 What is I/O Psychology?

 I/O Psychology as Profession and Field

 History of I/O Psychology

 Psychology
 Is the science of the human behavior, cognitions, emotions, and motivation.

 I/O psychology
 Add the words “as it relates to work”

 Dual focus = Organization & Employee

 Efficiency/productivity of organizations
 Health/well-being of employees

 Dual nature = Scientist & Practitioner

 Application of the science of psychology to the workplace
 Development/discovery of scientific psychological principles at work
I/O Psychology is:
The branch of psychology that applies the
principles of psychology to the workplace.
The Purpose of I/O Psychology:
“to enhance the dignity and performance of human
beings, and the organizations they work in, by
advancing the science and knowledge of human
behavior”
 [Link]
 Typical Day in the life…

Work 8 hours
Commute to work 1 hour
Watch TV 3 hours
Sleep 8 hours
Eat 2 hours
Other 2 hours
 Work and Sleep = Major Life Activities
 Workers spend the majority of their time doing one or the other

 Millions of Americans Work

 Around 153.5 million Americans are part of the labor force
([Link], 2007).

 I/O psychology can impact all of these individuals, PLUS those

around them!
 [Link]
companies/2012/full_list/
 Organizational Effectiveness = Cheaper Goods
 I/O psychologists can help organizations reduce costs,
improve performance/productivity, etc.
 Graduate degree NECESSARY
 MA or Ph.D.
 M.A. required to get a Ph.D.
 Typically Ph.D. takes 4-5 years to complete
 Content of graduate training
 Basic psychology
 Research methods (heavy emphasis)
 I/O core content
 Thesis
 Dissertation
 Qualifying Exam
 Internship, Practica experiences
 Entry requirements
 very competitive for PhD (somewhat less competitive for Masters)
 High GRE Scores, High GPA, Prior Research, 3 Letters of Recommendation
 SIOP website for most US programs ([Link])
 Approx. 4% of Psychologists work within the I/O field
 I/O Related Organizations
 SIOP – “The Governing I/O Organization”
 Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology
 Division 14 of APA (American Psychological Association)
 SHRM
 Society for Human Resources

 Are I/O’s licensed like clinical psychologists?

 Little reason to get licensed and has no effect on typical I/O jobs
 Key Differences
 I/O psychologists rely on application of
psychological principles.
 I/O psychologists focus on the factors in
businesses that affect people.
 I/O psychologists heavily on research, quantitative
methods, and testing techniques for guiding
decisions.
 Typical I/O PhD Courses Typical MBA Courses
•Statistics •Statistics
•Experimental Methodology •Business Research
•Psychometric Theory •Organizational Behavior
•Employee Selection and Placement •Administrative Policy
•Organizational Psychology •Managerial Economics
•Employee Training and Development •Financial Management
•Performance Appraisal •Marketing Management
•Job Analysis •Managerial Accounting
 Personnel Psychology (The “I” in I/O)
 Defining and analyzing jobs
 Recruiting and selecting employees for jobs
 Training employees
 Assessing performance
 Promoting and retaining employees
 Test development and Validation
 Legal Issues
 Organizational Psychology (The “O” in I/O)
 Determining how people feel about work
 Determining why people act as they do at work
 Examining the effects work has on people
 Examining the effects people have on one another
 How organizations are structured and function
 How work is designed
 Tool and equipment usage on the job
 Examining work relevant health, safety, and well-being issues
 Employment
 Little or no unemployment (usually)
 4 Main Work Settings:
 Universities
 Consulting Firms
 Industry/Corporations
 Government Agencies
 Field expanding and becoming more popular
 I/O psychologists often work/consult with
 MBAs
 CEOs,
 VPs,
 HR staff
 Healthcare/Health Science Staff (if in Occupational Health Specialty)
 Other
10%

