The recent explicit and abrupt rift between science and federal policymaking governance highlights the somewhat tenuous relationship between the 2. As a discipline, the question of engaging public policy asks when, how, and under what conditions. However, simply producing more science or informing policymakers about our science is insufficient and ineffective (John, 2017). This paper argues that psychological scientists interested in engaging with public policy would benefit from 3 broad understandings. First, we must understand policymaking as a complex system with multiple individual and organizational stakeholders. Second, we must consider the policymaking process as more than a simple linear or even circular process, and instead as a dynamic recursive process. Finally, we must know what is considered “research” and how research might or might not be used in that complex system process. Controversies over engagement, objectivity, and advocacy should not deter psychologists from engaging with the policy process. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)