Comprehensive Guide to Industrial-Organizational Psychology Concepts and Research Methods

Industrial Organizational Psychology

Psychology applied to the workplace

KSAO

Knowledge, skills, abilities, other

Personnel Psychology

Focuses on performance management/appraisal, individual differences and assessment, job analysis/performance, staffing and hiring, training and development

Organizational Psychology

Studies motivation, leadership, fairness and diversity, teamwork and job attitudes/satisfaction, work stress

Human Factors

Also called Engineering Psychology; involves setting up machines to work as well as possible with humans, considering capacities and limitations in a certain environment

SIOP

Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychologists; a resource with a quarterly publication featuring the latest news

Hawthorne Studies

Research at Western Electric Co. that studied productivity and found that worker motivation increased when researchers showed interest in them

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Legislation that specified demographic groups to be protected from employment discrimination

Protected Groups

Five groups specified in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act: race, color, gender, national origin, and religion

ADEA

Age Discrimination in Employment Act, enacted in 1967, protecting individuals 40 and older

ADA

Americans with Disabilities Act, enacted in 1990, protecting individuals with disabilities

Demographics of I-O Psychologists

Represent about 5 percent of all APA members, with about 45 percent being female

Median Salaries for I-O Psychologists

Average median salary for PhD in I-O psychology is $113k, and for a Master's in I-O psychology is $80k

Employment of I-O Psychologists

41 percent in academic positions, 4 percent in other, 9 percent in public organizations, 24 percent in consulting, and 22 percent in private organizations

Culture

A system in which individuals share meaning and common ways of viewing events and objects

Multiculturalism

In I-O psychology, it refers to looking at people for their job-related KSAOs rather than their individuality and nationality

World War I Tests

Army Alpha and Army Beta tests used to assess cognitive ability without reading

ASBAV

A test that measured a variety of abilities quickly, including through scantrons and paper and pencil tests

1930-1964

Period during which the Hawthorne studies were conducted, leading to insights about worker motivation

IO Psychologists' Recruitment

Corporations began recruiting I-O psychologists after observing the success of cognitive ability assessments during WWI

Job Analysis

The process of identifying the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a job

Performance Management

The process of ensuring that employees' performance aligns with the organization's goals

Individualism/collectivism

To the degree to which individuals are expected to look after themselves versus remaining integrated into family groups (usually the family).

Power distance

The degree to which less powerful members of an organization accept and expect an unequal distribution of power.

Uncertainty avoidance

The extent to which members of a culture feel comfortable in unstructured situations.

Masculinity/femininity

The distribution of emotional roles between the genders with the masculine role being seen as tough and the feminine as being tender.

Long-term versus short-term orientation

The extent to which members of a culture expect immediate versus delayed gratification of their material social and emotional needs.

Experimental research

Random assignment of participants to conditions, can be done in lab at university setting or in the field at an organization.

Quasi-experimental research

Non-random assignment of participants to conditions; allows operation within an organization but is not as robust as full experiments.

Non-experimental research

No unique assignment of participants to conditions; surveys sent out to employees do not interrupt the workflow.

Hypothesis

Prediction about relationship(s) among variables of interest.

Qualitative methods

Include procedures like observation, interview, case study, and analysis of written documents.

Quantitative methods

Tests and rating scales that yield numerical results.

Triangulation

Examine converging information from different sources, both quantitative and qualitative.

Generalizability

The ability to apply results from one study or sample to other participants or situations.

Experimental control

Characteristic of research in which possible confounding influences that might make results less reliable or harder to interpret are eliminated.

Statistical control

Using statistical techniques to control for the influence of certain variables.

Unified science of industrial and organizational psychology

The first theme of the book.

Holistic understanding of work behavior

The second theme that emphasizes not considering variables in isolation.

Cultural diversity in workforce

The third theme highlighting the vast cultural diversity of virtually any workforce.

SIOP Journals

Scientific journals and websites referenced in the note.

Descriptive statistics

Summarize, organize, describe sample of data

Frequency distribution

Horizontal x axis = scores running high to low; Vertical y axis = indicates frequency of occurrence

Variability

Standard deviation

Skew

Positive or negative; Positively skewed has the mean and the tail pulled out on the right side

Inferential Statistics

Aid in testing hypotheses and making inferences from sample data to a larger sample/population

Statistical significance

Often use p < .05 as indicator

Correlation Coefficient

Statistics or measure of association; Reflects magnitude (numerical value) & direction (+ or -) of relationship between 2 variables

Scatterplots

Within scatterplots there is a line because you are looking for a linear relationship

Correlation limits

Correlation can't be higher than 1.0 or -1.0; if it is then someone made a mistake

Highest magnitude correlation

Always the highest number; For example, -.8 is higher than .3 because it is the strongest correlation

Meta Analysis

Method for statistically combining results from many studies to draw a general conclusion

I-O psychology

Increasingly used to summarize results of many different studies in particular area (ex relationship between cognitive ability and job performance)

Reliability

The consistency or stability of a measure

Inter-Rater Reliability

Assesses consistency or agreement across raters

Test-retest reliability

Calculated by correlating measurements of the same test taken at time 1 with measurements taken at time 2.

