# Industrial Psychology?



## Angelic Gardevoir (Oct 7, 2010)

Due to my situation that I don't want to really get into, my advisor recommended this class to me. Doing a bit of research (i.e. Google) it seems to be about developing things that are user friendly or something. Has anyone had a class similar to this and is it the slightest bit interesting?


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## sofort99 (Mar 27, 2010)

Yes, but it was in the early 80's as an industrial engineering major.

Practical application: A company was having trouble with women leaving the assembly line and spending too much time in the bathroom. While tracking this to figure out what could be done and who to fire, they discovered the bathroom paint was lead paint. The lead abatement team that came in repainted the women's bathroom in dark colors, and had broken several light fixtures. The tracking discovered that the women's bathroom time had dropped almost 50% before they discovered the bathroom had been repainted different colors.

After discovering this, as an experiment they went and repainted the men's bathroom lavender with big flowers on the walls, and cut the men's time by another 40%.

There is a place for user unfriendly, too.


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## Luke (Oct 17, 2010)

I live in Australia and we have a field called "organizational psychology", I think it's the same thing. I personally find it interesting, you learn about the workforce and how psychology is used in organizations. I find it a useful way to gain an insight into how the workforce works and how employers think. For example, I was introduced to psychological techniques organizations use to motivate employees and the selection processes they use when hiring. I also learnt how globalization is changing the job market and how to adapt to it. I can imagine that many people would find it boring, but I'm the type of person who finds most things interesting and useful in someway.


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## Angelic Gardevoir (Oct 7, 2010)

sofort99 said:


> Yes, but it was in the early 80's as an industrial engineering major.
> 
> Practical application: A company was having trouble with women leaving the assembly line and spending too much time in the bathroom. While tracking this to figure out what could be done and who to fire, they discovered the bathroom paint was lead paint. The lead abatement team that came in repainted the women's bathroom in dark colors, and had broken several light fixtures. The tracking discovered that the women's bathroom time had dropped almost 50% before they discovered the bathroom had been repainted different colors.
> 
> ...


:laughing: Maybe this class will be fun after all!



Luke said:


> I live in Australia and we have a field called "organizational psychology", I think it's the same thing. I personally find it interesting, you learn about the workforce and how psychology is used in organizations. I find it a useful way to gain an insight into how the workforce works and how employers think. For example, I was introduced to psychological techniques organizations use to motivate employees and the selection processes they use when hiring. I also learnt how globalization is changing the job market and how to adapt to it. I can imagine that many people would find it boring, but I'm the type of person who finds most things interesting and useful in someway.


 I don't think that's what the class is about, but if it is, then that is pretty interesting.


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## Angelic Gardevoir (Oct 7, 2010)

*revives thread from dead*

It turns out that this _is _organizational psychology! One of the required books is entitled "The Dark Side of Organizational Behavior." This should be fuuuuun.


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## penguinfrk (Apr 13, 2011)

Angelic Gardevoir said:


> Due to my situation that I don't want to really get into, my advisor recommended this class to me. Doing a bit of research (i.e. Google) it seems to be about developing things that are user friendly or something. Has anyone had a class similar to this and is it the slightest bit interesting?


I'm definitely no expert on this, but I want to go into Industrial-Organizational Psychology as a career choice. I'm still a senior in high school, but I noticed that the common thread between my diverse extracurriculars is working with people and making the club/team function better.

Here are some links that you might've come across in your research. These were definitely pretty helpful for me.
Industrial Organizational Careers - Careers in Industrial Organizational Psychology
Industrial and organizational psychology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Try looking into at the Society for Industrial-Organization Psychology (SIOP)'s website.

Overall, I really like the idea of studying psychology but with very versatile career possibilities. With clinical or educational or cognitive psychology degrees, you're a lot more limited as to the possible career choices. I'm a huge technology geek, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to do I-O stuff for a high-tech firm to keep in touch with the engineer side of myself. roud:


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## Angelic Gardevoir (Oct 7, 2010)

penguinfrk said:


> I'm definitely no expert on this, but I want to go into Industrial-Organizational Psychology as a career choice. I'm still a senior in high school, but I noticed that the common thread between my diverse extracurriculars is working with people and making the club/team function better.
> 
> Here are some links that you might've come across in your research. These were definitely pretty helpful for me.
> Industrial Organizational Careers - Careers in Industrial Organizational Psychology
> ...


Well, I was never planning to go into I-O. I'm just taking this class as an elective. And it wasn't as interesting for me as I thought it would be. But if you like it, go for it!


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