Course Summary

Psychological Science 373
Industrial Psychology
Dr. Whitley

Currently enrolled students click here for a summary of in-class announcements.

 

Textbook

 

Riggio, R. E. (2000). Introduction to industrial/organizational psychology (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Goals

 

The purpose of this course is to introduce the student to the field of industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology, with an emphasis on industrial psychology. The purpose is not to teach the student to become an I/O practitioner, but rather to be an informed consumer of I/O services. Thus, the critical evaluation of I/O theories and methods will be an important aspect of the course.

Course Outline

• Course Introduction
• Introduction to I/O Psychology
• Research in I/O Psychology
• Job Analysis
• Selection
• Training
• Performance Assessment
• Work Motivation
• Job Satisfaction
• Leadership
• Hunam Factors
• Health and Safety

Grading

Exams

 

There are five multiple-choice exams worth 60 points each administered using the inQisit system. Exams are not cumulative. The exams are designed to test not only knowledge of the content of the course, but also understanding of it. To this end, a large proportion of the questions ask students to apply and interpret principles, not just feed them back.

 

Reports

 

Four short (3 to 4 pages) reports are assigned, worth 25 points each. These reports require students to interpret events in terms of social psychological theory. Specific instructions are provided for each report after the topic with which the project deals is discussed in class.

 

Discussions

 

There will be in-class small group discussions of each essay topic before students write the paper. Each discussion lasts two class periods on a MWF schedule and one class period on a TTh schedule. Discussions among group members are followed by group reports to the class on the results of their discussions. Students may draw on these discussions and reports when writing their papers, but the papers must show the student's thoughts on the topic; it must not be simply a summary of the discussion and reports. Attendance at group discussions is graded.

Term Paper (Graduate students only)

 

Graduate students write a 15 to 20 page term paper which reviews the research literature on a hypothesis in I/O psychology. Note that a hypothesis differs from a topic: a topic is general whereas a hypothesis specifies a relationship between two variables. For example, "job satisfaction" is a topic whereas "Worker participation in decision making leads to increased job satisfaction" is a hypothesis. More information on how to organize the paper is provided in a hand-out. The paper is worth 50 points.

 

Final Grades

 

I use the plus-minus grading system, but I do not assign grades of D+ or D-.

 

I use the web gradebook to provide feedback to students.

 

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Last Modified: 31 December 2001