Week 1 and 2 Flashcards
how did industrial psychology emerge
- I/O Psychology emerged in response to the industrial revolution in the 18th century in Britain and the prevailing faith in capitalism
- increase work efficancy and reduce fatigue
- the american psychological assoiciation formed in 1892 and I/O division formed 1945
Who were the innovators for industrial psychology
- Hugo Munsterberg: intersted in design of work
- Walter Dill Scott: studied salespeople and psychology of advertising
- Frederick W. Taylor: Believed that scientific principles could be applied to the study of work behaviour to help increase work efficiency and productivity
what did Frederick W. taylor do?
Taylor - scientific management and “time-and-motion studies”
- Broke jobs down scientifically into measurable component movements and recorded the time required to complete each movement
- This approach was suited for
jobs that involve manual labour
or that could be easily broken
down into components parts
how did industrial psych influnce world war 1
- At the outbreak of WWI, Yerkes (President of the American Psychological Association), and colleagues worked with the US Army to create intelligence tests for the placement of army recruits
- This led to the development
of the Army Alpha and Beta
intelligence tests and the first
mass intelligence testing
who and what was the Hawthorne Studies
- Elton Mayo
- physical work enviornment and productivity
- In one experiment, Mayo explored the impact of lighting on productivity of female workers assembling electrical relay devices
- Findings suggested that no matter what the illumination level, productivity increased. Even when the illumination level was decreased so that workers were barely able to see, productivity increased
- The influence of workers’ knowledge of being observed and their expectations were said to determine the increases in productivity
Human Relations Movement
which recognises the importance of social factors and morale in improving productivity
when was the journal of personnel psychology first published ?
- 1948
What are the positives of I/O Psychology
- I/O psychology has become a viable scientific discipline
- Scientific contributions of I/O psychology to the broader psychological literature are relatively unappreciated
- I/O psychology has made an important contribution to the practice of management
what are the challenges with I/O psych
Working people:
- Have limited time
- Can be hard to source
Organisations:
- May be unwilling to allow employees to participate on paid time
- May be unwilling to implement ideas just being “tested”
- Existing data may be poor quality
Scientifically:
- Concerns over cross-sectional self-report data
what are the opportunties with I/O psych
- Large existing data sets Can be linked with new data - More people work than, for example, have mental illness - Research and consultancy can integrate - Making a difference to people’s lives - Asking questions that, sorry, don’t apply to undergrad psych students. - Money and technology - Learning
why do I-O psychologists engage in research?
- to describe work behaviour
eg: training and development - to explain work behaviour
eg: performance appraisal - the predict work behaviour
eg: recruitment and selection
what is research methods?
“A set of procedures that allows us to investigate the hows and whys of human behaviour and to predict when certain behaviour will and will not occur”
what is the 10 step research cycle
1- Identification of Broad Problem Area 2- Preliminary Information Collection 3- Theoretical Framework 4- Hypotheses 5- Research Design 6- Sampling 7- Data Collection 8- Analysis and Interpretation 9- Refinement of Theory (for basic research) 10 -Implementation of Findings (for applied research)
what is step one in research methods?
Identification of Broad Problem Area
- Is there a need for further research in the literature (i.e., basic)?
- Is there a need for problem-solving in an organisation (i.e., applied)?
what is step two in research methods?
Preliminary Information Collection
- Goal is to learn as much as you can about the topic
- May collect primary data or secondary data
- Also need to conduct a literature review
what is step three in research methods?
Theoretical Framework - Often presented in the form of a schematic diagram - Essential elements include: Relevant variables - Relationships among variables - Direction of each relationship - Why relationships are hypothesised
define variable
A variable is an object, event, or process that can take on or change to different values or qualities, whereas as a constant is an object, event, or process that has only one fixed value (Evans, 1985)
what are the different types of variables
Independent (predictor)
Dependent (outcome)
Mediating (intervening)
Moderating (interactive)
