Psychology 2990A/B Lecture Notes - Hawthorne Effect, Personnel Selection, Army Beta

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2990A/B
• Professor: Doug Hazlewood

Document Summary

Prologue: the historical roots of industrial-organizational psychology: industrial psychology: personnel selection and placement. 1913: munsterberg publishes the psychology of industrial efficiency . To increase productivity, we should select people with skills that match the job requirements. Personnel selection (selecting the right person for the job) Psychologists develop 2 intelligence tests: army alpha (for recruits who could read and write english) and army beta (for recruits who couldn"t read and write english) Then, new tests to select the best officers, best pilots, eliminate most. Psychological tests could be used to screen and classify large numbers of people. Then businesses and schools wants their own tests to select and classify people: organizational psychology (1924): The hawthorne studies at western electric plant (in hawthorne, illinois) The effect of environmental factors on productivity (e. g. altering lights, temperature, rest periods, etc) Physical environment is not as important as the social & psychological environment harder) the hawthorne effect .