Industrial-Organizational Psychology Review Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering fundamental concepts, historical background, research methodology, legal and structural contexts, and work analytic criteria from Chapters 1 through 4 of I-O Psychology.

Industrial-Organizational (I-O) Psychology

An area of scientific study and professional practice that addresses psychological processes, concepts, and principles in the work world.

Time and Motion Studies

Studies focused on determining the most efficient body motions per unit of time required to perform a task.

Walter D. Scott

An early I-O psychologist who applied psychology to persuasion and advertising, helped implement army testing procedures in World War I, and increased the field's public credibility.

Frederick W. Taylor

The developer of the Principles of Scientific Management who improved worker efficiency through methods such as rest breaks.

Lillian Moller Gilbreth

An early founding figure in I-O psychology who was among the first to recognize the effects of stress and fatigue on workers.

Army Alpha and Army Beta

Intelligence tests developed during World War I by Robert Yerkes and colleagues; Army Alpha was a written test, while Army Beta was a pictorial test designed for illiterate recruits (approx. $30\text{\%}$ of recruits).

Hawthorne Effect

A phenomenon where individuals alter their behavior due to environmental changes or the presence of researchers rather than the variable being manipulated.

Morris Viteles

An author and researcher who wrote a foundational textbook advancing I-O psychology beyond personnel selection and served as an exemplar of the scientist-practitioner model.

Scientist-Practitioner Model

A framework requiring professionals to understand scientific findings and principles within a discipline and use them as the basis for professional practice.

Scientist-Practitioner Gap

The difference between research findings on organizational management and how organizations are managed in practice.

Licensure

Legal regulation defined by state law that restricts who is legally qualified to practice psychology.

Generalizability

The extent to which conclusions drawn from one specific research study spread or apply to a broader population.

Theory

A statement that proposes to explain relationships among phenomena of interest.

Inductive Method

A research approach that starts by collecting data and observing patterns, from which a theoretical explanation is formulated.

Deductive Method

A research approach that starts with an existing theory and subsequently collects data to test that theory.

External Validity

The degree to which the conclusions of a study remain valid and generalizable outside of the specific research context.

Internal Validity

The extent to which an observed relationship between variables in a study is real and unconfounded by alternative factors.

True Experiment

A research design where the investigator manipulates the variable of interest and uses random assignment to establish causal relationships.

Quasi-Experiment

A research design where variables cannot be manipulated or participants cannot be randomly assigned, providing higher generalizability but less experimental control.

Meta-Analysis

A statistical study that combines and aggregates the numerical results of multiple existing studies to estimate the true underlying relationship between variables.

File Drawer Effect

The publication bias wherein studies with statistically significant or positive results are published, while null or non-significant findings remain unpublished in file drawers.

Data Mining

The practice of using large-volume datasets characterized by immense Volume, Velocity, and Variety ("Big Data") to extract statistical indices and predict behavior without necessarily testing theories.

Ethnography

A qualitative research approach involving direct field observation to study a culture from external (etic) or internal (emic) perspectives.

Correlation Coefficient ($r$)

A statistic ranging from $-1.00$ to $+1.00$ that measures the direction and magnitude of a linear relationship between two variables.

HARKing

The unethical research practice of Hypothesizing After the Results are Known, which can be mitigated through study preregistration.

Departmentalization

The organizational structural context of dividing work into units or functions that perform similar activities.

Span of Control

The number of individual employees a manager is directly responsible for supervising, where small spans create tall organizational structures and large spans create flat structures.

Formalization

The degree to which clear, explicit rules, policies, and procedures define expectations for employees within an organization.

Humanitarian Work Psychology

The branch of I-O psychology focused on applying psychological concepts to relieve global poverty, promote social justice, and protect worker rights.

Diversity

The structural representation of different groups and identities within an organization.

Equity

Fairness and justice achieved by providing individuals with the specific, tailored resources required to gain equal access and opportunities.

Inclusion

The integration and acceptance of diverse individuals as their authentic selves within an organization without requiring them to assimilate.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

An organization's active commitment to society and the environment through the integration of economic, social, and environmental goals (the "Triple Bottom Line": People, Planet, Profit).

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Federal legislation prohibiting employment discrimination based on five protected classes: race, color, religion, gender, and national origin.

Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ)

An exception to Title VII that allows an employer to hire based on protected attributes if doing so is reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that business.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)

1967 federal law protecting individuals aged $40\text{ years}$ and older from employment discrimination and banning mandatory retirement ages in most fields.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

1990 legislation defining a disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits major life activities, requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations unless it poses an undue hardship.

Adverse Impact

A legal condition occurring when a neutral employment practice disproportionately disadvantages members of a protected class, regardless of intent.

4/5ths Rule

A rule of thumb for determining adverse impact: if the selection ratio of a protected group is less than $80\%$ (four-fifths) of the selection ratio of the majority group, adverse impact is indicated.

Disparate Treatment

Intentional discrimination where individuals are explicitly treated differently in employment decisions based on protected group status.

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

1993 legislation mandating up to $12\text{ weeks}$ of unpaid leave for childbirth, adoption, foster care, personal illness, or caring for an immediate family member with a serious health condition.

Conceptual Criteria

The theoretical, abstract ideal of standard performance or success that cannot be directly measured.

Actual Criteria

The empirical, operationalized operational measures used as real-world stand-ins for conceptual criteria.

Criterion Deficiency

The portion of the conceptual criterion that is left unmeasured by the actual criterion.

Criterion Relevance

The degree of overlap between the conceptual criterion and the actual criterion.

Criterion Contamination

The portion of the actual criterion that measures factors unrelated to the conceptual criterion, composed of systematic bias and random error.

Work Analysis

A systematic process that documents work content, worker attributes, and work context to explain job activities and determine necessary human attributes.

KSAOs

An acronym for Knowledge (specific information), Skills (practiced proficiencies), Abilities (enduring capacities), and Other characteristics (personality attributes) required for a job.

Functional Job Analysis (FJA)

A classic task-oriented work analysis procedure that rates tasks based on required interactions with People, Data, and Things.

Linkage Analysis

The analytic process of connecting task statements directly to worker KSAO statements to determine which attributes are essential for specific tasks.

Subject Matter Expert (SME)

An individual who provides detailed job descriptive data, typically a job incumbent, immediate supervisor, or trained work analyst.

O*NET

An online occupational database developed by the U.S. Department of Labor containing worker traits and job characteristics across approximately $900\text{ occupations}$.

Competency Modeling

An organizational method identifying core, broad employee capabilities (competencies) designed to align employee qualities directly with corporate mission and culture.

Presenteeism

The act of attending work while ill or impaired when taking time off is advisable, often incurring higher costs than absenteeism.

Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB)

Intentional employee behaviors that harm the organization (e.g., property damage, working slowly) or individuals within it (e.g., bullying, gossip).

Surface Acting

An emotional labor strategy involving the faking of required emotional displays without modifying underlying feelings, leading to higher stress and emotional exhaustion.

Deep Acting

An emotional labor strategy where an employee attempts to genuinely modify internal feelings to align with required organizational emotional expressions.

Citizenship Behavior

Discretionary, extra-role employee actions that go beyond formal job duties to support coworkers and promote overall organizational welfare.

Dynamic Criteria

Aspects of employee job performance that systematically change or fluctuate over time due to practice, technological changes, or additional training.