sourcing the Community

I’ll admit this last point is a little personal for me. Two years ago, a phenomenal band teacher was facing termination due to budget cuts. I pushed my way through a crowded high school library full of angry community members to volunteer my services. I knew a little bit about finance, I have Fridays off, I offered to take a look at their books and see if I could find any unnecessary spending. Another woman, Heather McGee (a stranger to me at the time), also offered her free services and financial expertise.

No response.

Heather and I ended up running for school board the following year. Heather won, and Heather has been asking questions ever since. I did not win, though I never expected to as a write-in, but I’ve been asking questions through the community blog I created. In the book Citizenville, Governor Newsom suggests that the problem with government is that it does not involve the community. We’ve fostered a generation expecting government to solve problems for us.

He goes on to point out that government should create avenues for the community to solve problems themselves, with the government facilitating. I’ve found that most of the pitchforks on social media have no intention of lifting a finger to solve a problem. Among the 100 railing against unsolved problems, however, there are always one or two willing to solve them. I was one of those two. Through my new blog, I’ve met many more. Unfortunately, no avenues exist here.

Conclusion

The Tecumseh Public Schools budget variance, ultimately a $770,000 underestimation of special education costs, not fraud or lost revenue, exposes a deeper civic fragility that small towns across the Midwest quietly nurture: a lethal cocktail of blind trust in “local experts,” cultural aversion to confrontation, and zero tolerance for outside help. Kelli Glenn’s resignation, the closed-door panic, and the board’s stunned admission of having no one left to run the numbers are not anomalies. They are the predictable collapse of a system that prizes familiarity over competence, silence over scrutiny, and hierarchy over shared ownership. Until communities like ours reject the myth that “we’ve always done it this way” and instead build open, redundant, and welcoming pathways for volunteer expertise, we can expect more “blunders”. In the absence of real oversight, the next single point of failure is already in the room.

Returning home to Hurlburt Field, FL (July 4th, 2007)

My great uncle Jack, a Korean War veteran, once confessed that he did not see himself as a brave man. He then clarified by saying that if he stood next to a brave man, he could be brave. I’ve found this to be true in terms of leadership, and I’ve become a better leader by standing next to leaders who have become my heroes. Each share a unique trait that I’ve benefited from.

Vulnerability

Chloe Hendricks is an elementary school teacher at the same school that our daughter attended when Holly and I lived in Pensacola. We met during a business trip to Pensacola in 2018. Whenever I mentioned the school, Chloe’s eyes lit up. She always had a story about something her students said that day, or how excited she was for her kids to see their new classroom at the end of summer. I didn’t know anything about public education back then, but I thought it was cute.

In the years since, Chloe would send me pictures of her classroom setups. The COVID years were dark and depressing at times, but her photos always made me smile. For those kids, some of them with unstable homes, Chloe was their reason to smile. Her students didn’t just respect her, they loved her. Never one to cloak her emotions, that vulnerability in such a turbulent time was a stabilizing force in those kid’s lives. In an era where we were forced apart, she brought them close.

(Text from elementary parent)

It takes courage to be vulnerable, but children need to see it. In an educational setting, it builds trust and authenticity. It’s instrumental in creating safe emotional spaces. It helps model emotional regulation. Years in the military taught me to be guarded, rigid, and even apathetic. Chloe’s ability to channel her inner child to relate to her students was like watching a part of me that had since died. She was the inspiration that drove me to get my substitute teaching license.

During my first year as a sub, I considered quitting a few times. I had imposter syndrome, and sometimes felt like I was in a foreign world. Chloe always managed to keep me in the game. She would remind me we need more male teachers, or tell me funny stories about mistakes she once made. I realized I needed to stop being so rigid and just have fun. Emotional modeling works for adults too, and Chloe leads by example. Her ability to be so vulnerable about challenges and failure is what kept me going. Well, that and making extra cash so I could spoil her students.

