CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO IO PSYCHOLOGY

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

it is the application of the principles in psychology to the workplace that relies on research, quantitative methods, and testing techniques.

Industrial Approach

focuses on determining the competencies needed to perform a job. Involves staffing the organization with employees who have those competencies.

Organizational Approach

it creates an organizational structure and culture that will motivate employees to perform well. Focuses on providing good working conditions.

Personnel Psychology

concentrate on the selection and evaluation of employees. it analyze jobs to obtain a complete picture of what each employee does, often assigning monetary values to each position

Organizational Psychology

investigates the behavior of employees within the context of an organization, usually serving in the role of a consultant. Makes recommendations on ways problem areas can be improved. concerned with the issues of leadership, job satisfaction, employee motivation, organizational communication, conflict management, organizational change, and group processes within an organization.

Human Factors

workplace design, human-machine interaction, ergonomics, and physical fatigue and stress. frequently work with engineers and other technical professionals to make the workplace safer and more efficient.

Army Alpha

an intelligence test used by army for soldiers who can read

Army Beta

an intelligence test used by the army who CANNOT read.

Hawthorne Studies

a series of studies that have to represent any change in behavior when people react to a change in environment.

Hawthorne Effect

when employees change their behavior due to solely to the fact that they are receiving attention or are being observed

Hypothesis

An educated prediction about the answer to a research question

Theory

A systematic set of assumptions regarding the cause and nature of behavior.

Journals

A written collection of articles describing the methods and results of new research

Trade Magazines

A collection of articles for those “in the biz,” about related professional topics, seldom directly reporting the methods and results of new research.

Magazines

An unscientific collection of articles about a wide range of topics

External validity

The extent to which research results can be expected to hold true outside the specific setting in which they were obtained.

Cause-and-effect relationships

The result of a well-controlled experiment about which the researcher can confidently state that the independent variable caused the change in the dependent variable.

Quasi-experiments

Research method in which the experimenter either does not manipulate the independent variable or in which subjects are not randomly assigned to conditions.

Archival research

Another research method that is commonly used in I/O psychology that involves the use of previously collected data.

Practical significance

The extent to which the results of a study have actual impact on human behavior.

Type A dilemma

a high level of uncertainty as to what is right or wrong, there appears to be no best solution, and there are both positive and negative consequences to a decision

Type B dilemma

also called rationalizing dilemmas, the difference between right and wrong is much clearer than in a Type A dilemma. Usually, individuals know what is right but choose the solution that is most advantageous to themselves