Week 1:
What is Industrial and Organizational Psychology? The application of psychology principles,
theory, and research to the work setting.
Scientific approach: Conclusion and recommendations are based on scientific evidence ->
Data-based.
Scientific approach
1. Research designs
2. Data Analysis
3. Reliability and Validity
Research designs
1. Experimental research designs: Participants are randomly assigned to different conditions.
2. Quasi-experimental research designs: Participants are assigned to different conditions, but
random assignment is not possible. Naturally occured conditions.
3. Nonexperimental research designs: Does not include assignment to different conditions.
Example experimental design: Asch, To what extent do people conform to the groups they
are in? welke lijn is langer? Conformeren ze aan groep?
Note that experimental designs can identify cause and effect.
Example non-experimental research design: vaak questionnaire/survey. E.g. • How do power
and the stability of power influence employees’ stress levels?
Data analysis: Descriptive statistics
• Central tendency (Mean, Median, Mode): Indicates where the center of a distribution is
located.
• Variability (Standard Deviation) Indicates the extent to which scores vary.
• Skewness: Indicates the extent to which score fall on the left or right side of center.
Statistical Significance: Inferential statistics: Testing your hypotheses. Statistically significant
at 5% level: A difference that large would occur only 5 times out of 100 as a result of chance.
Correlation coefficient: Statistics that assess the bivariate linear association between two
variables. Correlation ≠ Causation. Soms is er ook een third variable, confound, die beide
dingen veroorzaakt, waardoor er een correlatie is, maar GEEN causatie is. Vb: summer third
variable, ice cream, shark attack.
Reliability • a personality test is reliable if you would get the same result if you would
administer the test twice. • Very popular personality test in practice: Myers-Brigg Type
Indicator is NOT reliable.
Validity • The measure is valid when it actually measures what you want to measure.
Reliability and Validity
Conclusion I-O Psychology is a Science:
▪ Adopt scientific methods;
,▪ Rely on data and statistical inferences for conclusion and recommendations.
WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: Organizational psychologists use psychological
principles and research methods to solve problems in the workplace.
HISTORY ▪ Cattell: soort IQ test. First mental test.
▪ Munsterberg: first english text in I-O psychology ▪ WO I: werd er getest om de juiste
mensen op de juiste plaatsen te krijgen. Dus heeft ook als katalysator van testen
gefunctioneerd.
Hawthorne factory: ze wilden kijken of licht hun productiviteit beïnvloedt. Licht uit,
productiviteit ging omhoog, en dan weer aan, productiviteit bleef surprisingly alsnog hoog.
Hawthorne effect: A change in behavior due or attidues that was the simple result of
increased attention. Niet het licht, but the fact that people were asking something about
productivity. The fact that researchers were in contact with employees, made them more
productive. hawthorne effect: the measurement is an intervention in itself.
Dit was het begin van: Human relations movement: dat je mensen gaat zien als mensen en
niet alleen als arbeidsmiddelen. Niet alleen incentive, mensen hebben emoties, feelings enz.
hawthorne effect: heeft allemaal effect op hun productiviteit.
> Theories of motivation > Emotional world of the worker > Studies of job satisfaction
I/O PSYCHOLOGY TODAY: WORKING FROM HOME. What do we know • It saves time, space
and energy • Mixed results on performance • Mixed results on well being • Individual
differences
We made society for the weakest link. Mensen zijn kuddedieren. Dus als je die samenleving
weghaalt, leiden de zwaksten eronder. Vanuit huis werken werkt voor the average person,
niet voor de zwaksten.
What motivates people most? Making progress. Niet iemand die je complimenten geeft, je
werk erkent, geen financial incentives, nee making progress. Progress principle: people are
driven by a need to make progress. We want to challenge ourself. Idea of nature is constant
growth. Survival of fittest: degenen die best om kunnen gaan met veranderingen, aan
kunnen passen.
Employee fundamental needs: people want three things: 1.Progress 2. Autonomy (self-
direction): if you have autonomy, you grow. als je kind ruimte geeft om fouten te maken,
kunnen ze pas groeien. The group is there as a safety net, niet om alles voor je te doen. 3.
Relatedness: we want to be part of something. Just feeling part of something.