Excellence

Elite military units work with precision. This precision is created through a firm chain of command. This rank structure reinforces authority and eliminates confusion or insubordination. My role as a contractor has a distinct requirement to “influence stakeholders without formal authority”. It’s not easy. While leading within this rank structure is certainly no walk in the park, leading with no rank structure is even more cumbersome. Leading middle schoolers without that rank structure to a level of excellence recognized regionally is almost unthinkable.

Joe and Kellie McInchak

And yet, Joe McInchak, along with his wife Kellie, do this every day. Joe is our school district’s band director, and I’ve had the privilege of subbing for and with Joe and his wife a few times. The respect he inspires from his students, including from my own daughter, is remarkable. I’ve never heard him raise his voice, and I’ve never heard him use threats to correct behavior. I don’t know how he does it, but I’ve witnessed the results. Our state has too: Music Teachers Dominate Across Michigan

Over Christmas, I showed my parents my poorly recorded cell phone video of a recent high school band performance. My mother, a pianist and music teacher herself, was amazed. She said she had never heard that level of precision from a 9th grade performance. “I can even hear the effort put into phrasing!” she told me. What amazed me was that the quality Joe demanded from his students was evident even through a grainy cell phone clip.

I subbed with Joe days prior to that performance, and got to see first hand how he prepared. The students started out just as fidgety as any other class, but the way Joe responded gave me a glimpse into his leadership style. I used an example from a specific incident in another article I wrote at the time:

I’ve always been an admirer of Joe and Kellie McInchak, our district’s band directors. Today, a few 6th graders were making poor choices. They were playing their kazoos instead of listening to Joe’s direction. Joe looked at a student and said (in his calm, Joe voice), “Sometimes, we have to set the proper example so that others have something to follow”. The student raised her saxophone to her lips quietly, ready to take direction. The class began to notice, and quickly fell in line. Joe’s words hit me hard.

From: A Message To The Bullies

Good leaders lead. Great leaders inspire. I spent six years studying psychology, but all the textbook theory in the world did not prepare me to lead. I was inspired by Joe’s leadership just as his students were, and by his commitment to excellence in every small detail. In a way, I’m a student of Joe’s as well. When a good leader leaves, the “troops” suffer. When a great leader leaves, the “troops” retain that inspiration and become leaders themselves. My own daughter is a testament to the leadership Joe inspires.

Perseverance

“Good morning! We’re so happy you’re here today!” Was the greeting I got from Tecumseh Middle School principal Trisha Howard the first day I clocked in as a substitute teacher. I work as a defense contractor in my “day job” with many retired military folks. No one is that happy. I smiled back as I wondered how many expresso shots went in her latte. Like my first experience with Chloe, I had trouble processing how that much positivity could ever be genuine.

Tecumseh Middle School Principal Trisha Howard

I would describe my time in Iraq as chaotic. A typical shift started by directing an AC-130U gunship into it’s parking spot between two concrete walls, in the dead of night, with no flood or landing lights, using glowsticks, while being ready to run for cover from mortar attacks. After two years at our local middle school, I would now describe my daily routine overseas as a “slow Tuesday” compared to the stressors middle school administrators face.

AC-130U Gunship, Balad AB, Iraq

Imagine, if you will, being charged with the education of almost 800 students. Your district closes two schools, so now you have new grades, with no additional facilities or resources. You have a furnace that trips the fire alarm at random times, forcing periodic evacuation of all 800 students. The district can’t afford to replace it. You go home and scroll Facebook to see angry parents rallying pitchforks because the evacuation cut into their student’s lunch hour. It’s all your fault even if it isn’t.

Tecumseh Middle School Vice Principal Kris Hoag

I was a sub one of the days this occurred. I told our vice principal, Kris Hoag, that I thought they did a splendid job handling it. He said, “That’s it, we’re not perfect, but we can adapt quickly”. The Prussian military strategist Carl von Clausewitz once wrote, “No campaign plan survives first contact with the enemy”. Trisha and Kris face first contacts with the “enemies” of unknown and unforeseen situations on a daily, even hourly basis. They lead, and each time they adapt, and they overcome.

