Idustrial/Organizational Psychology Research

Industrial/Organizational Psychology develops, extends, and applies psychological principles, data, and methodology in manufacturing, commercial, industrail, governmental, and other work-oriented organizations.

In general, industrial/organizational psychologists are interested in behavioral issues associated with "work" and concentrate on the following two specialties:

• Industrial psychology focuses on traditional psychological problems of work settings (i.e., personnel selection, performance evaluation, training, psychometric theory and job satisfaction).
• Organizational psychology focuses on individual behavior as it is influenced by the organizational setting (e.g., applied social psychology, motivation, and social cognition and decision processes, job design and technology).

The graduate program in I/O psychology is predicated on the importance of appreciating and understanding the foundation areas of general psychology. In addition, an important part of I/O psychology is acquisition of practical experience in organizational settings. The program also emphasizes quantitative methodology and research skills.

All students are prepared as research scientists, fully capable of designing research studies and interpreting research findings. The curriculum in the I/O psychology specialty requires students to take two required courses in a methodological specialty and two courses in each of two concentration specialties.