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.

Explore how organizational theory and development explain how groups and individuals behave across diverse settings. Examine structure, culture, change, and effectiveness, from classical to open systems and development models.

Explore the major models and perspectives in psychology, from structuralism and behaviorism to cognitive, behavioral, psychodynamic, humanistic and biological neuroscience, and examine how nature and nurture shape behavior.

Identify abnormal behaviors through medical, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and social-cultural perspectives, linking distress, distorted thoughts, and learned social context to assessment and treatment.

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 what social science research methods are and how researchers collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data to explain behavior and inform public policy, education, urban design, and marketing.

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.

Industrial/organizational psychologists apply performance management principles, including evaluation, feedback, and development, using predictors like cognitive abilities, personality traits, work samples, and structured interviews to inform selection, training, and job success.

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

Predictors and psychological testing guide employment selection, including predictors used in place of criteria and test types. Explore power versus speed tests and learn about reliability, validity, norms, and standardization.

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.

Review depressive disorders in the DSM-5-TR, detailing major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, and disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, with duration, timing, and bipolar overdiagnosis concerns in youth.

Review the DSM-5-TR criteria for bipolar I disorder, including manic, hypomanic, and major depressive episodes. Explain manic episode features, duration, impairment, and exclusions, and distinguish hypomania from full mania.

Explore how motivation drives employee performance, job satisfaction, and engagement, examining Maslow's needs, goal setting, and the role of attitudes and commitment in outcomes.

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

Explore goal setting and motivation within industrial/organizational psychology, showing how clear goals influence motivation and performance in work settings.

Explore stress and worker wellbeing within industrial/organizational psychology; identify stressors, strains, and environmental hazards, and learn coping skills, and the goals of occupational health psychology and total worker health.

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.

Explore theories of leadership and power, from trait and behavioral approaches to transformational and charismatic styles, and learn how influence, competency, and trust drive effective leadership.

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.