Peter J. McEachern

Peter J. McEachern

Peter J. McEachern

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Industrial/Organizational Psychology: Meaningful and meaningless work; labor unions and other forms of collective resistance; anti-work and critical work psychology; the work-nonwork interface; workplace democracy; moral injury at work; worker dignity, health, and wellbeing

Most people call me "Pete."

I am a second year PhD student in George Mason University's I-O Psychology program working under Dr. Lauren Kuykendall. 

Broadly speaking, my research interests center on the power dynamics of the employment relationship and efforts to alter these dynamics, with a particular focus on attitudes, behaviors, and situational variables that affect and are affected by such processes. I have published research on the antecedents of labor union participation, the political dynamics of meaningful work, and the role of meaningless language (i.e., BS) in the workplace. With George Alliger, I coauthored a forthcoming focal article in Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice describing how the philosophy of anti-work can enhance I-O psychology research and practice. I am currently working on further research on the political psychology of meaningful work and assisting in Dr. Kuykendall's lab on some studies relating to the work-nonwork interface.

Selected Publications

Alliger, G. M., & McEachern, P. J. (in press). Antiwork offers many opportunities for I/O psychologists. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2023.49 [Both authors contributed equally.]

McEachern, P. J., & McEachern, R. W. (2022). Should we teach students how to bullshit?. Writing and Pedagogy, 14(2), 163-182. https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.21554

McEachern, P. J., & Kuykendall, L. E. (2021). Industrial, organizational, political? Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 14(4), 600-604. https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2021.101

McEachern, P. J., & Budnick, C. J. (2020). Socioeconomic differences in worker involvement in labor union activities. The Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, 25(3), 278-290. https://doi.org/10.24839/2325-7342.JN25.3.278 [for full paper, scroll down to the article abstract and click on the title]

Expanded Publication List

Alliger, G. M., & McEachern, P. J. (in press). Antiwork offers many opportunities for I/O psychologists. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 17(1). [Both authors contributed equally]

Zhou, S., Aitken, J., McEachern, P. J., & McCauley, R. (2022). Data from 990 public real-world job advertisements organized by O*NET categories. Journal of Open Psychology Data, 10(17), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.5334/jopd.69  

McEachern, P. J., & McEachern, R. W. (2022). Should we teach students how to bullshit?. Writing and Pedagogy, 14(2), 163-182. https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.21554

McEachern, P. J., & Kuykendall, L. E. (2021). Industrial, organizational, political? Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 14(4), 600-604. https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2021.101

McEachern, P. J., & Budnick, C. J. (2020). Socioeconomic differences in worker involvement in labor union activities. The Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, 25(3), 278-290. https://doi.org/10.24839/2325-7342.JN25.3.278 [for full paper, scroll down to the article abstract and click on the title]

Grants and Fellowships

Southern Connecticut State University Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship - Summer 2019

Courses Taught

Spring 2024:

PSYC 301 Research Methods (lecture)
PSYC 333 PSYC 333 Introduction to Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Education

M.A. Industrial/Organizational Psychology, George Mason University (2022)

B.S. Applied Psychology, Southern Connecticut State University (2019)

Recent Presentations

Bazzoli, A. (Chair), Shoss, M. K. (Co-chair), Alliger, G. M., Blustein, D. L., McEachern, P. J., & Saxena, M. (2023, April). Exploring the space of critical work psychology: Implications for research and practice [Panel]. Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Annual Conference, Boston, MA, United States. 

McEachern, P. J., & Kuykendall, L. E. (2023, April). Control over care: The social cognitive environment of the US labor market [Poster]. Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Annual Conference, Boston, MA, United States.

McEachern, P. J., Howard, Z., & Kuykendall, L. E. (2022, April). Identity, agency, and employee reactions to management of meaning [Poster]. Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, United States.

McEachern, P. J., & Kuykendall, L. E. (2021, November). Management of meaning, the employment relationship, and worker wellbeing: Test of a model [Poster]. 2021 Work, Stress, and Health Conference (virtual).

McEachern, R. W., & McEachern, P. J. (2021, October). Should we teach students how to bullshit? Allowing students to fit into a speech community, engage in day-to-day interaction, and bolster their image and identity [Panel]. Bridging the Gap between Workplace Writing and Professional Writing Instruction: New Directions in Business and Technical Writing Pedagogy (virtual).