I/O Psychology Exam #1

Wonderlic Personnel Test

12 minute test of general cognitive ability that consists of 50 questions

What is a literature review & why do researches do them/find them useful?

A literature review is a comprehensive but concise summary of the research that has been done on a particular topic. The emphasis is on integration and interpretation of primary research articles.

What is Quasi-Experimentation?

A quasi-experiment is an empirical interventional study used to estimate the causal impact of an intervention on target population without random assignment. Quasi-experiments are subject to concerns regarding internal validity, because the treatment and control groups may not be comparable at baseline.

3 Main Parts of a Cover Letter

A well-written, employer-centric cover letter will typically consist of three main parts: the introduction, the body, and the closing (which ends with a compelling action or request).

Adverse Impact

Adverse impact refers to employment practices that appear neutral but have a discriminatory effect on a protected group.

What is archival research?

Archival research is a method of collecting data from sources that already exist. ... An example of archival research would be a psychologist looking at mental institution records from the 1900s to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms in patients at the time.

What is biodata?

Biographical information. It covers the applicant's life in great detail, and includes questions not only about past job experience and education, but also about the applicant's personal background. The use of biodata is based on the premise that past behavior is a good predictor of future behavior, and that details of a person's life can help determine whether someone is likely to be successful at a particular job. In fact, biodata has been shown to be a very good predictor of success. Items such as SES, interests, activities, and social popularity would yield useful information about the applicant.

Work Performance

Describes how performance is evaluated like: •Standards used •Frequency of evaluation •Person doing the evaluating

4th basic step to conducting a job analysis

Determine Essential KSAOs. •Knowledge- body of information needed to perform a task •Ability- Basic capacity for performing a wide range of different tasks, acquiring knowledge, or developing a skill •Other characteristics- Personal factors such as personality, willingness, interest, motivation & tangible factors such as licenses, degrees & years of experiences

How did I/O psychology make its first big impact during WWI?

During World War I (WWI) Robert Yerkes convinced the US government that psychologists could help with the war effort. Yerkes and a group of associates, worked on the selection and placement of US military personnel. As part of the project, Yerkes and his colleagues developed the Army Alpha and Army Beta mental ability tests, both of which were paper and pencil instruments. Both tests could be administered in group settings, which helped streamline the testing program. Efforts by the Yerkes group helped demonstrate the value of industrial psychology.

Is the requirement a Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ)?

Employment practices excluding protected classes are illegal unless employer can demonstrate that the requirement is a BFOQ (I.e. only members of a particular class can perform the job). There can be no exceptions and according to the courts: Race can never be a BFOQ Religion has been (e.g. nun, priest) Gender seldom is

External Validity

External validity refers to the extent to which the conclusions from your research study can be generalized to the people outside of your study. There are three types of generalization: population, environmental, and temporal.

Laboratory Research vs. Field Research

Field research is a research conducted in the real world or a natural setting. Participants in a field research may or may not know that they are being studied. On the other hand, controlled laboratory research is a research conducted in a setting specifically designed for research.

Human Factors Psychology/Ergonomics

Human factors (also known as ergonomics or human engineering) is a scientific discipline which examines human behavior and capabilities in order to find the best ways to design products, equipment and systems for maximum safe, effective, satisfying use by humans.

1st basic step to conducting a job analysis

Identify Tasks Performed. •Gather existing information •Interview subject matter experts (SMEs) •Observe workers currently in the job •Perform the job

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

In psychology research, an institutional review board (also known as an IRB) is a group of individuals designated to review and monitor research that involves human subjects. IRB's help ensure that the rights, welfare, and safety of participants are protected.

What is industrial/organizational psychology?

Industrial-organizational psychology is the branch of psychology that applies psychological theories and principles to organizations. Often referred to as I-O psychology, this field focuses on increasing workplace productivity and related issues such as the physical and mental well-being of employees.

Informed Consent

Informed consent is the permission human participants give prior to taking part in a research study or treatment program. When participants provide informed consent, they indicate that they understand participation is voluntary and they accept the possible risks, benefits, and outcomes of participating.

Why is job analysis important?

Job Analysis plays an important role in recruitment and selection, job evaluation, job designing, deciding compensation and benefits packages, performance appraisal, analyzing training and development needs, assessing the worth of a job and increasing personnel as well as organizational productivity.

What is negligent hiring?

Negligent hiring is a claim made by an injured party against an employer based on the theory that the employer knew or should have known about the employee's background which, if known, indicates a dangerous or untrustworthy character.

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No adverse impact.

Personnel Psychology

Personnel psychology is the area of industrial/organizational psychology that primarily deals with the recruitment, selection and evaluation of personnel, and other job aspects such as morale, job satisfaction, and relationships between managers and workers in the workplace.

