Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Introduction to the World of Work

Copyright Paul E. Spector, All rights reserved, March 15, 2005

WHAT IS I/O PSYCHOLOGY?

■ Psychology is the science of human behavior

■ I/O psychology is the science of human behavior at work
■ Dual focus
■ Efficiency/productivity of organizations
■ Health/well-being of employees
■ Dual nature
■ Application of the science of psychology to the workplace
■ Development/discovery of scientific psychological principles at work
SPECIFIC AREAS OF CONCERN
■ Recruiting and selecting employees for jobs
■ Training employees
■ Assessing performance
■ Defining and analyzing jobs
■ Determining people feel about work
■ Determining why people act as they do at work
■ Effects work has on people
■ Effects people have on one another
■ How organizations are structured and function
■ Designing work
■ Designing tools and equipment
■ Employee Health and Safety
■ It began as a branch ofpsychology in December
1901,when Dr. Walter Dill Scott in the U.S.A
spoke on thepossibilities of the applicationof
psychological principles to the field of
advertising
■ Industrial Psychology is the third or fourth of the
most popular branches of psychology in India. It
tries to understand the human problems that have
arisen as a result of tremendous expansion of
industry in the last few decades
■ People are the essential ingredients in all
organizations. Industrial psychology has the
potentiality to contribute to the productivity of industry
and business on one hand and achieving
greatereffectiveness and fulfillment of working on
hand on the other
Psychology’s Roots

■ Prescientific Psychology
– Empiricism
■ knowledge comes from experience via the senses
■ science flourishes through observation and experiment
Definition and Nature of Industrial
Psychology
■ It is defined as the study of man and his behavior with the aid of scientific methodology.
■ The science of behavior (what we do) and mental processes (sensations, perceptions,
dreams, thoughts, beliefs, and feelings)
Scope of Industrial Psychology

■ Psychology is an extremely broad field, encompassing many different approaches to the

study of mental processes and behavior.
■ The Personnel Selection, Personnel development, Human Engineering, Productivity
Study, Management, Accident prevention and safety measures and Labor Relations are
the scope of the Industrial Psychology.
Hurdles in the way of Industrial
Psychology
■ The omnipresent tendency to resist changes of any ort and maintain a status quo has
been a great hurdle in the acceptance of industrial psychology by employees and
managements allover the world because practice of industrial psychology often
demands radical changes in the outlooks and attitudes of both employees and the
employers
■ Employers are also averse to changes because often they are not sure about the efficacy
of the new ideas and are least inclined to take risks.
Basic concept of Industrial Psychology

■ Industrial Psychology is the application of psychologicalprinciples and facts to the

behavior of the people at work in industry and business.
■ One important thing of this psychological principle is that basically they govern the
behavior of all the human beings in any situation in life whether in school, home or in
business and industry
Basic concept of Industrial Psychology

■ Causation of Behavior
■ The first principle of psychology is that all the activities of human beings are not
random but are always brought about by some stimulating factors or conditions that
make a person to behave in a certain fashion. In industrial situations, many such
behaviors like absenteeism among workers, low figures of production, or a poorly
running sales department or industrial tensions which often erupt in strikes or lockouts;
are investigated with a view to determining the underlying stimulating conditions or
causes or antecedent conditions
 Individual Differences
■ Individual differences both
in physical and
psychological characteristics
of the individuals from the
very basis of industrial
psychology.
■ The basic aspects in which
individuals may vary broadly
are:
– Differences in Physical
Characteristics
 Individual Differences

■ The basic aspects in which

individuals may vary broadly
are:
– Differences in
Intelligence

– Differences in
Interest and
Hobbies
 Individual Differences

■ The basic aspects in which

individuals may vary broadly
are:
– Differences in
Personality
characteristics
 Individual Differences

■ The basic aspects in which

individuals may vary broadly
are:
– Differences in
Perception
Psychology and Marketing

■ Priming 
■ Reciprocity
– Introduced in Dr. Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence: The Psychology of
Persuasion, the concept of “reciprocity” is simple -- if someone does something
for you, you naturally will want to do something for them.
Social Proof 
Decoy Effect
Psychology and Marketing

■ Scarcity
■ Anchoring
■ The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon
– It starts happening after you encounter something for the first time, and then you
start noticing it cropping up in everyday life.