Theoretical and philosophical issues in industrial/organizational psychology.

In preparing to address the question posed to the various divisions regarding the extent and character of theoretical and philosophical concerns in the various areas of psychology, I informally solicited input from about 20 Division 14 members. Almost without exception I received the same response: the observation that philosophical issues are not central to the daily activities of most I/O psychologists. After a bit more thought, most were able to identify areas or issues within I/O psychology to which philosophical issues are relevant. In the comments which follow, I will make no attempt to be systematic or complete in presenting the philosophical/theoretical issues facing I/O psychology. I will present examples of different types of issues facing the field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Allen O. Gamble (1910-2001).

Memorializes A. O. Gamble, an industrial and organizational psychologist. Gamble was an expert on scientific personnel with a long career in government service. He served as the associate director of personnel for manpower at the National Aeronautics and Aviation Administration and helped select the first group of American astronauts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Notes and News.

Presents a listing of Diplomates who served as members of oral examination committees for the American Board of Examiners in Professional Psychology, Inc. in spring of 1965. In addition, the activities of numerous psychologists are highlighted, as are numerous meetings and initiatives taking place within the field of psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Productivity of American Psychologists Born Prior to 1879.

Author comments on the article by Wayne Dennis on the Productivity of American Psychologists in the American Psychologist (May, 1954), reveals the names of the 16 psychologists, born prior to 1879, who occupy the top decile of productivity based on the biblographies contained in Carl Murchison's Psychological Register, III, 1932, and who contributed 47 per cent of the total output. He lists the psychologists and tabulates the total number of publications for each. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trying to understand the different pieces of the construct validity puzzle of assessment centers: An examination of assessor and assessee effects.

This study examined the effects of assessor-related factors (i.e., type of assessor) and assessee-related factors (i.e., type of assessee profile) on the construct validity of assessment center ratings. In particular, 3 types of assessors (26 industrial/organizational [I/O] psychologists, 20 managers, and 27 students), rated assessee performances that varied according to cross-exercise consistency (i.e., relatively inconsistent vs relatively consistent) and dimension differentiation (relatively undifferentiated vs relatively differentiated). Construct validity evidence was established for only 1 assessee profile and only in the I/O psychologist and managerial samples. More generally, these results indicate that 3 factors (poor design, assessor unreliability, and especially cross-situational inconsistent assessee performances) may explain why construct validity evidence is often not established in operational assessment centers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Publication rate and interests in certain psychologists.

"To obtain data which might bring into focus some of the more interesting characteristics upon which psychologists differ among themselves, a questionnaire was sent to male APA members in the 1951 APA Directory who listed themselves as employed by a college or university and as members of Phi Beta Kappa. Results are presented in 8 tables. Items which discriminated significantly between persons with "high" and "low" publication rates are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Frank Landy (1942–2010).

Frank Landy died peacefully with his family by his side on January 12, 2010. His legacy to the education, research, and practice of industrial and organizational (I/O) psychology will live on in his students, his books and articles, and his ability to define and shape science and practice. Landy believed that good practice followed from good science and spent his career applying what he learned from his own research and the work of others to diverse problems related to selecting employees, managing performance, creating successful human–machine interfaces, and ensuring fair employment practices through his litigation-related work. He was the definition of a scientist–practitioner. Landy was born in Philadelphia on December 30, 1942. He began his study of psychology at Villanova University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1964. He earned a master’s degree (1966) and his doctorate (1969) from Bowling Green State University. Landy joined the faculty at Pennsylvania State University, and during his 26 years there he helped to build one of the most successful I/O psychology programs in the country. He was a member of many professional organizations and won many awards for his outstanding contributions to the field. He began his consulting career in 1965 and helped hundreds of organizations by applying psychological research to the solution of practical problems in human resource management, employee relations, and work motivation. Landy was an avid runner, completing more than 60 marathons, and he often participated in runs at the SIOP conferences. He played and collected guitars and was a great lover of music, often playing and singing publicly. He is survived by his wife Kylie Harper, his two daughters Erin and Elizabeth, his son-in-law George, and his four grandchildren. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Yesterday's Principles: Today's Challenges.

Discusses some of the questions faced by industrial psychologists in light of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other fair employment codes. The author suggests that it is appropriate and timely for social scientists to reexamine and expand their role amidst the inevitable pressures of social legislation. For example, the psychologists' responsibility may, with justification, be extended to developing a climate of readiness on the part of clients for accepting social change. This can be done in part by developing an "idea exchange" to be published in our professional media incorporating the studies and experiences of psychologists in general relating to the problems arising out of the civil rights developments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Editorial.

In this editorial, the editor of the Journal of Applied Psychology (JAP) provides a few comments relevant to both the content and review process in order to be helpful to prospective authors. As to content, reports of empirical research and specialized reviews in all areas of applied psychology, clinical and counseling, are appropriate to the Journal of Applied Psychology. The editor also provides some comments on the various factors that determine whether or not a paper gets published. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Productivity among American psychologists: an explanation.

Discusses a probability model as a plausible explanation of the data on publication published by Dennis (see 29: 1865). Distributions of publication frequency closely follow an inverse relation between number of publications and an individual's rank in a list ordered by number of publications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction.