Random Assignment

Random assignment1 refers to the use of chance procedures in psychology experiments to ensure that each participant has the same opportunity to be assigned to any given group. Study participants are randomly assigned to different groups, such as the experimental group, or treatment group.

3rd basic step to conducting a job analysis

Rate Task Statements. •Conduct a task analysis by having SMEs rate tasks according to frequency & importance •Combine frequency & importance ratings for each task to determine which to include in task inventory

5th basic step to conducting a job analysis

Select tests to tap KSAOs. •Such as interviews, work samples, ability tests, reference checks, etc

Federally Protected Classes

Sex Race National Origin Color Age Religion Disability Qualified military veterans Pregnancy

What was the Army Beta test?

The Army Beta test was developed for those men with limited literacy who were unable to respond to the written test. The instructions for the test were provided using pictures and other symbols, and it tested using things like mazes, identification of patterns, and picture completion.

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) is a United States labor law requiring covered employers to provide employees with job-protected and unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons.

What is the Hawthorne effect?

The Hawthorne Effect is the inclination of people who are the subjects of an experimental study to change or improve the behavior being evaluated only because it is being studied and not because of changes in the experiment parameters or stimulus.

What are the Hawthorne Studies?

The Hawthorne experiments were groundbreaking studies in human relations that were conducted between 1924 and 1932 at Western Electric Company's Hawthorne Works in Chicago. Originally designed as illumination studies to determine the relationship between lighting and productivity, the initial tests were sponsored by the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1927 a research team from the Harvard Business School was invited to join the studies after the illumination tests drew unanticipated results.

Dependent Variable

The dependent variable is the variable that is being measured or tested in an experiment.

What is the only research method that can determine cause-effect relationships?

The experimental method.

What was the Army Alpha test?

The first test, the Alpha, was a written test made up of true/false and multiple-choice questions that assessed things like the ability to follow directions, arithmetic, and analogies. The Army Alpha test was distributed to determine whether draftees could read English, but also to evaluate soldiers so that they could be assigned to tasks or training in alignment with their abilities.

Independent Variable

The independent variable is the characteristic of a psychology experiment that is manipulated or changed. For example, in an experiment looking at the effects of studying on test scores, studying would be the independent variable.

Organizational Psychology

The work of an industrial-organizational psychologist could improve worker morale, boost efficiency, decrease absenteeism or lower the turnover rate. All of these activities can result in a business that is better for workers and more profitable.

Why should we care about doing research in I/O psychology?

The work of industrial-organizational psychologists identifies areas in need of more training or development in a particular workplace. It also optimizes the quality of the work-life. An industrial-organizational psychologist can evaluate the effectiveness of a training program and make suggestions for changes.

What is a meta-analysis?

When scientists want to know the answer to a question that's been studied a great deal, they conduct something called a meta-analysis, pooling data from multiple studies to arrive at one combined answer.

Does the requirement have adverse impacts on members of a protected class?

When selection rate for a protected group is less than 80% of the rate for the advantaged group

2nd basic step to conducting a job analysis

Write Task Statements. •Required elements to a task statement. 1. Action- what is done 2. Object- to which the action is done Characteristics of well-written statement. •Should make sense by itself •Statements should be written in the same tense •Include tools/equipment required to complete the task

Disparate Treatment

intentional discrimination that occurs when people are purposely not given the same hiring, promotion, or membership opportunities because of their race, color, sex, age, ethnic group, national origin, or religious beliefs

What are the four types of periodicals typically found in a lit review and which are better sources than others?

scholarly or research-oriented, professional, trade, or industry; news/opinion, & popular. A periodical is anything that comes out with regular issues. A daily newspaper, a weekly news magazine, a monthly journal, and an annual book series are all examples of periodicals. Some periodicals are published in ways that make them more valuable to scholars. Periodicals that are "scholarly", "refereed", or "peer-reviewed" all have articles that are reviewed by experts in the subject. For other types of periodicals, the articles may be reviewed by a professional editor who is not an expert in the subject.

4 Key Components of an Affirmative Action Program

•AAP Planning Process and Technology •Good Faith Efforts •Employee Awareness Training •Adverse Impact Analysis •Moving from Compliance to Competitive Advantage

Job Competencies

•Common makes •Knowledge, skills, ability, & other characteristics (KSAOs) •Competencies should be separated 1. Those needed before hire 2.Those that can be learned after hire

Compensation Information

•Salary grade •Fair Labor Status Act (FLSA)- whether you'll be payed overtime or not. •Compensable factors used to determine salary- graveyard shift, etc •Exempt- NO overtime pay •Non-exempt- overtime pay IS received

Job Description Sections

•Work schedule •Degree of supervision •Ergonomic information •Physical + psychological stress •Indoors vs. outdoors- lighting, heat, noise, physical space •Clean or dirty environment •Sitting, bending, lifting