Peter J. McEachern
Peter J. McEachern
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Industrial/Organizational Psychology: Job crafting; the work-nonwork interface; organized labor; anti-work and critical work psychology; meaningful and meaningless work; worker dignity, health, and wellbeing
Peter (Pete) McEachern is a 2022 MA graduate and 4th-year PhD student in GMU's I-O psychology program working with Dr. Lauren Kuykendall. He studies how people relate to their work, and how that in turn affects individual and collective advocacy in organizations. Specific areas of focus have included the work-nonwork interface, meaningful and meaningless work, job crafting, organized labor, and critical work psychology.
He has presented on his research and praxis at meetings of the Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology (SIOP), the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI), and the American Public Health Association (APHA), and has published work in The Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, Writing and Pedagogy, and Industrial-Organizational Psychology. He will serve as an editor and chapter contributor on a forthcoming volume of critical and counter-normative perspectives on work psychology, to be published by Oxford University Press.
In summer 2025, he took part in the Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP), where worked with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776 to study and address the origins of customer harassment and violence in retail and grocery stores.
A passionate educator, he created and currently teaches "Shaping Organizations," a course that blends organizational and political science, for GMU's Honors College.
Outside of work, Pete enjoys trivia, feeding the birds in his backyard, rooting for Boston and DC sports teams, and making music.
Selected Publications
Koziel, R. J., McEachern, P. J., & Truman, K. (in press). No more missed opportunities: Benefits and methods of educating the next generation of I-O psychologists to work with labor unions. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice.
Alliger, G. M., & McEachern, P. J. (2024). 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
Grants and Fellowships
Southern Connecticut State University Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship - Summer 2019
Courses Taught
Current (as instructor of record):
HNRS 260 Shaping Organizations
Fall 2025:
HNRS 110 Principles of Research and Inquiry (as Graduate Teaching Assistant)
Past semesters (all as Instructor of Record):
PSYC 100 Introduction to Psychology
PSYC 231 Social Psychology
PSYC 301 Research Methods (lecture and lab sections)
PSYC 320 Tests and Measurements (lecture)
PSYC 333 Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Education
M.A. Industrial/Organizational Psychology, George Mason University (2022)
B.S. Applied Psychology, Southern Connecticut State University (2019)
Recent Presentations
McEachern, P. J., & Kuykendall, L. E. (2025, June). Needs frustration, work identity, and crafting for better work-life balance. In P. J. McEachern & K. Carriere (Co-Chairs). Workplace advocacy across levels: Individual, organizational, and community perspectives [Symposium]. Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Summer Conference, Portland, OR, United States.
Koziel, R. J., McEachern, P. J., Thomas, C. L. (Co-Chairs), Bazzoli, A., Cubrich, M., Phetmisy, C. N., Saxena, M., Snoeyink, M. J., & Watson, G. P. (2025, April). Research with workers at the margins: A discussion on research, theory, and advocacy [Panel]. Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Annual Conference, Denver, CO, United States.
Stoa, R. (Chair), Agars, M., Kath, L., McEachern, P. J., & Sitzmann, T. (2025, April). Human being vs human doing: IO psychology and internalized capitalism [Panel]. Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Annual Conference, Denver, CO, 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, 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. Bridging the Gap between Workplace Writing and Professional Writing Instruction: New Directions in Business and Technical Writing Pedagogy (virtual).