The three articles presented in this issue reflect different problems encountered by psychologists as each attempted to pursue a career. All three psychologists were trail blazers, developing new applications of psychological knowledge, and each faced different challenges. Stanley Moldawsky, a pioneer in the development of professional psychology, reflects on the establishment of a private practice in the 1950s. He shares how politics had to become an important concern in order to survive, gives us a glimpse of some of the hurdles that had to be crossed to establish a professional school in New Jersey, and impresses on us that professional psychology will grow only if we advocate for it. In contrast to Moldawsky, Jonathan Cummings' career was devoted to the application of clinical and counseling psychology to the medical-surgical areas of the health field. His career was focused on working in the Veterans Administration Hospital system, where he was the first psychologist who was assigned to work outside of the mental health area. Cummings' work was instrumental in the development of the field of health psychology and of the need to focus on the whole person when treating people in these settings. John Jackson, in his poignant essay, reflects on the upward climb of minorities into professional psychology. An African American, Jackson did not have the benefit of more recent civil rights legislation to assist his career. He reflects on his involvements with the American Psychological Association and how he perceives the role of minority psychologists within organized psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Use of Knowledge From Outside I/O Psychology by I/O Psychologists: A Critique.

The aim of the present paper was to comment on three different I/O initiatives involving the transfer of knowledge from outside I/O psychology into the workplace. Overall, it is concluded that the authors have been quite successful at demonstrating that knowledge of theory and research in other fields have enabled them to make some original contributions of their own to I/O psychology. However, it is noted that they draw techniques and constructs from different sources regardless of their conceptual bases, and without the support of a functional analysis of the factors affecting the situation they wish to address. To avoid being left with unenlightened technical eclecticism, it is suggested to them to ground their ideas in a comprehensive and unified theory of human functioning, to ascertain their assumptions about the factors governing human functioning in a work situation through a functional analysis of these factors, and to consider the whole body of knowledge on one issue before choosing a technique to intervene. They are also encouraged to work closely with psychologists in other subdisciplines so as to choose more wisely what knowledge to apply from what field to deal with a given issue in the workplace. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational conditions and behavior in 234 industrial manufacturing organizations.

Attempts to explore some of the interrelationships among 84 variables pertaining to company and formal organization characteristics, management attributes, incentive conditions, worker characteristics, personnel performance, and organizational functions in a sample of 234 manufacturing firms. The data were obtained by an 84-item multiple-choice questionnaire sent to a representative sample of 2938 manufacturing firms located throughout the U.S. The correlations among the 84 variables were factor analyzed and the factors rotated to a simple structure. 14 dimensions of organizational attributes and behavior were isolated and interpreted. Among the significant findings was the relatively high independence of organizational attributes and behavior as evidenced by their being defined by separate sets of factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Applied psychology in action: Psychological research in personnel administration.

Industrial management has undoubtedly been skeptical about the value of the personnel psychologist as a direct part of its operations payrolled as its job evaluation, training, organization and methods and other functions are. Yet a large number and variety of management problems can be attacked by the application of the specialized skills of the research psychologist. And in most cases not only can they provide the most valid solutions and recommendations but can do this in a manner which will please even the most practical administrator. To do this, it seems important for the research psychologist to be close enough to the management and operations of the organization so that he can sense needs for research in day-to-day problems. And he can make acceptable recommendations for application of research results in the same setting. The possibilities for success are greater, of course, where the relationship between administrator and psychologist is a close and continuing one. The Civilian Personnel Research Branch (CPRB) of the U. S. Air Force Headquarters is in the fortunate position of approximating this ideal. This Branch conducts psychological research originating from everyday problems of the civilian personnel program of the Air Force. The author concludes that staffing with personnel specifically trained for such work pays dividends, if in no other way than in making such research sufficiently sound to assure management that the conclusions may be applied with confidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

ABEPP Diplomas for Researchers.

Notes that, at last count, there were 1,152 diplomates of the ABEPP, and an estimated 2,000 more psychologists who are, or will be, eligible for one of the three diplomacies. More than 10,000 psychologists are ineligible for any diplomacy at any time, a situation which strikes the author as unfortunate. An increase in the eligible population could be accomplished either by lowering present standards, or by creating a new diplomate area. The former solution is obviously objectionable. The latter, however, is a real possibility which ought to be explored. Indeed, ABEPP itself, at the time of its incorporation, pointedly left the way open for this expansion. A rough analysis of the current occupations of psychologists suggests that a new diplomacy would be most useful in research, or evaluation and measurement in its broadest sense. The author goes on to explain how the two new diplomate areas would function. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Publication habits of psychologists in Canadian universities.

A survey of publication habits of psychologists was made. Histograms of publication frequency were prepared for biology, chemistry, history, mathematics, political science, psychology, physics and sociology. Psychologists were most like sociologists both in the mean number of publications per individual and in the form the distribution assumes. Other clusters also appear. Assistant, associate and full professors holding staff appointments in Canadian universities do not appear to differ by rank in frequency of publication. Higher academic ranks do appear to be more varied in their publication habits, however. Psychologists are much less prone to multiple authorship of papers than physicists and this must be taken into account when publication records are evaluated. There has been a general increase in the average frequency of publication since 1961 which has resulted in a doubling of publication frequency and the present national average of 0.9 papers for a staff member per year. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reflections of a pioneering woman in industrial psychology.

Reflections on the life and career development of a woman early in the development of industrial psychology are recorded. The future of psychology in industry, particularly as it relates to women, is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)