Sample essay topic, essay writing: I/o Psychology - 1039 words

-I/O psychology is the psychology applied to work-The behavior of an individual in the work place-Motivation to work and feelings about workPsychology - scientific study of the behavior of people-I/O is made up of two parts:1) Research methodology used to discover things about work2) Put them into work; apply-Three major sub fields: personnel, organizational and human factors/ergonomics1) Personnel Psychology - deals with the selection of personnel-Performance appraisal, job analysis (backbone of I/O psychology)-Training: understanding the job well enough to know who to hire and how well they are doing.-Job attitudes: whether or not the employees are satisfied and committed.2) Organizational Psychology-Deals with leadership and work motivation-Divide into teams and see how the group affects individuals.3) Human Factors/ Ergonomics Psychology-Human Ergonomics - study of the work place fitting the human-studies the workplace and job designs, the safety and the usability of equipment.-Where do I/O psychologists work?-Academia (scientists) doing research and teaching-Production such as a teacher producing knowledge-Researchers publish projects in journals-Important to get research seen by the people who it would benefit.-Industry (practitioners)-Government is the largest employer-Office of personnel management is staffed with I/O psychologists to determine who to hire.-The military, consulting firms (go to clients) and in-house consultants are employers.-Salary: for PhD I/O psychologist $40-$50k a yr; Industry Master or PhD $35-65k a yr; PhD for higher level makes $50-$80k a yr. HISTORY1900-1917 (about 10 I/O psychologists in the U. S.)-Topics of interest in psychology:1) Skill acquisition - how do people learn to be quick and efficient at their job2) Personnel selection - what might individual indifferences mean when it comes time to hiring people (interests).3) Important Job design - efficiency maximization (most frequently studied).Two parties studied this area early on:1) Frank and Lillian Gilberths-Wanted to find most efficiency with activity-Pioneered time and motion studies.-Called units of time "therbligs" (their last name backwards).2) Fredrick Taylor-Focused more about productivity (showed how taking breaks is important)-Wrote Scientific Management.-Scientific management is the breaking down of jobs into smaller and smaller parts.-Bad results from small jobs: boredom, injury and fatigue-Good results from small jobs: increased productivity-At this time all psychologists were working in academic settings. WWI - 1929 (about 50 I/O psychologists working in the U. S.)-Two separate groups of psychologists approached the military.-Selection of officers using psychological intelligence tests (Alpha and Beta units).-Psychoanalysis of recruits.-Selection tests are not totally effective (only educated people show intelligence)-Minorities are hurt by the test (and uneducated people)-Two main groups formed:1) The Scott Company: formed by Walter Dill Scott and focused on selection testing.2) The Psychological Corporation: formed by J. McKean Cattell-Publishes tests such as 16PF (personality test)-Most I/O psychologists were still in academia.1930 - WWII (100 I/O psychologists in the field)-Hawthorne studies conducted at Western Electric Company.-Studies tried to determine if amount of illumination affected productivity.-No effective lighting found; work productivity increased everywhere.-Hawthorne effect is when people do better because they know they are being studied or watched. - Psychologists realized that they needed to do field studies (in actual environment)-Companies began to focus on employee morale.** World events helped to change the I/O field **WWII - 1960 (756 I/O psychologists in U. S.)-Military hired a lot of psychologists-Looked at performance appraisal techniques (do a good job?)-Find most efficient methods of training.-Women and minorities in the workplace while men at war.-When war over the minorities and women wanted to keep jobs (integrated workplace).-During 1950's, I/O psychologists became involved in both academia and the workplace.1960-1980 (2000 I/O psychologists in U. S.)-Civil rights movement lead to an even more integrated workplace.-Changes in workplace, making employees happy with jobs.-Good mix of academia and practitioner I/O psychologists.1980-present (3000+ I/O psychologists in U. S.)-Refinement: choosing best methods that have been thought of over the years.-New area development: globalization of companies, work/life balance, careers vs. jobs.-Most people go through 4-5 jobs over a lifetime. Future Changes-Technology: jobs lost to technology but also gained to check up on computers.-Work at home.-Skill level is changing (diminished)-Literacy and math ability have diminished; train in the basics.-Language: Spanish is becoming dominant language-Age: large work force makes it tough to find jobs-lots of times companies lay off older employees first, or are more reluctant to hire older employees. Research Methods-How we get information (3 goals)1) Describe something2) Explain; reasons3) Predict; use past data to extrapolate-I/O psychologists use a variety of research methods:Lab experiment: conducted in a laboratory environment with a control group, controlled setting and a manipulated variable. Field experiment: in a natural environment; can't control all of the variables; sometimes it is unethical. Questionnaire studies: uses individual's self-report to obtain information-Most commonly surveys (pen/pencil); can be interviews or computer surveys.-Disadvantages: people lie, difficult to get back, limited answer selection-Advantages: cheap, easy, collect a lot of data-Typical response rate is 30% (which is an adequate representation)Observational studies: conducted in a natural setting without interference-See how things are done in the workplace (get info).-Advantages: More natural-Disadvantages: Hawthorne effect, can't isolate a variable (person has a cold), lot of time, money and effort, not always obtrusive (sometimes interfere).Simulation Studies: model of workplace (not natural) such as a computer simulation.-Advantages: person practices on it and becomes an expert, can control the variables and settings.-Disadvantages: Not real work place, costs a lot of money, Hawthorne effect. Variables-Must be accurately defined otherwise results are questionable.-Describing variables: Quantitative or Qualitative-Quantitative are numerical variables (age, time, # of, $)-Qualitative are variables broken into categories (gender, race, job title)Independent variable: variable that is controlled/manipulated by the researcherDependant variable: is measured and occurs as a result of the independent variablePredictors - used to hopefully predict the outcomeCriterion - tells how the predictor will tell the outcome.-Together the predictor and the criterion are used when we want to examine relationships, especially when we want to determine someone's status on one variable (criterion) by another variable (predictor).-Mostly seen in selection or hiring-A quantitative test: math test to perform basic job functions.-Predictor test (performance is criterion).

Research paper and essay writing, free essay topics, sample works I/o Psychology

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