They overcome, and they find the time to serve pancakes to veterans. They overcome, and find the time to individually mentor students. They overcome, and they somehow find a way to keep smiling, making new subs like me feel welcome. Perseverance is what separates good leaders from great leaders. We all have good days and bad days, but it takes real leadership to maintain consistency through both. Our motto in Tecumseh Schools is “Every Student, Every Day”. “Most days” would be easy, “every day” is not. It takes perseverance. Trisha and Kris model this every day. And the smile is always genuine.

Unsung Heroes

I consider myself a student of leadership. I’ve often lamented that I never had good mentors in the military, but I realized leadership is often demonstrated through action, not lecture. I became an educator to be the mentor I didn’t have, but ended up being mentored by example from those I “stood next to”, as my uncle had in Korea. Each of these unsung heroes demonstrated leadership traits that I’ve carried with me in every aspect of my life, even as a parent.

We use the phrase “unsung heroes” as a reference to when great warriors would have minstrels singing their stories in local taverns. While these educators might not have their songs sung in the taverns, their songs are sung elsewhere. They are sung by an entire generation of children that had true leadership modeled for them. They are sung when these students become the leaders they were inspired to be. They are sung by veterans like me as I tell my daughter, “This is leadership”.

If you don’t already follow @randomrecruiter, do it now. You won’t regret it. I had this article in my draft’s folder when I read his tweet that perfectly summarized the article I was writing:

Credit: @RandomRecruiter on X

It all comes down to the value you can deliver today. So how does this translate to a resume? Consider Daenerys Targaryen’s in the HBO series Game of Thrones. As the show went on, Daenerys stacked up quite the resume: Protector of the Seven Kingdoms, Breaker of Chains, Mother of Dragons, etc. I don’t want to hire an anti-slavery advocate, I want to hire someone who already broke chains. Why? Because in the Earned Value world, I can’t bill the customer until the first chain is broken. I need results.

Resumes need results. In the EV planning world, we call these “action verbs”. We don’t bill the customer to “discuss” something, we bill them to submit, or conclude, or finalize. The same is true for résumé’s. The resume you submitted with “five years of experience in sales” is sitting next to 300 other resumes that all say “experience in sales”, but what value did that experience create for the company? When value is created, results speak for themselves.

Let’s use a real-world analogy. During the pandemic, I was a field engineer for a modern fighter Jet. On my resume, I explained my duties as interpreting engineering documents. I was significantly more advanced than some of my peers, but our resumes were identical. So what made me so advanced? Results. I authored a deficiency report that saved the program tens of thousands of dollars.

Jacob Willey: Interpreter of documents

Jacob Willey: Author of product improvement resulting in $10k savings

Results don’t necessarily have to come from your 9-5 job. If you know anything about service organizations, you know they put you to work as soon as you’re a member. Holly (my wife) has managed projects as a Rotarian anywhere from water purification in Haiti to running a hurricane shelter during hurricane Irma. As a recent graduate, her volunteer work provides results to compliment her education. Your local Rotary, Kiwanis, or other service organization is a great place to start for those that need results!

So take another look at your resume. What resulted from your efforts? If you were hired today, what could you produce tomorrow? What value do you deliver on day one?

With the rise in online dating and influencers such as Andrew Tate, there has been a corresponding rise in the popularity of “Dark Psychology”. Dark psychology is a term that encompasses various psychological practices and theories often associated with manipulation, coercion, and control over others for nefarious purposes. The roots of dark psychology can be traced back to ancient civilizations where manipulation was used in various forms, whether through rhetoric in ancient Greece or through strategic alliances and betrayals in political and military contexts across different cultures. While not recognized in any respectable circles within the field of psychology, it is worth discussion as an increasingly popular topic.

