Psychology at Work

Question 1

What are two aspects of purposeful work?

Answer 1

-flow and intrinsic rewards
-knowledge at work (feeling like you know and understand)

Question 2

What is industrial psychology (personnel psych)?

Answer 2

psych that focuses on the process of hiring, training, developing, and accessing employee performance

Question 3

What is the big 5 test?

Answer 3

a way to understand how successful an individual will be at work, as well as provide insight into what type of task they should be assigned

Question 4

What is OCEAN in the big 5 test?

Answer 4

1. openness
2. conscientiousness
3. extraversion
4. agreeableness
5. neuroticism

Question 5

What does conscientiousness mean and what does it predict?

Answer 5

it is the tendency to be organized and disciplined and it predicts how successful a person will be at a job

Question 6

What does extraversion predict?

Answer 6

predicts which job you should have

Question 7

What does agreeableness predict?

Answer 7

what job you should have

Question 8

How is neuroticism measured?

Answer 8

higher score = lower neuroticism

Question 9

What is structured v. unstructured interviews?

Answer 9

structured interviews have previews questions set up, having read the interviewees resume, while unstructured is essentially making questions up on the spot

Question 10

Are structured or unstructured interviews more predictive of job success?

Answer 10

structured

Question 11

What is interviewer illusion?

Answer 11

tendency of interviewers to overrate their ability to interview and choose the best candidate

Question 12

What are performance appraisals?

Answer 12

review of an employees job performance and contribution to a company

Question 13

What are two drawbacks to performance appraisals?

Answer 13

-they don’t contribute to immediate feedback, so behavior can’t be fixed when it occurs
-they are very prone to bias

Question 14

What is the halo effect/error?

Answer 14

other (good) characteristics of the employee cloud judgement of their actual work ability

Question 15

What is leniency error?

Answer 15

evaluations are inflated to avoid negative confrontation

Question 16

What is affective reactions?

Answer 16

evaluations are influenced by personal feeling towards the individual

Question 17

What is attributional bias?

Answer 17

evaluations are biased by presumed degree of effort or motivation

Question 18

What is the similar to me error?

Answer 18

higher evals for those with characteristics similar to the rater

Question 19

What is stereotyping?

Answer 19

evals biased by generic character or personal social group

Question 20

What is 360 feedback?

Answer 20

everyone in a group gives feedback to everyone in the group

Question 21

What is a drawback to 360 feedback?

Answer 21

it takes a long time

Question 22

What is a drawback to 360 feedback?

Answer 22

it takes a long time

Question 23

What is organizational psychology?

Answer 23

psychology that aims to increase productivity at work as well as build a thriving work culture/environment

Question 24

When are employees happier?

Answer 24

-supervisors are effective leaders
-recognized for individual effort
-feel empowered
-set smart goals

Question 25

What are three beliefs that determine empowerment?

Answer 25

1. self efficacy
2. response efficacy
3. outcome-expectancy

Question 26

What is response efficacy?

Answer 26

belief that something will work

Question 27

What is outcome expectancy?

Answer 27

belief that doing something is worth it

Question 28

What are SMART goals?

Answer 28

goals that are achievable and motivational

Question 29

What is the Gallup Workplace Audit?

Answer 29

a workplace test that helps to gauge how to improve employee engagement

Question 30

What is the difference between transactional v. transformational leadership?

Answer 30

transactional leadership is just telling people what to do, while transformational leadership is inspiring people to be self motivated

Question 31

What two factors affect the kind of leadership needed?

Answer 31

-need for motivation
-need for direction

Question 32

What kind of leadership is needed for individuals with low need for direction and low need for motivation?

Answer 32

delegating

Question 33

What kind of leadership is needed for individuals with low need for direction and high need for motivation?

Answer 33

supporting

Question 34

What kind of leadership is needed for individuals with high need for direction and low need for motivation?

Answer 34

instructing

Question 35

What kind of leadership is needed for individuals with high need for direction and high need for motivation?

Answer 35

coaching

Question 36

What is organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)?

Answer 36

voluntary behavior (from employee) that goes beyond what is expected of an individual employee

Question 37

What is human factors engineering?

Answer 37

engineering based on making everyday human work life simple

Question 38

What is behavioral based safety?

Answer 38

using behavioral observation and feedback (what happened if this hazard comes in contact to you) to keep workers injury free

Question 39

What does effective occupational safety require?

Answer 39

involvement of all employees in reporting environmental hazards, close calls, and minor injuries

Question 40

What should “accident investigations” be replaced with?

Answer 40

injury analysis