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. 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. 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.
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 66 years is over 285,000. Many of these members have gone on to distinguished careers in psychology.