Work and Health Psychology
Lecture 1 – Introduction
Chapter 1
In every job, you find people who are really happy and are very motivated and eager to
perform that role. On the other hand, there are always people who get sad, frustrated and
even get mental illnesses. These effects on people, we will discuss in this course.
This lecture is aligned with Chapter 1 in the book by Peters, Taris & de Jonge.
After this lecture you can:
- Explain what work psychology is and why it is important
- Explain the roots of work psychology and the core ideas of psychotechnics, scientific
management, the human relations movement, and contemporary work psychology.
- Define the terms work, well-being and performance.
Work = a set of coordinated and goal-directed activities that are conducted in exchange for
something else, usually some form of monetary reward.
Three key elements of this definition are as follows:
1. Coordinated
2. Goal-directed
3. In exchange for something else
Work psychology = Use insights from psychology to help workers achieve their work-goals in
an optimal manner, and to help organizations achieve their goals.
How to design work so that it is motivating, enjoyable (emotions), offers learning
opportunities, and does not induce stress (health)? Why is this important?
- Because of the amount of time, we spend working (after sleeping, working and work-
related activities take the most time of a day)
- Because work has the potential to make us happy
- Because work has the potential to make us sick
- Because of the increasing expectations of employers (it is not enough anymore to have
a 9-5 mentality. Many employers have high expectations of their employees).
,Structure of the course
This course deals with the individual worker and his/her work, well-being and performance.
8 lectures (2 pre-recorded)
6 online Q&A’s, will not be recorded, you can ask questions about the book. This is mostly at
the end of the week.
MC exam, 20 October 2021
Exam requirements
Book: An introduction to Contemporary Work Psychology
- Not required: chapters 2,9,17,18
- All other chapters are relevant for the exam. Topics that are discussed in the book but
not addressed during the lectures are still relevant for the exam
Lectures
Lectures are used to deepen your knowledge about work psychology
New materials offered, which are part of the exam
Recommended: read the chapters before the lecture. You can also find which chapters are
discussed in the lectures in the syllabus. Prepare for the lectures i.e. to read the relevant
chapters before the lectures. The Q&A lectures (end of the week) will address frequently
asked questions, and may elaborate on some points of the PowerPoint presentation and
chapters.
Course goals
- Give an account of work psychology and its roots
- Describe the most important terminology and theories in the area of work psychology.
Examples of relevant theories are the job-demands resources model, the taxonomy of
work-related well-being, and the effort-recorvery model.
- Analyze (and illustrate) the relationship between terms and theories in the area of
work psychology and relevant subtopics in work psychology such as working
conditions, job stress/burnout, and recovery.
,The roots of work psychology
1850-1930
It started in the pre-industrial era. We were living in an agrarian society, the most people were
employed in this area (farmers). Back in those days you didn’t have to think about what you
want in the future; everyone was employed in family businesses like farms.
This changed in the industrialization. People didn’t have to take up there fathers career but
they also could start in a factory (mass work). This also had some negatives results, the work
was really hard and demanding, the pay was low, it was harsh. Tasks that you would have to
perform weren’t interesting.
Psychotechnics / applied psychology
Psychotechnics = The practical or technological application of psychology, as in analysis of
social or economic problems
The psychological experiment is systematically to be placed at the service of commerce
and industry (Munsterberg, 1913)
Pioneers:
- Jean Marie Lahy (France, from 1903)
o Experiments on the selection of streetcar operators
o General method for employee selection
- Munsterberg (Germany/U.S, 1913)
o Selection of those personalities which by their mental qualities are especially
fit for a particular kind of economic work
o Work on the selection of drivers, typists, army gunners, ect.
Scientific management
Coutry of orgin: USA
Founding father: Frederick Winslow Taylor
“As to the importance of obtaining the maximum output of each man and each machine, it is
only through the adoption of modern scientific management that this great problem can be
finally solved” (Taylor, 1911)
- Focus on the task (simplification of tasks)
- Workers are lazy
Solution for Scientific management:
- Simplification of tasks
- Examine the best way to conduct the tasks
- Training workers in the one best way to conduct the tasks
- Separating the planning of tasks from their execution
- Selection workers for particular tasks
, Human Relations Movement
They called in Hawthorne studies (1924-1932). The researchers did investigation on:
- Effects of lighting intensity on productivity
o Brighter light is better for productivity
- Relay Assembly Test Room
o 5 women in a secluded room
o 13 experimental manipulations
o Vary of workdays, breaks, ect.
- nd
2 Relay Assembly Test
o Incentive schemes (team-based)
- Mica Splitting Test Room
o Seclusion as a small group
- Interviews
o Importance of empathic listening and participation
- Bank wiring Observation Room
o 14 workers
o Informal system and group norms
The findings were really not inclusive. From the time of the publication of the results of the
Hawthorne Studies onward, no one interested in the behavior of employees could consider
them as isolated individuals. Rather, such factors and concepts as group influences, social
status, informal communication, roles, norms, and the like were drawn upon to explain and
interpret the voluminous data from these studies and other field investigation that followed
them.
Scientific management was widely applied in the US, but much less in Europe.
In 1880, industrialization in the IS was far less advanced than in Europe. In the following 30
years there was an enormous economic expansion, often at the cost of individual employees.
This was possible because unions were less powerful than in Europe and because immigrants
from Europe often did not have a choice but to accept work under any condition.
