CHAPTER 1
a series of studies that
Industrial Psychology
(PSY 10) SEM 1
WHAT IS I/O PSYCHOLOGY?
● Industrial Psychology is also called
Organizational Psychology.
● It is a branch of Psychology that applies the
principles of psychology in the workplace.
● The purpose of I/O Psychology is to enhance
the dignity and performance of human
beings, and the organizations they work in.
● It also has a positive impact on the lives of
other people as their jobs are an essential
part of their every day.
● I/O psychologists can improve the
employees’ quality of life, in ways such as
implementing appropriate wages and
benefits, better communication, stress
management, or work/life balance.
COMPARED TO BUSINESS COURSES
● I/O focuses more on application of
psychological principles
● It examines factors that affect the people in
an organization rather than the broader
aspects.
● It relies on research.
OTHER INFO
● I/O Psychologists are not clinical
psychologists who happen to be in the
industry.
MAJOR FIELDS OF I/O
1. Personnel Psychology. This field focuses all
about the employees in an individual sense.
This can include analyzing jobs; recruitment,
selection, and training employees; and
evaluating employee performance.
2. Organizational Psychology. This focuses on
the entirety of the organization. It includes
issues of leadership, organizational
communication, or group processes.
3. Human Factors/Ergonomics. This focuses
on workplace design. It includes ergonomics
which considers physical fatigue and stress.
BRIEF HISTORY OF I/O PSYCHOLOGY
● First big impact during WWI
● Thomas Edison’s knowledge test which
were used to test an applicant’s knowledge
about the job.
● The Gilbreths’ on productivity and fatigue
reduction.
● Hawthorne studies.
have come to represent any change in
behavior when people react to a change in
environment.
○ The Hawthorne Effect is when
employees change their behavior due
solely to the fact that they are being
observed.
● 1990s. Landmark civil rights legislation in
the US, sensitivity trainings, laboratory
training groups.
● 1970s. Employee satisfaction and motivation
use of behavior modification techniques
inspired by BF Skinner (eg. rewards and
consequences).
● 1980s - 1990s. Use of statistical techniques,
Cognitive Psychology, effects of work on
family life, and developing methods for
selection of employees.
● 2000s. Rapid advances in technology,
changing demographic make up of the
workforce (to be more diverse and less
discriminatory), and the global economy.
WHY CONDUCT RESEARCH?
1. Answering questions and making decisions.
2. Research and everyday life.
3. Common sense is often wrong.
CONSIDERATIONS IN CONDUCTING RESEARCH
1. Idea or question
2. Hypothesis or prediction (What will happen?).
It is an educated prediction about the answer
to a question.
3. Theory or explanation (Why will it happen?). It
is a systematic set of assumptions.
LITERATURE REVIEWS
1. Journals are written collections articles
describing the methods and results of new
research. This is the highest level of literature
review.
2. Trade Magazines are a collection of articles
for those in the “biz” about related
professional topic, seldom directly reposting
the methods and results of new research. The
target audience for this type are practitioners
in the field.
3. Magazines are an unscientific collection of
articles about a wide range of topics.
LOCATION OF THE STUDY
1. Laboratory research is where researchers
will create an artificial environment to carry
out the experiment.
a. External validity/ generalizability is
the extent to which research results
can be expected to hold true outside
the specific setting in which they
were obtained.
b. In a lab research, the external validity
is at risk because the results in the
 artificial environment might be RUNNING THE STUDY
different in a naturalistic setting. Debrief is the process of Informing the subject in an
experiment about the purpose of the study in which
2. Field research is research conducted in a he or she was a participant and providing any other
natural setting. relevant information.
a. Informed consent is the formal
process by which subjects give
permission to be include in the ETHICAL DILEMMA
study. 1. Type A means that there is a high level of
b. Institution review boards are a uncertainty as to what is right or wrong, there
committee designated to ensure appears to be no best solution, and there are
ethical treatment of research both positive and negative consequences to
subjects. a decision.
2. Type B means that the difference between
RESEARCH METHOD TO BE USED right and wrong is much clearer but
1. Experiment individuals choose the solution that is most
a. An an independent variable is advantageous to themselves.
manipulated by the experimenter in
order to observe a cause-and-effect
relationship
b. Manipulation is the alteration of a
variable by an experimenter in
expectation that this will result in a
change in the dependent variable
2. Quasi-Experiment is a research method in
which the experimenter either does not
manipulate the independent variable or in
which subjects are not randomly assigned to
conditions.
3. Archival research is research that involves
the use of previously collected data.
4. Survey is asking people about their opinion
on some topic.
5. Meta-analysis is a statistical method of
reaching conclusions based on previous
research.
a. Effect size indicates the amount of
change cause by an experimental
manipulation.
b. Mean effect size the average of the
effect sizes for all studies included in
the analysis.
c. Correlation coefficient indicates the
magnitude and direction of a
relationship.
d. Difference score indicates how many
standard deviations separate the
mean score for the experimental
group from the control group.
e. Practical significance is the extent to
which the results of a study have an
actual impact on human behavior.

PARTICIPANT SAMPLES
1. Random sample. Every participant has an
equal chance to be included in the sample.
2. Convenience sample. Participants are
recruited for the convenience of the
researchers.
3. Random Assignment.