Psychology And Industrial Organizational Psychology

When most people hear the word ‘psychologist’, they visualize the classic stereotype of a therapist, with a pad and paper in hand, sitting in a leather chair with their legs elegantly crossed, asking their client, “and how does that make you feel?” While this typecast may be fitting for some types of psychologists, like school counselors or those who own a private practice, it is not fitting for all; especially for industrial organizational psychologists.

Industrial organizational psychology is the scientific study of human behavior in the workplace. In the words of Kizzy Parks, an industrial psychologist, “industrial organizational psychologists deal with critical areas of importance in organizations that ultimately help the bottom line.” Industrial organizational psychologists use their specialized knowledge to improve employees' satisfaction in their work, employers' ability to select and promote the best people, and to generally make the workplace better for the men and women who work there. They do this by creating tests and by designing products such as training courses, selection procedures and surveys.

Industrial organizational psychologists reap the benefits of their career by having the opportunity to work almost anywhere they’d like, making a well above average salary, choosing from a variety of different job options, and not to mention, industrial organizational psychology was rated the fasted growing occupation from 2012-2022 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics; industrial organizational psychology is, at the moment, one of the strongest career fields to pursue.

The average salary for an industrial organizational psychologist is not only one of the highest salaries among other psychology careers, but it is higher tha...

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...strial organizational psychology can take on a variety of different job opportunities.

According to the American Bureau of Labor Statistics, Industrial Organizational Psychology is expected to be the fastest growing occupation with the highest median pay from 2012-2022, with a growth rate of fifty-three percent. With an ever-growing amount of businesses in the United States, it’s no wonder that industrial organizational psychologists are getting hired on to help companies and employees achieve their full potential. According to Doug Reynolds, former president of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, "businesses and other larger organizations are quickly realizing the competitive advantages that can be gained by managing their talent using practices that have a basis in evidence and science--and that's at the heart of what I-O psychologists do.”