EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
BECOMING A SPACE PSYCHOLOGIST
Have your students ever wondered how living in space feels like and how it influences astronauts? Then they might be interested in this STEM job profile! Space Psychologists are dealing with human mental processes in space-related activities, and understand how living in space, influences astronauts. They explore how space crews are capable of maintaining successful collaboration. So if your students are curious about the human mind, if they have analytical and critical thinking, and if they are willing to step outside their comfort zone, then this might be the right career for them!
SKILLS
Find out about the key skills to become a Space Psychologist.
Active Listening
This skill makes the professional able to understand in-depth the implications of certain behaviour and attitudes. It is essential to deliver psychological analyses or formulate on-point research questions.
Motivation
Searching the route of behaviours that cannot be explained yet, demands an inner drive. A psychologist is intrigued to explore human nature and behaviour in various social contexts.
Writing
As is the case with every researcher, writing reports and scientific articles is one of the regular tasks of psychologists. Being able to capture complex thinking process in a paper is a needful skill.
Collaboration
Working with others is a by definition prerequisite of this job. Interacting with patients and working with them towards a common goal is one of the main responsibilities of a psychologist.
Flexibility
In order to follow this career path, psychologists must be willing to step outside their comfort zone.
Personal Responsibility
Evaluating the mental state of an individual that is about to get isolated and outside of his comfort zone for a long-term period, is not to be taken lightly. It demands to own your responsibility and follow a strict ethical code.
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Meet Dr Pedro Marquez Quinteiro
Dr Pedro Marques-Quinteiro is a postdoctoral fellow at William James Center for Research, Instituto Universitário (ISPA), in Lisbon, Portugal. Natural from Sesimbra, Portugal, he graduated in General Psychology in 2007, and completed a Master in Human Resources, Work, and Organizational Psychology in 2009; both at the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Lisbon, Portugal. In 2009, Pedro enrolled in ISCTE-IUL, where he completed his PhD in Human Resources Management and Development.
Currently, Pedro is a principal investigator in a series of research projects funded by the Portuguese Science Foundation, and the Portuguese Polar Program examining teamwork effectiveness in space analogue environments (i.e., Antarctica).
CC BY 4.0: all the materials and content presented on this STEM Job profile have been provided by Space Awareness, a project funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Programme under grant agreement nº 63865.