Development in Psychology

Sigmund Freud's theories on the unconscious mind and human behavior laid the groundwork for understanding how one might manipulate others by exploiting unconscious desires or fears. Freud's ideas about the id, ego, and superego suggest ways individuals might be manipulated through their basic drives. Later in the early 20th century, behaviorists like B.F. Skinner explored how behavior could be conditioned. Techniques like operant conditioning could be used in dark contexts to shape behavior through reinforcement or punishment. Psychologist James Vicary also made his contribution by developing the use of subliminal messaging to get moviegoers to drink Coca-Cola in 1957. While many of these practices are used on a wide scale for good, their application for personal gain can be considered a dark use.

Modern Conceptualization - The Dark Triad

This term was coined around 2002 by psychologists Delroy Paulhus and Kevin Williams to describe three socially aversive personality traits: Narcissism (grandiosity, entitlement, and a lack of empathy), Machiavellianism (manipulation, cynicism, and deceit), and Psychopathy (lack of empathy, superficial charm, and impulsivity). Niccolò Machiavelli's book "The Prince" (1532) is often cited as one of the earliest explicit treatments of manipulation in political power.

Over time, numerous techniques have been identified and studied, including: Gaslighting (making someone doubt their reality or sanity), Love Bombing (overwhelming someone with affection to gain control), and Brainwashing (a form of thought reform that radically changes an individual's beliefs and behaviors). These traits, when combined, form a basis for understanding individuals who might engage in dark psychological practices.

Examples In Social Media

“Mindful Wellness”, a somewhat popular blog on Substack, claims to share dark psychology secrets. In a recent post, this account advises its readers to, “Hide your sadness, no one cares” and “Be alone, not everyone will stay forever”. While most would recognize this as the bitter ramblings of a teenager, posts like these get significant traction on social media. We are quick as a society to share pop psychology mantras that sound inspirational without ever questioning the source or their credibility.

The Twitter (now X) account @DarkPsychForMen advises men to woo potential suitors by “getting them addicted first”, suggesting the reader show attention to a woman only to walk away mid-conversation. Their post goes on to say that men should treat a woman like she is always secondary, never the most important in their lives. It is unlikely that any man in a successful marriage would advocate for these beliefs, and yet these accounts have amassed large followings of frustrated, lonely young men.

Ethical and Academic Concerns

The term “Dark Psychology” has gained popularity in self-help and pop psychology, often used to describe books and online courses that teach about manipulation techniques. I see it all the time as a part-time substitute teacher at my local middle school. Influencers like Andrew Tate prey on young men, using social media to portray “true masculinity”, which is nothing more than hedonism and materialism. It is no better for young women.

Modern psychology emphasizes ethical practices, with many organizations and regulatory bodies ensuring psychologists work to help rather than harm. However, the study of dark psychology has led to better understanding of how to protect individuals from manipulation. While the term "dark psychology" might not be formally used in academic circles, the study of malevolent human behavior, manipulation, and control is crucial in fields like forensic psychology, social psychology, and organizational behavior.

Conclusion

In summary, while "dark psychology" as a distinct field might not be formally recognized in academia, the concepts it encompasses have long historical roots and are critical for understanding both human behavior and safeguarding against manipulation. It is not some new power to be wielded like a shaman, but rather a catchy phrase for less-than-desirable human behavior that has been around since the dawn of time.

Like most psychology majors, I started out pursuing a degree in clinical psychology. I had just finished my associate’s degree and was fortunate enough to attend the APA conference in San Francisco as a guest of Dr. Reneau Kennedy. Of all the things I learned at that conference, one major takeaway was that a bachelor’s degree in psychology is only the beginning. I left the conference eager to get my doctorate in psychology, but quickly realized it wasn’t in the cards for me to do so. At least not yet. If you’re reading this and you relate, I have great news: you can turn a four year degree in psychology into a career.

At the start of the COVID pandemic, I was looking to move out of the Fresno area. I applied for a job within my company on the east coast in the financial sector having no experience in finance, so I was surprised when I got an interview. At the end of the interview, the hiring manager said, “I don’t mind that you don’t have experience, I need team members who know how to communicate, and I’ve had success with psychology majors”. This was the first time my psychology degree was recognized, and it was not in a traditional “psych field”. To make a bachelors in psychology work for you, you have to break down your education / experience into core components.

