I/O psychology

-I/O psychology is the psychology applied to work

-The behavior of an individual in the work place

-Motivation to work and feelings about work

Psychology- scientific study of the behavior of people

-I/O is made up of two parts:

1) Research methodology used to discover things about work

2) Put them into work; apply

-Three major sub fields: personnel, organizational and human factors/ergonomics

1) Personnel Psychology – deals with the selection of personnel

-Performance appraisal, job analysis (backbone of I/O psychology)

-Training: understanding the job well enough to know who to hire and how well they are doing.

-Job attitudes: whether or not the employees are satisfied and committed.

2) Organizational Psychology

-Deals with leadership and work motivation

-Divide into teams and see how the group affects individuals.

3) Human Factors/ Ergonomics Psychology

-Human Ergonomics- study of the work place fitting the human

-studies the workplace and job designs, the safety and the usability of equipment.

-Where do I/O psychologists work?

-Academia (scientists) doing research and teaching

-Production such as a teacher producing knowledge

-Researchers publish projects in journals

-Important to get research seen by the people who it would benefit.

-Industry (practitioners)

-Government is the largest employer

-Office of personnel management is staffed with I/O psychologists to determine who to hire.

-The military, consulting firms (go to clients) and in-house consultants are employers.

-Salary: for PhD I/O psychologist $40-$50k a yr; Industry Master or PhD $35-65k a yr; PhD for higher level makes $50-$80k a yr.

HISTORY

1900-1917 (about 10 I/O psychologists in the U.S.)

-Topics of interest in psychology:

1) Skill acquisition – how do people learn to be quick and efficient at their job

2) Personnel selection- what might individual indifferences mean when it comes time to hiring people (interests).

3) Important Job design – efficiency maximization (most frequently studied).

Two parties studied this area early on:

1) Frank and Lillian Gilberths

-Wanted to find most efficiency with activity

-Pioneered time and motion studies.

-Called units of time “therbligs” (their last name backwards).

2) Fredrick Taylor

-Focused more about productivity (showed how taking breaks is important)

-Wrote Scientific Management.

-Scientific management is the breaking down of jobs into smaller and smaller parts.

-Bad results from small jobs: boredom, injury and fatigue

-Good results from small jobs: increased productivity

-At this time all psychologists were working in academic settings.

WWI – 1929 (about 50 I/O psychologists working in the U.S.)

-Two separate groups of psychologists approached the military.

-Selection of officers using psychological intelligence tests (Alpha and Beta units).

-Psychoanalysis of recruits.

-Selection tests are not totally effective (only educated people show intelligence)

-Minorities are hurt by the test (and uneducated people)

-Two main groups formed:

1) The Scott Company: formed by Walter Dill Scott and focused on selection testing.