Industrial Psych Exam One Exam Question/Answers
Graded A+ 2025/2026
personnel psychology - Field of psychology that addresses issues such as recruitment,
selection, training, performance appraisal, promotion, transfer, and termination. The
goal is to find or fit the best person to the job.
Human Resources management (HRM) - Practices such as recruitment, selection,
retention, training, and development of people (human resources) in order to achieve
individual and organizational goals.
organizational psychology - field of psychology that combines research from social
psychology and organizational behavior and addresses the emotional and motivational
side of work. It concentrates on the reactions of people to work and the action plans that
develop as a result of those reactions.
human engineering or human factors psychology - the study of the capacities and
limitations of humans with respect to a particular environment. Almost the opposite of
the personnel approach. The goal is to develop an environment that is compatible with
the characteristics of the worker.
scientist-practitioner model - A model that uses scientific tools and research in the
practice of I-O psychology.
Welfare-to-work program - program that requires individuals to work in return for
government subsidies
Telecommuting - accomplishing work tasks from a distant location using electronic
communication media
Virtual Team - team that has widely dispersed members working together toward a
common goal and linked through computers and other technology
Stanford-Binet Test - A well-known intelligence test designed for testing one individual
at a time. Originally developed by Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon in 1905, the Binet-
Simon test was updated starting in 1916 by Lewis Terman and colleagues at Stanford
University, which led to the test's current name.
scientific management - A movement based on principles developed by Frederick W.
Taylor, who suggested that there was one best and most efficient way to perform
various jobs.
revery obsession - Australian psychologist Elton Mayo proposed that this mental state
resulted from the mind-numbing, repetitive, and difficult work that characterized U.S.
,factories in the early 20th century, causing factory workers to be unhappy, prone to
resist management attempts to increase productivity, and sympathetic to labor unions.
Hawthorne Studies - Research done at the Hawthorne, Illinois, plant of the Western
Electric Company that began as attempts to increase productivity by manipulating
lighting, rest breaks, and work hours. This research showed the important role that
workers' attitudes played in productivity.
Hawthorne Effect - a change in behavior or attitudes that was the simple result of
increased attention
Human Relations Movement - proposed that better human relations could increase
worker productivity
Civil Rights Act of 1964 - Federal legislation that prohibits discrimination in hiring, firing,
compensation, apprenticeships, training, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment
based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin which define what are known as
protected groups. Prohibits not only intentional discrimination but also practices that
have the unintentional effect of discrimination against individuals of protected groups.
American Psychological Association (APA) - The major professional organization for
psychologists of all kinds in the United States.
culture - A system in which individuals share meanings and common ways of viewing
events and objects
"West versus the Rest" mentality - Tendency for researchers to develop theories
relevant to U.S. situations, with less concern given to their applicability in other
countries.
expatriate - manager or professional assigned to work in a location outside of his or her
home country
collectivist culture - A culture that values the group more than the individual.
individualist culture - A culture that values the individual more than the group.
Hofstede's Theory - Culture is more complex than a single continuum. There are five
basic factors on which cultures can be distinguished -- individualism/collectivism, power
distance, masculinity/femininity, and long term vs. short term orientation.
Horizontal Culture - a culture that minimizes distances between individuals
Vertical Culture - a culture that accepts and depends upon distances between
individuals
, hypothesis - prediction about relationship(s) among variables of interest
disinterestedness - characteristic of scientists who should be objective and uninfluenced
by biases or prejudices when conducting research
research design - provides the overall structure or architecture for the research study;
allows investigators to conduct scientific research on a phenomenon of interest
experimental design - participants are randomly assigned to different conditions
quasi-experimental design - participants are assigned to different conditions, but
random assignment to conditions is not possible
non-experimental design - does not include any "treatment" or assignment to different
conditions. These can be observational design or survey design studies.
observational design - the researcher observes employee behavior and systematically
records what is observed
survey design - research strategy in which participants are asked to complete a
questionnaire or survey
quantitative methods - rely on tests, rating scales, questionnaires, and physiological
measures and yield numerical results
qualitative methods - Rely on observations, interviews, case studies, and analysis of
diaries or written documents and produce flow diagrams and narrative descriptions of
events or processes.
Introspection - early scientific method in which the participant was also the
experimenter, recording his or her experiences in completing an experimental task;
considered very subjective by modern standards
triangulation - approach in which researchers seek converging information from different
sources
generalize - to apply the results from one study or sample to other participants or
situations
job analysis - process that determines the important tasks of a job and the human
attributes necessary to successfully perform those tasks
experimental control - characteristic of research in which possible confounding
influences that might make results less reliable or harder to interpret are eliminated;
often easier to establish in laboratory studies than in field studies
Graded A+ 2025/2026
personnel psychology - Field of psychology that addresses issues such as recruitment,
selection, training, performance appraisal, promotion, transfer, and termination. The
goal is to find or fit the best person to the job.