The average salary for a licensed social worker, a common career for those with a four-year degree in psychology, is around $75k per year . The average salary for a senior manager is double that. Both jobs share roughly the same core components:

• Analyze and solve complex problems

• Effectively communicate (both oral and written communication)

• Display teamwork skills

• Think critically and display analytical reasoning skills 

• Show ethical judgment and strong decision-making skills 

• Demonstrate technology skills

List developed through Hart Research’s Falling Short? College Learning and Career Success (PDF, 317KB)

Many psychology majors find successful careers in sales, management, education, and finance. In my previous role, my psych degree prepped me to make a culture shift. In my current job, it prepped me to improve communication with our government customer. I’m also a substitute teacher in my spare time. If you’ve ever had to organize a room full of 30 teenagers, you can imagine how a background in psychology is very useful. My resume reflects not only the technical skills I developed, but also skills in culture, communication, and education.

The functional resume is perhaps your best friend, especially if you’re fresh out of school with no work experience. The resume we’re all used to is referred to as a chronological resume. It lists your employers and universities in chronological order. The functional resume puts your skills ahead of your experience. Using sales as an example (I have never worked in sales), my functional resume would look like this:

Sales

Lockheed Martin - Brand Ambassador for the F-35 JSF program, providing guidance on aircraft capability and endurance to the US military customer.

Rotary International - Social Media Chair, utilizing social media for recruitment and collaboration with other clubs, educating local community on RI outreach programs.

University of Auburn - Researched / authored an intervention for the City of Clinton Police Department to reduce cost through employee training.

In the first example, the military already bought the aircraft, but I played a part in ensuring the customer was satisfied with the product. In the second example, I never sold a product, but I did sell an idea (community involvement, civic duty, etc). In the last example, I used a project I did within my graduate program to “sell” a cost-reducing training program. Using a functional resume is a great way to amplify the skills you’ve learned in psychology. While you may not need “work” experience, volunteer experience is a great resume-filler and can often lead to job opportunities.

My counterpart in the previous role where I was hired due to my psychology degree had a master’s in sports psychology. I’m quite sure it was her excellent communication skills that made a good impression on our boss. She didn’t start out with planning experience either, but she had been heavily involved with the Boys and Girls Club of America. I’ve been a Rotarian since 2016 and it has provided me with experience I would never get anywhere else. In any town, there are non-profits desperate for someone to take over a project, train workers, or change the culture. This is where we psych majors really shine.

Finally, there is what I like to call “blending”. For those willing to go beyond a four year degree, but not keen on licensure as a psychologist, there are other programs that can be paired (or “blended”) with a bachelor’s in psychology. Business is a great route for a graduate program, whether via an MSIOP (Master of Science in Industrial and Organizational Psychology) graduate program, a Masters in Business Administration (MBA), or certification in project management (PMP). Some universities, such as the University of Hartford in Connecticut, allow you to earn a duel-masters in both MBA and MSIOP within the same program. Human Resource Management (HRM) is also a high-paying field that is in high demand currently and benefits from a background in psychology.

Psychology is a field with many unique specializations, but it can also be the foundation of other pursuits. A coworker once told me that we choose jobs based on three criteria: the money, the location, or the intrinsic satisfaction of the job itself. When considering what to do with your psychology degree, consider what you want most. Picture yourself in the ideal job in five years, then arrange the components of your experience and education in such a way that it highlights the skills needed for that position. A psychology degree is like a sword: anyone can get one, but not everyone knows how to wield it. Wield your degree well, and you’ll find the right career.

References:

Stamm, K., Lin, L., & Christidis, P. (2016, June 1). What do people do with their psychology degrees? Monitor on Psychology, 47(6). https://www.apa.org/monitor/2016/06/datapoint