Industrial/Organizational Psychology Overview

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

• A branch of psychology focused on the application of psychology principles to the workplace.
• Utilizes the scientist-practitioner model, meaning practitioners are trained as scientists and apply science to real-world problems.

Major Fields within I/O Psychology

• Personnel Psychology: Focuses on employee selection and evaluation.
• Organizational Psychology: Studies employee behavior within organizational contexts.
• Human Factors: Investigates the interaction between humans and machines.

Historical Context of I/O Psychology

• Army Alpha & Beta: Intelligence tests developed during WWI for soldiers, categorized by reading ability.
• Hawthorne Studies: A series of studies at the Western Electric plant that highlighted how changes in the work environment, even seemingly insignificant ones, could influence employee behavior.
• The Hawthorne Effect describes the phenomenon of employees altering their behavior because they're being observed or receiving attention.

I/O Psychology as a Field of Study

• Graduate programs require the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) for admission.
• Terminal Master's Degree programs offer a Master's degree but not a Ph.D.
• Internships & Practicums: Provide students with practical work experience within organizations.
• Dissertation: A formal research paper required for doctoral degree completion.

Research Methods

• Hypothesis: A testable prediction about the answer to a research question.
• Theory:: A framework of assumptions explaining the cause and nature of behavior.
• Bridge Publications: Aims to connect academic research findings with practical needs for practitioners.
• Academic Journals: Publish descriptions of research methods and findings.
• Trade Magazines: Feature professional articles, but seldom directly report on new research methods and findings.
• Laboratory Research: Conducts research in controlled settings.
• External Validity (Generalizability): Describes the extent to which research findings can be applied outside the specific research setting.
• Field Research: Conducts research in natural settings.
• Ethical Considerations:
  • Informed Consent: Subjects must give permission to participate in a study.
  • Institutional Review Boards: Committees established to ensure ethical treatment of research subjects.

Research Design

• Cause-and-Effect Relationships: Established through well-controlled experiments.
• Experiment: A research design where the independent variable is manipulated to observe its impact on the dependent variable.
• Manipulation: The deliberate alteration of a variable by the researcher.
• Independent Variable: The variable that is manipulated by the researcher.
• Dependent Variable: The variable measured to determine the impact of the independent variable.
• Experimental Group: The group receiving the treatment of interest.
• Control Group: Receives no treatment, providing a baseline for comparison.
• Quasi-Experiments: Research with either no manipulation of the independent variable or non-random assignment to conditions.
• Archival Research: Utilizes previously collected data.
• Effect Size: A statistic indicating the magnitude of the change caused by an experimental manipulation.
• Meta-Analysis: A method of combining data from multiple studies to synthesize research results.
• Mean Effect Size: The average effect size across all studies included in a meta-analysis.
• Correlation Coefficients: A statistic measuring the magnitude and direction of a relationship between variables.
• Difference Score (d): An effect size used in meta-analysis to indicate the difference in standard deviations between the experimental and control groups.
• Practical Significance: The extent to which research findings have tangible impact on human behavior.
• Standard Deviation (SD): A measure of the variability of scores in a distribution.
• Sampling Methods:
  • Random Sample: Every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.
  • Convenience Sample: Participants are selected based on easy accessibility.
• Random Assignment: Subjects are randomly assigned to experimental or control conditions.
• Debriefing: Informing subjects about the study's purpose and any relevant information.

Correlation

• A statistical technique used to measure the relationship between two variables.
• Intervening Variable: A third variable that can explain the relationship between two other variables.

Job Analysis

• The process of identifying how a job is performed, its conditions, and the required personal attributes.
• Job Description: A written summary of the tasks, conditions, and requirements of a job.
• Peter Principle: The idea that organizations unintentionally promote employees until they reach a level where they are incompetent.
• Uniform Guidelines: Federal guidelines for fair employment selection methods.
• Job Analysis Interview: Obtaining job information through conversations with workers performing the job.
• Grade: A cluster of jobs with similar worth.
• Job Specifications: Outlines the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for a job (now more commonly referred to as KSAOs).

Other Important Aspects of Job Analysis

• Knowledge: The body of information needed for a job.
• Skills: Developed abilities.
• Abilities: Basic capacities for performing a range of tasks.
• Other Characteristics: Individual traits like personality, willingness, and interest.

Selecting Employees

• Letter of Recommendation: A letter expressing an opinion about an applicant's qualifications.
• Résumé Fraud: Intentional misrepresentation of information on a résumé.
• Negligent Hiring: Hiring an individual with a criminal record who subsequently commits a crime while employed.
• Validity Coefficient: The correlation between a selection method (e.g., interview, test) and job performance.
• Corrected Validity (True Validity): Correlation coefficient adjusted for factors like predictor and criterion reliability, and for range restriction.
• Negligent Reference: Failure to provide relevant information to a prospective employer about a former employee's potential for legal issues.

Reliability of Selection Methods

• Reliability: Consistency and freedom from error in a test or evaluation.
• Job Knowledge Tests: Measure an applicant's job-related knowledge.
• Ability Tests: Assess individual capabilities.
  • Cognitive Ability Tests: Measure intelligence and knowledge.
    • Wonderlic Personnel Test: A widely used cognitive ability test in industry.
  • Perceptual Ability Tests: Assess spatial relations and form perception.
  • Psychomotor Ability Tests: Measure dexterity and motor coordination.
  • Physical Ability Tests: Assess physical capabilities required for a job.

Assessment Centers

• A selection method involving multiple job-related activities and evaluations by trained assessors.
• Unproctored Internet-Based Testing: Assessments completed online at the applicant's convenience.
• Assessment Center Exercises:
  • In-Basket Technique: Simulates the flow of information a manager or employee handles daily.
  • Simulations: Exercises that replicate real-world work scenarios.
  • Work Samples: Applicants perform tasks representative of the job.
  • Leaderless Group Discussion: A selection technique where applicants work together on a problem or issue.
  • Business Simulation Games: Simulate business and marketing activities.

Gamification

• The use of game-like elements in traditional assessments to increase engagement.

Biodata

• A selection method using application blanks with questions shown to predict job performance.
• File Approach: Obtaining biodata from employee files.
• Questionnaire Approach: Gathering biodata through questionnaires.
• Criterion Groups: Dividing employees into high and low performance groups.
• Vertical Percentage Method: A biodata scoring method comparing successful and unsuccessful employees' responses.
• Derivation Sample: Used for creating initial weights for a biodata instrument.
• Hold-out Sample: A secondary sample used to verify the accuracy of initial weights.

Personality Inventories

• Psychological assessments measuring different personality aspects.
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2): A widely used objective test for psychopathology.
• Projective Tests: Subjective tests with unstructured tasks (e.g., drawing pictures) where a psychologist analyzes responses.
• Rorschach Inkblot Test: A projective personality test.