Human Resources management (HRM) - Practices such as recruitment, selection,
retention, training, and development of people (human resources) in order to achieve
individual and organizational goals.
organizational psychology - field of psychology that combines research from social
psychology and organizational behavior and addresses the emotional and motivational
side of work. It concentrates on the reactions of people to work and the action plans that
develop as a result of those reactions.
human engineering or human factors psychology - the study of the capacities and
limitations of humans with respect to a particular environment. Almost the opposite of
the personnel approach. The goal is to develop an environment that is compatible with
the characteristics of the worker.
scientist-practitioner model - A model that uses scientific tools and research in the
practice of I-O psychology.
Welfare-to-work program - program that requires individuals to work in return for
government subsidies
Telecommuting - accomplishing work tasks from a distant location using electronic
communication media
Virtual Team - team that has widely dispersed members working together toward a
common goal and linked through computers and other technology
Stanford-Binet Test - A well-known intelligence test designed for testing one individual
at a time. Originally developed by Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon in 1905, the Binet-
Simon test was updated starting in 1916 by Lewis Terman and colleagues at Stanford
University, which led to the test's current name.
scientific management - A movement based on principles developed by Frederick W.
Taylor, who suggested that there was one best and most efficient way to perform
various jobs.
revery obsession - Australian psychologist Elton Mayo proposed that this mental state
resulted from the mind-numbing, repetitive, and difficult work that characterized U.S.
,factories in the early 20th century, causing factory workers to be unhappy, prone to
resist management attempts to increase productivity, and sympathetic to labor unions.
Hawthorne Studies - Research done at the Hawthorne, Illinois, plant of the Western
Electric Company that began as attempts to increase productivity by manipulating
lighting, rest breaks, and work hours. This research showed the important role that
workers' attitudes played in productivity.
Hawthorne Effect - a change in behavior or attitudes that was the simple result of
increased attention
Human Relations Movement - proposed that better human relations could increase
worker productivity
Civil Rights Act of 1964 - Federal legislation that prohibits discrimination in hiring, firing,
compensation, apprenticeships, training, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment
based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin which define what are known as
protected groups. Prohibits not only intentional discrimination but also practices that
have the unintentional effect of discrimination against individuals of protected groups.
American Psychological Association (APA) - The major professional organization for
psychologists of all kinds in the United States.
culture - A system in which individuals share meanings and common ways of viewing
events and objects
"West versus the Rest" mentality - Tendency for researchers to develop theories
relevant to U.S. situations, with less concern given to their applicability in other
countries.
expatriate - manager or professional assigned to work in a location outside of his or her
home country
collectivist culture - A culture that values the group more than the individual.
individualist culture - A culture that values the individual more than the group.
Hofstede's Theory - Culture is more complex than a single continuum. There are five
basic factors on which cultures can be distinguished -- individualism/collectivism, power
distance, masculinity/femininity, and long term vs. short term orientation.
Horizontal Culture - a culture that minimizes distances between individuals
Vertical Culture - a culture that accepts and depends upon distances between
individuals
, hypothesis - prediction about relationship(s) among variables of interest
disinterestedness - characteristic of scientists who should be objective and uninfluenced
by biases or prejudices when conducting research
research design - provides the overall structure or architecture for the research study;
allows investigators to conduct scientific research on a phenomenon of interest
experimental design - participants are randomly assigned to different conditions
quasi-experimental design - participants are assigned to different conditions, but
random assignment to conditions is not possible
non-experimental design - does not include any "treatment" or assignment to different
conditions. These can be observational design or survey design studies.
observational design - the researcher observes employee behavior and systematically
records what is observed
survey design - research strategy in which participants are asked to complete a
questionnaire or survey
quantitative methods - rely on tests, rating scales, questionnaires, and physiological
measures and yield numerical results
qualitative methods - Rely on observations, interviews, case studies, and analysis of
diaries or written documents and produce flow diagrams and narrative descriptions of
events or processes.
Introspection - early scientific method in which the participant was also the
experimenter, recording his or her experiences in completing an experimental task;
considered very subjective by modern standards
triangulation - approach in which researchers seek converging information from different
sources
generalize - to apply the results from one study or sample to other participants or
situations
job analysis - process that determines the important tasks of a job and the human
attributes necessary to successfully perform those tasks
experimental control - characteristic of research in which possible confounding
influences that might make results less reliable or harder to interpret are eliminated;
often easier to establish in laboratory studies than in field studies
