Welcome to Applied Psychology: Work and the Individual!

Hello! This chapter is where psychology leaves the lab and steps into the office, factory floor, and team meeting. Applied Psychology, specifically Industrial and Organisational (I/O) Psychology, studies how human behaviour affects work performance, job satisfaction, and general well-being.

Don't worry if you’ve never thought of work this way before. We will break down complex concepts like why group work sometimes fails, how a simple email can cause misunderstandings, and what truly motivates us to show up every day. Understanding this section is crucial for seeing how psychological theories are used to solve real-world problems. Let’s dive in!


1. Group Processes and the Individual

When people gather to work, their individual behaviour changes. We look at how groups affect performance and identity.

1.1 Performance in Groups: Facilitation vs. Loafing

Groups can either boost your performance or make you slack off.

  • Social Facilitation: This happens when the presence of others improves performance on simple, well-learned, or easy tasks.
    Example: A musician plays their well-rehearsed piece perfectly when a large audience is watching.
  • Social Loafing: This is the opposite. It refers to the tendency for individuals to put in less effort when they are part of a group working towards a common goal than when working alone.
    Why it happens: People feel less individually accountable (sometimes called the "sucker effect"—no one wants to do all the work if others are loafing).
    Memory Aid: Think of LoaFing as being Lazy Folks in a group.

1.2 Group Decision-Making

Decisions made by a group are often more extreme than those made by individuals alone.

Group Polarisation and Risky Shift
  • Group Polarisation: The tendency for a group to make decisions that are more extreme (either riskier or more cautious) than the initial inclinations of its members.
    Example: If everyone in a political discussion group already slightly supports a certain policy, the group discussion will lead them to support a much more extreme version of that policy.
  • Risky Shift: This is a specific type of group polarisation where the group shifts towards a more risky decision.
Groupthink (Janis, 1972)

Groupthink is a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, where the members' striving for unanimity (agreement) overrides their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action.

This is bad because critical thinking is ignored in favour of harmony.
Example: A company board agrees on a disastrous product launch because no one wants to challenge the charismatic CEO.

1.3 Group Membership Effects and Identity

Our groups define us, and this affects how we treat others.

Deindividuation

Deindividuation describes the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.
Connection: This often explains mob behaviour or antisocial behaviour when people feel they cannot be identified (e.g., wearing a uniform or being in a large, dark crowd).

Social Identity Theory (SIT)

Developed by Tajfel and Turner, SIT suggests that people derive part of their self-concept from their knowledge of their membership in a social group. This leads to classifying ourselves and others into in-groups (us) and out-groups (them).

  • In-group Favouritism: We tend to see our own group members as diverse, highly competent, and deserving of better treatment.
  • Out-group Bias: We tend to see members of the 'other' group as all being the same (homogeneity) and often inferior or less trustworthy.
    Relatable Example: Thinking that the people in your department (in-group) are hardworking and creative, while the people in the other department (out-group) are all lazy and boring.

Key Takeaway (Group Processes): Groups influence us heavily. We either perform better (facilitation) or worse (loafing). Decisions get more extreme (polarisation), and we favour our own team (SIT).


2. Communication at Work

Effective communication is key to any successful workplace. Psychology examines both what we say (verbal) and what we don't (non-verbal).

2.1 Non-Verbal Communication (NVC)

NVC includes communication without words, often revealing true feelings.

  • Eye Contact: In many Western cultures, appropriate eye contact signifies trust, attention, and honesty. However, in some Eastern or Latin American cultures, sustained eye contact can be seen as challenging or disrespectful.
  • Facial Expression: Psychologists like Paul Ekman identified several cultural universals in facial expression (e.g., happiness, sadness, anger). These are recognised across the globe, suggesting a biological basis.
  • Personal Space (Proxemics): The physical distance we maintain from others. This is highly influenced by culture.
    Did you know? People in Latin American countries often use smaller personal space (more proximity) compared to people in Northern Europe or East Asia, which can lead to communication discomfort in international meetings.

2.2 The Effects of E-mail Communication

Digital communication, while fast, strips away many crucial non-verbal cues, leading to frequent misunderstandings.

  • Lack of Non-Verbal Cues: E-mails lack tone of voice, body language, and facial expressions. This makes it difficult to detect sarcasm, urgency, or sincerity.
    Common mistake to avoid: Assuming an exclamation mark conveys enough emotion!
  • Egocentrism: Senders often assume that the recipient has the same contextual knowledge and can interpret the intended meaning easily, resulting in ambiguous or confusing messages.
  • Feedback: E-mail communication often delays the immediate feedback loop common in face-to-face talks. This lack of swift back-and-forth correction can slow down tasks and increase misinterpretation anxiety.