Dit zie je exact in een herd of elephants: progress, autonomy (the herd is there if you are in
danger), relatedness (groep). Gevangenis is daarom hel op aarde: deze drie dingen worden
afgepakt.
,What are the results of WFH (working from home): Productivity has gone up for some,
down for others. Physical health become better some, worse for others. Engagement has
gone up for some, down for others.
Who suffers the most: the ones most in need, needed other people suffered a lot. E.g.:
Employees: With Young children, Extraverts, Singles, Young employees, Problems at home.
The solution of most companies: flexibility, hybride. Wrong: it is not an individual issue.
People go to work and want to be connected to other people. Conflicting needs.
The psychology of working from home
• Humans are ‘group animals’
• Employees need: progress, autonomy and relatedness
• WFH has had different impact on the above for different groups.
• Organisations adopt an individual approach to WFH to cater for the needs of different
groups. But an individual solutions does not work for a collective problem
• Alike a herd, an organization should be built around the weakest
• So, the need for growth and relatedness of those in need, should come first
Multicultural & Cross-Cultural Issues in I-O Psychology ▪ Culture = System in which
individuals share meaning & common ways of viewing events & objects
Cultural Determinants in the Workplace (Triandis)
Theory of Cultural Influence (Hofstede): the five dimensions of hofstede’s theory of culture.
Based on cultural background you have different view on how to solve things.
1. Individualism/collectivism: westerse landen vaak individualistisch. Individualisme
correleert ook veel met rijkdom.
2. Power distance.
3. Uncertainty avoidance.
4. Masculinity/femininity.
5. Long-term versus short-term orientation.
Culture, income and migration: Higher income leads to higher individualism, and the other
way around Europe and the US are relatively rich and relatively old
The results is migration
Week 2:
Introduction to Individual Differences
• Individual Differences: Dissimilarities between or among 2 or more people
• Background
– 1890 – Cattell & concept of “mental test”
– Differential psychology/ Psychometrics: measuring differences among people
– World War I & intelligence tests: stimuleerde al die tests, intelligentietest, het idee van g
(een soort mentale capaciteit)
– “g” or general mental ability
, Varieties of Individual Differences
• Cognitive ability • Physical ability • Personality • Interests • Knowledge • Emotion
Fundamental Assumptions in Applying Individual Differences Model
• Adults have variety of attributes that are relatively stable over a period of time: anders
heeft meten geen zin
• People differ with respect to those attributes
• Relative differences among people on these attributes remain even after training: dus iq
test na training zou niet veel uit moeten maken
• Different jobs require different attributes
• These attributes can be measured (KSAOs, knowledge scales and other characteristics)
Module 3.2: Human Attributes • Taxonomy of abilities
– Fleishman’s taxonomy of 52 abilities, he gave names, divided abilities into broad categories
of: • Cognitive abilities • Physical abilities • Perceptual-motor abilities
Definitional Issues in Intelligence
• Many people consider the terms intelligence, IQ, cognitive ability, and mental ability to be
synonyms for one another. We will make some distinctions:
– IQ is a historical term that stands for “intelligence quotient”; term is popular with
laypersons but is generally not used by scientists. (want staat voor verhouding tussen mental
age en physical age, maar dat klopt niet)
– Mental ability and cognitive ability are current terms that scientists often use
interchangeably.
– Cognitive ability and mental ability often refer to specific abilities such as memory or
reasoning; intelligence refers to general intellectual capacity (often called “g” for GMA,
general mental ability).
IQ is the ability to learn, is the same of je nou 18 of 60 bent, however the amount of
knowledge increases.
• Intelligence as “g” – Involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, comprehend
complex ideas, & learn from experience. All these different types are linked, is het idee van
g.
Cognitive Abilities = a general mental ability, very good predictor of job performance.
Complexity is a moderator between cognitive ability and performance. The relation between
gma and job performance is moderated by complexity: als schoonmaker is intelligentie
minder relevant dan als engineer. The mediator is the relationship between cognitive ability,
knowledge and performance: more intelligence means higher chance of getting knowlegde,
and a lot of knowledge means better performance. So mediating factor. And this mediating
factor becomes more important in a complex world and job, and that is a moderator.
• Is “g” important at work? Yes
– Intelligence (or “g”): broad general capability – describes person’s ability to learn from
experience
– ↑ job complexity = ↑ predictive value of general intelligence tests