Equivalent forms reliability

Calculated by correlating measurements from a sample of individuals who complete 2 different forms of the same test.

Internal consistency reliability

A measure of reliability that assesses the consistency of results across items within a test.

Validity

Assesses whether the measurements taken accurately and completely represent what is to be measured.

Predictor

Test chosen or developed to assess identified KSOs.

Criterion

Outcome variable such as job performance or job satisfaction.

Criterion Validity

Correlate a test score (predictor) with a job performance measure (criterion) which gives us a validity coefficient.

Predictive validity design

Involves a time lag between collection of predictor and criterion.

Concurrent validity design

No time lag between collection of predictor and criterion; performance measured collected at the same time.

Content Validity

Demonstrates that content of the selection procedure represents an adequate sample of important work behaviors or worker KSAOs as defined by job analysis.

Individual differences

Dissimilarities between or among two or more people.

Differential Psychology

The scientific study of differences between or among two or more people.

G-ocentric model

Aims to understand and predict behavior of workers outside of G.

Cognitive abilities

52 abilities divided into cognitive, physical, and perceptual motor abilities.

Intelligence as 'g'

Measures of 'g' assess reasoning ability, knowledge acquisition, and problem-solving ability.

Physical abilities

Joyce Hogan suggested that seven physical abilities are sufficient for analyzing most jobs.

Cardiovascular endurance

One of the three higher order physical abilities.

Movement quality

One of the three higher order physical abilities.

Muscular strength

One of the three higher order physical abilities.

Sensory abilities

Physical functions of vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell, and kinesthetic feedback.

Psychomotor abilities

Deal with issues of coordination, dexterity, and reaction time.

Personality (Big 5)

Model assesses personality in terms of openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (OCEAN).

Emotional intelligence (EI)

A proposed kind of intelligence focused on people's awareness of their own and others' emotions.

Test

An objective and standardized procedure for measuring a psychological construct using a sample of behavior.

Meaning of a test score

Meaning is usually assigned to test scores through norming process (norming is comparing a test score to other relevant test scores).

Norm group

A group whose test scores are used to compare and understand an individual's test score.

Test battery

Collection of tests that usually assess a variety of different attributes.

Speed test

A test with rigid and demanding time limits; most test takers will be unable to finish the test in the allotted time.

Power test

A test with no rigid time limits; enough time is given for the majority of the test takers to complete all of the test items.

Individual test

A test given only on an individual basis.

Group test

A test that can be administered to large groups of individuals; often valuable in reducing the costs (both in time and money) of testing many applicants.

Assessment content vs process

Difference between what attribute is being assessed and how it is being assessed.

Cognitive Ability Tests

Allows individuals to demonstrate what they know perceive, remember, understand or can work with mentally, includes problem identification, problem solving tasks, perceptual skills, the development or evaluation of ideas, and remembering what one has learned through general experience or specific training.

Tests of specific abilities

Bennet test of mechanical comprehension.

Cognitive test batteries

Collection of tests that assess a variety of cognitive aptitudes or abilities, often called multiple aptitude test batteries.

General aptitude test battery (GATB)

A test used to measure general aptitude.

Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB)

A test used for the military, lasting 4 hours.

Knowledge tests

Tests about the course training, etc.

Screen out Tests

Identify psychopathology, invasive; old school personality tests that were used for a long time but no longer used unless for certain kinds of jobs.

Screen in tests

A test used to add info about the positive attributes of a candidate that might predict outstanding performance; tests of normal personality are examples of screen in tests.

Big 5 test

A personality test that assesses five major dimensions of personality.

Practical issues associated with personality measures

People will fake a good personality to get a job; IO psychologists will develop forced choice personality questions.

Job interviews

A method of assessing candidates through direct conversation.

Structured interview

Assessment procedure that consists of very specific questions asked of each candidate includes tightly crafted scoring schemes with detailed outlines for the interviewer with respect to assigning ratings or scores based on interview performance.

Situational interview

Assessment procedure in which the interviewee is asked to describe in specific detail how the interviewee would respond to a hypothetical situation.