Key Takeaway (Communication): Non-verbal cues (like space and eye contact) are vital but vary greatly by culture. E-mail causes problems because it lacks these cues, making us prone to egocentrism and delaying necessary feedback.


3. Job Motivation and Satisfaction

What drives an individual to perform well and feel happy at their job? Psychological theories offer different answers.

3.1 Need Theory

This foundational theory, often associated with Maslow, posits that people are motivated by a hierarchy of unmet needs. At work, motivation comes from the job satisfying these fundamental needs (e.g., safety, belonging, self-esteem).

Application: If an employee lacks basic security (safe working environment, good salary), they will not be motivated by higher-level needs like praise or challenging projects.

3.2 Expectancy Theory (Vroom)

This cognitive theory states that individuals choose to behave in ways that they believe will lead to desired outcomes. It relies on three main cognitive links that must all be strong for motivation to occur:

  1. Expectancy (E): The belief that effort will lead to performance. ("If I work hard, will I succeed?")
  2. Instrumentality (I): The belief that performance will lead to an outcome/reward. ("If I succeed, will my boss reward me?")
  3. Valence (V): The value the individual places on the outcome/reward. ("Do I actually want that reward?")

For high motivation, all three (E, I, V) must be high. If any link is weak (e.g., you don't value the reward), motivation drops to zero.

3.3 Goal-Setting Theory (Locke)

This theory proposes that setting specific, difficult goals leads to higher performance than setting vague ("do your best") goals.

  • Specificity: Clear, quantifiable goals are better. (Example: "Sell 10 units this week" is better than "Try to sell more.")
  • Difficulty (Challenge): Goals must be challenging but still achievable. Difficult goals require more focus and persistence.
  • Feedback: Regular feedback on progress is essential for maintaining motivation towards the goal.

3.4 Job Characteristics and Well-being (Warr)

Peter Warr focused not just on performance, but on how job characteristics affect an individual's mental health and well-being. He identified several key environmental features (characteristics of the job) that influence psychological health.

Two key dimensions in Warr’s model are crucial for high well-being:

  • Opportunity for Control: How much autonomy and decision-making power the individual has over their tasks and timing. High control is linked to higher satisfaction.
  • Environmental Clarity: How clear the job role, goals, and feedback are. Ambiguity (unclear roles) is a major source of distress.

Key Takeaway (Motivation): Motivation depends on needs (Need Theory), whether we believe effort leads to a valued reward (E-I-V in Expectancy Theory), and having hard, specific goals (Goal-Setting Theory). Well-being requires clear roles and control (Warr).


4. Workplace Stress

Stress is the harmful physical and emotional response that occurs when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker.

4.1 Effects of Workload and Control

The two most commonly studied job stressors are workload and control.

  • Workload:
    • Quantitative Workload: Having too much to do (sheer volume of tasks).
    • Qualitative Workload: The job is too difficult or requires skills the worker does not possess.

    High workload, especially when sustained, leads to exhaustion and poor health.

  • Control:

    Low levels of perceived control are strongly linked to high stress. When employees feel they have little influence over how or when they complete tasks, they feel helpless, which increases the stress response (e.g., higher adrenaline).

4.2 The Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) Model

The JD-R model is a key framework for understanding how job characteristics lead to stress or motivation. It divides all job characteristics into two main categories: Job Demands and Job Resources.

Job Demands

These are physical, social, or organisational aspects of the job that require sustained physical or mental effort and are therefore associated with certain physical and psychological costs.
Examples: High workload, emotional demands, time pressure.

Process 1: The Health Impairment Process
High Demands + Low Resources ➔ Exhaustion ➔ Burnout and Health Problems

Job Resources

These are physical, psychological, social, or organisational aspects that either help in achieving work goals, reduce job demands, or stimulate personal growth.
Examples: Social support, autonomy (control), performance feedback, development opportunities.

Process 2: The Motivational Process
High Resources ➔ Engagement ➔ High Motivation and Performance

The Key Insight: Resources can act as a buffer against high demands. For example, a high workload (demand) is less stressful if the worker also has high control (resource).

Key Takeaway (Stress): Stress results from high workload and lack of control. The JD-R model explains this by showing how demands drain energy (leading to stress) while resources protect health and boost motivation.


A Final Thought for Students

You’ve covered how psychological principles govern almost every aspect of our working lives, from teamwork to stress management. Remember that Applied Psychology is all about finding solutions—so when you evaluate a theory, always ask: "How could this be used to make the workplace better?" Good luck with your revision!