Updated Industrial psychology exam 1

Psychology

the scientific study of behavior & mental processes

Industrial Psychology

associated with job analysis, training, selection, & performance measurement/appraisal. It is more technical

organizational psychology

more relational

Objective #1 of I/O Psychology is

to conduct research in an effort to increase our knowledge & understanding of human work behavior

Objective #2 of I/O Psychology is

To apply/use that knowledge to improve the work behavior, the work environment, & the psychological conditions of workers

Selection Area

The validation of selection instruments to ensure that they adequately predict job performance

Performance Management Area

measures performance

Training & Development Area

Training

Quality of Work Life Area

Developing & administrating attitude survey to asses for job satisfaction, motivation, & organizational commitment

Organizational Development Area

how the physical, social, & psychological environments affect worker behavior

Army Alpha test

was used for individuals who could read & write

Army Beta test

was used for individuals with limited literacy

The Hawthorne effect participants change in behavior when they know theyre being observed & concerned with the expectations

The Hawthorne effect

Worker morale

workers in repetitive & unsatisfactory positions will turn to their social environment of the work setting for motivation

World War 2

contributed greatly to the growth of I/O Psych

Critical thinkers are

okay to have their own opinions challenged & are open to new information

A lack of critical thinkers lead to employees

never questioning workplace norms or boundaries

Goals of Psychological Science

prescribe, explain, & predict behavior

Theory

a set of related ideas to explain observations. 2nd step. Leads to hypothesis.

Qualitative

more subjective

Quantitative

more objective

Experimental Method

determination between cause & effect relationships among variables

Independant variables

are manipulated

Dependant variables

are measured

Obtrusive observation

participant is aware of observation

Unobtrusive observation

participant is unaware of observation

Survey's biggest drawback

the social desirability bias

KSAOs

knowledge, skills, abilities, & other characteristics

Job Description

detailed accounting of job tasks, procedures, responsibilities, tools & equipment that are used, & the end product or service of the job

Job Specification

information about the human characteristics required to perform the job such as physical, educational, & experimental qualities

Performance Criterion

serve as a basis for appraising successful job performance

Roles of Human Resources

To understand changing nature of work & the workforce. To increase the need for workforce diversity

Control & Evolution

having a system of feedback to assess how well the HR system is working, & how well the company met it's HR plan

Realistic Job Previews are important in

increasing job commitment & satisfaction + decreasing initial turnover of new employees

Unconscious Bias

forming a quick opinion about a situation or person without being consciously aware of it

Biases affects us & our decision making processes in various ways such as

perception, attitude, behaviors, attention, & listening skills

Affinity Bias

similarity

Attribution Bias

find a cause of someone's actions

In Attribution Bias you ___________ internal traits & ___________ the external traits

overestimate, underestimate

Beauty Bias

unconsciously associating appearance with personality

Conformity Bias; Informational social Influence

when you want to be right

Conformity Bias; Normative social influence

when you wan to be liked/ approved

Asch's Experiment

Informational social influence under conformity bias.

Contrast effect

compare/ contrast

Contrast effect drawback

doesnt allow you to look at each person based on their own merits

Halo effect

focusing on 1 particularly very positive feature about the person

Horns effect

focusing on 1 particularly negative feature of a person

include more people in the recruitment process

An example of how to reduce unconscious bias

written work samples

can be valuable in predicting future job performance

Letters of Recommendations

tend to be overly positive & are often uniformative

Criteria

measures of job success typically related to performance

Parallel Forms

correlating scores on 2 different but equivalent versions of the same test

Internal consistency

examining how the various items of the instrument intercorrelate

Content validity

wether the test content adequately measures the KSAOs required by the job. Very strongly linked to job analysis

Winderlic personnel test:

measures basic verbal & numerical abilities, ability to learn simple jobs, follow instructions, solve work related problems

Snellen eye chart

most common sensory ability test

Advantage of work sample tests

can serve as a realistic job preview leading to good predictive validity

Minnesota multionasic personality inventory (MMPI):

to screen out applicants who possess some psychopathology

Unstructured interviews: questions are not predetermined and tends to be more informal

questions are not predetermined and tends to be more informal

Both situational and behavioral description interviews are based on:

a job analysis, asking consistent questions if each candidate, using a scoring guide to evaluate the applicants performance on the interview