Private Universities
17% 39%

Government
9%

Consulting
Firms
25%
 Other Education
7% 1%

Private
Consulting
Sector
37%
44%

Public Sector
12%
 Other
4%

Consulting
Education
25%
40%

Public Sector
8%
Private
Sector
23%
 Mean Salaries 2009 Median Salaries 2009

M.A. $88,000

Ph.D. $125,000

Top 10% $200,000 or more

Professors $94,000
Consultants $106,717
New Ph.D. $83,307

Men Ph.D. $132,000

Women Ph.D. $106,957

Note: Data taken from 2009 SIOP Income Survey

 Go to web site of the Society for Industrial-
Organizational Psychology (SIOP) at
[Link]
Click on “WHAT IS I/O” and read:
 Go to the SIOP JobNet and click on “Positions
Available”. Assuming you had the proper
training and credentials discuss the 2 open
positions you would find most intriguing and
why.
 Early Years (1900s)
 World War I (1914-1918)
 Between the Wars (1919-1940)
 World War II (1941-1945)
 Toward Specialization (1946-1963
 Government Intervention (1964-1993)
 Information Age (1994–Present)
 Merging of two forces: Applying psychology
& industrial engineers improving efficiency
 Four Major Figures

Walter Dill Scott

 “Psychology of Advertising” 1908
 “Increasing Human Efficiency”
 Contributed WWI to application to Army
 Frederick Taylor
 Engineer focused on redesigning work
 “Principles of Scientific Management” 1911

 Four Principles
Science over rule of thumb
Scientific selection and training
Cooperation over individualism
Equal division of work best suited to management and employees

 Known for institutionalizing forced breaks for those handling heavy

iron (half the cost, 3 times the production)
 Lillian (and Frank) Gilbreth
 Lillian - Focused on Stress and fatigue on workers
 Frank - Focused on technical aspects of worker efficiency
- Lillian’s 1908 speech – called for attention to person element

 Time & Motion Studies, “therblig”

 Later – invented things like foot pedal trashcan

 “Cheaper by the Dozen”

 Hugo Munsterberg
 Considered the “Father of Industrial Psychology”
 “Psychology and Industrial Efficiency” 1913

 Trolley Car Simulator Creation

Systematically studied all aspects of job through observations
Studied what makes good operator
Analyzed behaviors and asked questions
Basically, he pioneered Job Analysis
 Army Alpha Project (1914 – 1918) –
 Army hires psychologists including Robert Yerkes
 Screen recruits for intelligence
 Army Beta – created for those that were illiterate (30%)

 Journal of Applied Psychology (1917) – first I/O

journal
 Documented Army Alpha & Beta projects
 Still most prestigious journal in the field
 James Cattell (1921)
 forms Psychological Corporation to provide services to industry

 Hawthorne Studies (1924)

 Research by Harvard & MIT
 Led by Elton Mayo
 Conducted at Hawthorne Plant of Western Electric Co.
 Looking for cost effective ways to reduce expenses
 adjusted lighting levels
 Key Finding-
▪ Found impact of intervention on employee performance was a result of the
intervention itself.
 Hawthorne Effect
▪ Novelty of intervention influences behavior (i.e., I observe you working, and you
perform better because of my presence as an observer)
Army hires I/O psychologists to select &
classify recruits

Army General Classification Test (AGCT)

 Group testing, sorted applicants into 5 categories
based on if they could learn duties, etc
 Toward Specialization (1946-1963)
 Evolved into legitimate area of practice, schools, terminology, etc
 Government Intervention (1964-1993)
 Civil Rights Act of 1964 – Protected Classes (Gender, Race, Ethnicity
 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
 Court Cases (e.g., Griggs vs Duke Power, Dothard vs Rawlinson)
 Information Age (1994–Present)
 Higher demands for organizations and employees
 Greater and more frequent technology improvements
 More complex, computer generated statistical analyses are becoming
common (MANOVA, Multilevel Modeling, Structural Equation Modeling,
Item Response Theory, etc.)
 Application of cognitive psychology to I/O, specifically performance
appraisal
 Increased focus on selection methods (selecting the “right person” for the
job is becoming more important)
 Globalization has become an important issue
 Having reviewed the History of I/O and the
current state of the field, where do you think
the field will be in 20 years?
 Think of organizational, economic, and
governmental factors that may affect the field
in the next 20 years.
 There are no wrong answers to this question.
 Research in I/O