program, Bayton began further graduate study at Columbia University, where he was taught by R. S. Woodworth and A. T. Poffenberger.
He transferred to the University of Pennsylvania and continued his graduate studies under psychologists such as L. Witmer, S. W. Fernberger, M. G. Preston, and M. Viteles.
While conducting his doctorate studies, Bayton was offered a teaching position at Virginia State College.
Partly due to the financial devastation of the Great Depression, Bayton delayed his graduate studies and became an associate professor of psychology from 1939 to 1943.
[2] From 1943 to 1945, during World War II, Bayton worked as a social service analyst for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
He taught at Morgan State College in Maryland in 1946 and returned to Howard University as a professor in 1947, where he worked for the remainder of his life.
[3] He conducted research for Dupont, IMB, Armstrong Cork, Chrysler, Eli Lilly, Curtis Publishing, Johnson and Johnson, Schick, Pet Milk, American Dairy Association, Federal Reserve Board, Smith Kline, Rench, Procter & Gamble, and the Office of Naval Research.
He was also the chairman of a committee designed to evaluate equal employment opportunity policies in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
[2] Bayton was an expert witness for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in several cases of school desegregation and job discrimination.
Generally, the upper-class was characterized as "intelligent, ambitious, industrious, neat, and progressive", while the lower-class was considered to be "ignorant, lazy, loud, and physically dirty."
[6] Bayton was prominent amongst the psychologists of his time in his efforts to advance minority group participation in professional psychology.
In his article, "Minority groups and careers in psychology" he reported on the National Institute of Mental Health conference in 1969.
[7] In another paper, "Reflections and Suggestions for Further Study Concerning the Higher Education of Negroes," Bayton reported on another conference that took place in April, 1967.
He addressed similar issues regarding how to improve the state of affairs for Black students in higher education.
[6] In other words, out-group favoritism emerged in this study, and the participants appeared to support a racial hierarchy, or "system," that was not beneficial to these subjects.
[5] Additionally, Bayton made important efforts throughout his career to increase the number of minorities in psychology and improve educational opportunities for Black people.
[7][8] According to Sherman Ross and Leslie H. Hicks of Howard University, Bayton was "always responsive to students and colleagues" and was "never too busy or uninterested."