work & organizational psychology pt1 – summary
week 1
I-O psych: application of psych principles, theory, and research to the work setting
• importance of work in people’s lives
• building sustainable and environmentally conscious organizations
• humanitarian work psychology, devoted to poverty reduction and promotion of decent work
• organizational psych: addresses motivation, stress, leadership, and teamwork
• personnel psych: addresses recruitment, selection, training, performance appraisal, promotion,
transfer, and termination
• human engineering: addresses capacities and limitations of humans with respect to a particular
environment
common research designs in I-O psych
• experimental: random assignments of participants to conditions
o conducted in a lab or workplace
• nonexperimental: doesn’t include manipulation or assignment to diff conditions
o observational design (observes and records behavior)
o survey/questionnaire design → most common
• quasi-experimental: nonrandom assignment of participants, and no manipulated variables
history of I-O psych
• 1876-1930
o Munsterberg and Cattell
o ww1 → army alpha/beta tests
o 1917: first PhD in industrial psychology (to Lillian Gilbreth)
▪ research in time and motion study → human engineering
• 1930-1964
o Hawthorne effect: productivity increases when workers feel like they’re being observed
or given special attention; workers are motivated by the perception
that their work/opinions matter
▪ a measurement is an intervention in itself → the action of asking how someone
is doing already influences the answer
▪ used to examine the effects of workplace conditions (lighting) and worker
productivity
o human relations movement
▪ theories on motivation
▪ emotional world of the worker
▪ studies of job satisfaction
o civil rights act of 1964
problem of hybrid working
• there’s a group that likes to be alone, but relatedness and growth are always more important
mediation: variable explains the relationship between 2 other variables
moderation: influencing the strength of a relationship between 2 variables
1
,work & organizational psychology pt1 – summary
Hofstede’s theory of cultural influence → 5 dimensions
• individualism vs collectivism
o individual comes first
o group comes first
o Triandi’s variation on this dimension:
▪ horizontal cultures: minimize distances between individuals
▪ vertical cultures: accept/depend on distances between individuals
• power distance
o way in which ppl in lesser power are accepting and expecting of the uneven power scale
• uncertainty avoidance
o way in which carriers of the culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknown situations
• masculinity vs femininity
o emotional sex roles are clearly divided
o emotional sex roles are overlapping
• long-term vs short-term orientation
o focus on future rewards (persistence, saving)
o focus on present values (tradition, quick results)
methods of data collection
• qualitative methods: observation, interview, case studies, and analysis of written docs
• quantitative methods: rely on tests, rating scales, and physiological measures
key concepts in psychometrics
• correlation coefficient: statistic/measure of association
o reflects magnitude (number) and direction (+ or -) or relationship between 2 variables
o ranges from 0 – 1
• multiple correlation coefficient: overall linear association between several variables and a single
outcome variable
• meta-analysis: statistical method for combining results from many studies to draw a general
conclusion
• regression analysis: unique impact of one variable on the other variable
• reliability: consistency/stability of a measure
o test-retest reliability: calculated by correlating measurements taken at time 1 with
measurements taken at time 2
o internal consistency: assesses how consistently items of a test measure a single
construct
• validity: whether measurements are taken accurately and completely represent what is to be
measured
o predictor: test chosen/developed to assess identified abilities/characteristics (KSAOs)
o criterion: outcome variable describing important performance domain
• generalizability: application of results from one study or sample to other participants or
situations
o the more areas a study includes, the greater its generalizability
o every time a compromise is made, the generalizability of results is reduced
2
, work & organizational psychology pt1 – summary
week 2
individual diff: dissimilarities between or among ≥2 ppl
• Cattell and the concept of ‘mental test’
• beginning of differential psych
• varieties of individual diff:
o cognitive/physical ability
o personality
o interests
o knowledge
o emotion
assumptions in applying individual diff model
• adults have variety of attributes that are relatively stable over a period of time
• ppl differ with respect to those attributes
• relative diff among ppl on these attributes remain even after training
• diff jobs require diff attributes
• these attributes can be measured (KSAOs)
organizational citizenship behavior (OCB): extra behavior/characteristics that aren’t included in the
work requirements, but do add to performance
counterproductive work behavior (CWB): actions that go against the organization’s interests
taxonomy of abilities: giving words to different concepts in humans
• Fleishman’s taxonomy of 52 abilities
definitional issues in intelligence
• intelligence, IQ, cognitive ability, and mental ability seem to be synonyms for each other
o IQ stands for ‘intelligence quotient”, generally not used by scientists
o mental/cognitive ability are current terms scientists often use interchangeably
▪ refer to specific abilities (memory or reasoning)
▪ intelligence refers to general intellectual capacity
Carroll’s hierarchical model
• fluid intelligence: ability to learn
• crystallized intelligence: what you have learned → the knowledge
psychomotor abilities: physical functions of movement, associated with coordination, dexterity, and RT
big five personality (FFM)
conscientiousness responsible, persistent, planful, achievement oriented
extraversion sociable, assertive, talkative, energetic
agreeableness cooperative, trusting, likeable, friendly
emotional stability secure, calm, poised, relaxed
openness to experience curious, imaginative, independent, creative
• openness to experience is correlated to G (IQ)
3
