1.2 — the history of I-O psychology Flashcards
what is the timeline of history of I-O psychology?
when & who developed the first mental test?
Cattell developed the first mental test in 1890
what is the definition of a mental test?
an instrument designed to measure intelligence (ability to reason, plan, solve problems)
when was the APA founded?
1892
how many divisions does the APA have?
50 divisions that represent different types of psychologists
when were the Hawthorne studies publicised?
1930 by Elton Mayo
what occurred in 1917-1919 with relevance to I-O psychology today?
US psychologists Scott & Bingham volunteered to help with testing + placement of more than a million army recruits
→ they adapted the Standford-Binet test to make it suitable for mass group testing (this new form was called Army Alpha)
what was the Army Beta test?
it was comparable to the Army Alpha—Scott & Bingham’s adaption of the Standford-Binet— but was nonverbal & administered to illiterate recruits
when was the Equal Pay Act passed?
1963
when was the Tittle VII of Civil Rights Act passed?
1964
what was the Tittle VII of Civil Rights Act?
written in sections (each section detailing a specific area of possible discrimination (ie. voting, education, work, housing)
→ employment discrimination (Title VII) require employers to justify the use of tests for selection
what did the Tittle VII of Civil Rights Act require employers to do when administering tests for selection?
justify their use ; revolutionised selection testing
- if a protected group tended to score lower on them on average compared to non-protected group
- if test could not be shown to be related to job performance
= they could be considered illegal
when was Division 14 of the APA renamed SIOP?
1982
when does the popularisation of commercial tests date back to?
by 1950 employers realised that interests & attitudes & personality might contribute to desirable outcomes (ie. productivity, workforce stability) → tests entered the market
who is considered the founder of psychology?
Wihlem Wundt founded the first psychological laboratory in 1876
who are the two influential psychologists in the emergence of I-O psychology that trained under Wilhem Wundt?
Munsterberg & Cattell
what was Munsterberg the first to do?
one of the first to measure abilities in workers and link them to performance
why was I-O psychology known as economic psychology around 1916?
only concerned with increasing productivity + only ‘industrial’
what is Cattell recognised for?
being among the first to realise the importance of differences among individuals as a way of predicting their behaviour
what were individual differences at the time considered as?
errors that served to complicate and muddy results from how individuals respond to external stimuli
what happened after WW1 in the private industry?
it set out to emulate the successful testing of army personal during WW1 → mental ability testing soon became commonplace in the work setting
what was scientific management based on?
based on the principles of time and motion studies
what are the Gilbreth couple known for in I-O psychology?
for applying scientific management principles to educational institutions
→ they became well-known human engineering practitioners and management consultants
<aside>
💡 They were time and motion specialists, like Frederik W. Taylor as well
</aside>
when did the field of human engineering emerge?
as America entered WW2
what was the field of human engineering before WW2?
it was barely more than the study of time and motion
when did Coca-Cola first hire Hollingsworth to prove that caffeine did not impair motor performance or mental efficiency?
in 1911
→ Hollingsworth conducted lab studies that found that in normal amounts, caffeine actually enhanced performance contrary to government contentions that it impaired performance
what aspect of the worker did Elton Mayo focus on?
began studying the emotions of the workers
→ he was interested in the ways work could ‘cause’ workers to act in pathological ways (revery obsession)
what is the Stanford-Binet test?
famous intelligence test designed for testing individuals one at a time
what is scientific management?
movement based on F. Taylor — who suggested that there was one best and most efficient way to perform various jobs
what are time and motion studies?
studies that broke down every action into its constituent parts + timed each movements = developed new movements to reduce fatigue and increase productivity
what is revery obsession (Elton Mayo)?
this mental state resulted from the repetitive, difficult and mind-numbing work of early 20th century
→ Mayo proposed that because workers were not solicited intellectually, their minds would wander and eventually paranoid thoughts would arise
= leading to unhappiness, resisting management attempts to increase productivity, more sympathy for labor unions
when were the Hawthorne studies published?
1930
what were the Hawthorne studies?
began as attempts to increase productivity by manipulating lighting, instilling breaks, and work hours
→ puzzling results ; through interviewing they found that it was the worker’s attitudes that played a role
= researchers showing interest in the workers was enough to change behaviour → resulted in Hawthorne effect
what did Hawthorne studies show?
it showed the important role that worker’s attitudes played in productivity— more than that it showed that external consideration / attention to workers impacts / changes behaviour
before the Hawthorne studies, what was the only generally accepted motivator for work?
money
what is the Human Relations movement?
movement ushered in by the Hawthorne studies, focusing on work attitudes and new considerations for worker’s emotions + complex theories of motivation
what kind of studies became more common with the human relations movement?
studies of job satisfaction
what movement resulted from the findings of Hawthorne studies?
human relations movement → + studies of job satisfaction became more common
what problems did Air Force of WW2 bring + how were these solved?
different controls & display configurations in cockpits between aircrafts meant that as pilots moved from one plane to another → make mistakes leading to crashes
→ applied psychologists (human engineering) suggested standardisation of cockpits (of placements displays + controls)
= when these were implemented it resulted in immediate reduction in accidents
<aside>
💡 this assured human engineering a place as a sub-area of I-O psychology
</aside>
what event led to the establishment of human engineering as a sub-area of I-O psychology?
solution proposed by applied psychologists to standardise cockpit displays and controls to reduce chance of accidents
what government department created a test week in a secluded farm to test candidates for a spy network to anticipate military intelligence?
Office of Strategic Services (OSS) — they were sent to a farm for extensive testing (incl. interviews, physical exercises to determine how well they withstood stress & rigours
personality attributes were core to assessment exercises because a personality theorist (Henry Murray) was in charge of the assessment centre
when can a demarkation been seen between classic and modern thinking?
mid-1960s
→ during this period, field changed its name to add ‘organisational’ to I-O psychology
when + why was ‘organisational’ added to the term I-O psychology?
in 1973 — to emphasise that when an individual joins an organisation they will be exposed to a common set of goals & operating procedures (the worker will be ‘organised’ by a larger social system)
= provided the foundation for an approach to theory & data analysis called multi-level analysis
what did the inclusion of the term organisational in I-O psychology lead to?
provided the foundation for an approach to theory & data analysis called multi-level analysis
what were some lines of thinking in I-O psychology before the mid-1960s?
- tendency to see three branches of I-O psychology as unrelated and in competition with the others to explain industrial behaviour
- mental ability tests have always played a very important part of industry psychology
- most industrial psychologists were focused on improving productivity and reducing counterproductive behaviour (ie. absenteeism & turnover)
- unit of analysis was the individual worker (and not work-group, organisation or even culture)
what challenges do the authors name for I-O psychology making significant contributions in the 21st century?
- has to be relevant — tackling problems such as globalisation of economy ; increasing technological revolutions
- needs to be useful — must always have practical applications
- needs to tackle large, global issues
- needs to be grounded in scientific method
what was a notable step in terms of the relevance of I-O psychology?
SIOP was granted NGO status with United Nations in 2011
→ provides opportunities to tackle larger humanitarian issues
