Industrial/Organizational Psychology (Cert. of Completion)

The module defines i-o psychology as the broad field that studies human behavior in the workplace, integrating industrial and organizational psychology to improve performance and employee well-being.

Discover how industrial/organizational psychology applies theory and research to workplaces and individuals. Focus on personnel psychology, organizational psychology, and human factors.

Explore how organizational psychology applies psychological principles to work, shaping job satisfaction, safety, leadership, culture, fit, turnover, and continuous learning in a changing workforce.

Explore how environmental factors shape gene expression through epigenetics, altering genotype and phenotype, and move beyond the idea that genes alone determine development.

Explore four parenting styles—authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved—and their effects on self-esteem, health, and behavior, with authoritative parenting presented as the recommended approach.

Trace the scientific study of mental disorders through psychopathology, from early roots to modern classifications, and learn how researchers and clinicians examine causes, symptoms, progression, diagnosis, and treatment.

Define applied psychology and explore its use of research methods to solve real-life problems, including workplace health, product design, and law, across clinical, industrial and organizational, and sports psychology.

Apply quantitative and qualitative research methods, including experimental and non-experimental designs, interviews, focus groups, observations, and statistical analysis within mixed methods to study job analysis, training, and workplace attitudes.

Explore applied and basic research in organizational settings, compare training method effectiveness, and learn to design, analyze, and interpret studies with objective data, controlled variables, and clear reporting.

Explore descriptive, correlational, and experimental research in psychology, including naturalistic observation, surveys, case studies, and the roles of independent and dependent variables in causality.

Describe non-experimental research as measuring variables without manipulation, covering cross-sectional, correlational, and observational designs, and including naturalistic observation, ethnography, case studies, archival research, and content analysis, without establishing causation.

Learn to organize, describe, and present data with descriptive data analysis and statistics, covering mean, median, mode, range, variance, standard deviation, distribution, and graphs.

Explore job analysis and criterion measurement in industrial/organizational psychology, defining criteria, comparing approaches, and distinguishing objective versus subjective criteria for HR decisions.

Discover how job analysis informs personnel selection by outlining tasks and the required knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics. Learn how job descriptions and specifications guide screening, selection, and recruitment.

Define criterion and ultimate criterion in industrial/organizational psychology and compare how actual criteria and measurement relate to relevance and reliability for on-the-job performance.

Explore performance management and appraisal, including 360 degree feedback, methods, and fairness concerns. Learn how appraisal quality, reliability, and legal considerations shape organizational decisions.

Identify effective recruitment strategies and distinguish predictive validation from concurrent validation for fair hiring. Describe how training and development improve performance while aligning with employment laws and protections.

Explore emerging adulthood, an 18–25 life stage between adolescence and adulthood, featuring identity exploration, instability, self-focus, broad future possibilities, and two autonomy components—emotional and behavioral—within industrialized contexts.

Explore how organizations recruit internal and external applicants, select candidates with applications, resumes, and structured interviews, and use predictive validation to forecast job performance.

Explains how employee training, education, and development change skills, knowledge, and attitudes, and guides needs assessment, clearly defined objectives, on-the-job and off-site delivery, and evaluation.

Explore abnormal psychology, its distinction from clinical psychology, and how the four Ds: dysfunction, distress, deviance, and dangerousness define mental disorders per the DSM-5-TR.

Explore bipolar and related disorders in the dsm-5-tr, including bipolar I and II, substance/medication-induced bipolar, and cyclothymic disorder. Learn how mood episodes affect functioning.

Examine motivation at work as energizing, directing, and sustaining behavior, its links to future outlook and burnout, and how theories provide an organizing framework.

Analyze how workplace stress and distress affect performance and costs like absenteeism, turnover, and accidents. Explore methods such as exercise, meditation, time management, and employee assistance programs to reduce stress.

Investigate stress and happiness in organizational settings by examining how individuals respond, interact, and take action under pressure.

Explore emotions and happiness within industrial/organizational psychology. This course highlights how these concepts shape behavior, well-being, and workplace interactions.

Explore group processes, work teams, and transformational and transactional leadership in industrial/organizational psychology, improving team performance, job satisfaction, and organizational outcomes through targeted training.

Explore group processes and differences between work groups and work teams, including formal and informal groups, communication in organizations, and group decision making to prevent groupthink and social loafing.

Reflect on the most intriguing course insights, recall the theories, and develop a plan of action to apply them in your personal and professional life.