The Diverse Nature of Psychology
The American Psychological Association has identified 54 divisions within the field of psychology (Plante, 2011). Each division has stemmed from one of the seven major perspectives: psychodynamic, behavioral, humanistic, cognitive, sociocultural, biological, and evolutionary. This diversity within psychology, allows psychologists the ability to expand in all areas of explanation, assessment, and diagnoses, which furthers the science of psychology through many different subfield specialties.
Influence on Psychology’s Major Concepts Diversity is off great influence on the major concepts in psychology. The cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, and humanistic perspectives provide diverse explanations and
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Clinical psychologist must be vigilant when assessing patients that fit into the new American family mold (Plante, 2011)
Industrial–Organizational Psychology Industrial/Organizational psychology is derived from industrial psychology and organizational psychology. The industrial side of the field strives for efficiency within a company by taking on a managerial perspective to ensure that human resources are being utilized (Spector, 2012). The organizational side of the field strives to ensure that employee morale is where it needs to be and the employees are properly taken care of (Spector, 2012). Like clinical psychology, I/O psychology is a scientific based specialty. I/O psychology is concerned with the scientific principles found in the workplace and not the emotional problems of the employees (Spector, 2012). With a shift in demographics in the last decade, workplace diversity has become one of the main concerns for companies. Diversity is now based upon race, gender, ethnicity, disabilities, and sexual orientations. A diverse company will seek individuals who bring “unique perspectives or outlooks to the organization” (Shackelford, 2003). Workplace diversity allows for each individual to have an equal chance no matter what his or her demographic is. Diversity in the workplace also shows that the company is not discriminatory. Motivation is an individual’s internal drive that prompts him or her to perform a desired behavior. Employee
Diversity is a wonderful asset to an organization and brings with it many benefits. Employees bring in their own personal experiences and knowledge to the team (Burns & Kerby, 2012). Having diverse teams allows for the possibility to fix a problem or perfect a process by using different employee’s experiences and past knowledge to find solutions. A diverse workforce can drive economic growth and capture a greater share of the consumer market (Burns & Kerby, 2012). With diversity as a core value, the recruitment pool is widened to find the most qualified candidate and reduces employee turnover as a result. An organization can be highly competitive with a diversity initiative by adapting to a changing environment (Burns & Kerby, 2012).
Motivation is having a reason or reasons to act/behave in a particular way. It creates “drive” in people whether it is in pursuit of a goal, or the need to complete an activity. It produces enthusiasm and a willingness to achieve in both a work environment and in your personal life. Motivation can be increased and decreased in line with the incentives on offer.
As a result to concluding the chapter “How to Think Straight about Psychology” by Keith E. Stanovich, the infinite doors into Psychology have opened. I was immediately engaged into the history and conflicts between the continuity of previous and modern day psychology. It was astounding to find the amount of distaste, backed by modern psychologists, on the workings of Sigmund Freud, who I had recently thought to be the foundation to all psychology. However, after reading on about the diversity of psychology, it became apparent that the extensive amounts of subjects within the realm of this study, make it difficult for scientist and the overall population to agree on one unified idea. Psychology has criteria that is ever changing, but limited to the time period of discovery.
The purpose of this paper is designed to introduce, educate, and promote diversity within your company. Your company will be shown the merits of diversity and how diversity within your organization can be a benefit. This paper will be broken down into three main areas: Benefits of Diversity, Challenges of Diversity, and Recommendations for an effective diversity within your organization..
When reviewing the five enduring issues that cut across the subfields of psychology, it is important to utilize these issues when studying the subfields because they affect the way psychologist interpret human functions on a psychological level. The five issues, person- situation, nature-nurture, stability-change, diversity-universality and mind-body, all involve decifering how a human develops or behaves. Although it is difficult to determine which is issue is the most important, I find the person-situation issue very important because a person's behavior can change drastically depending on the situation. The person-situation issue attempts to determine whether a humans actions are defined by their inner characteristics or their current circumstances.
Diversity has been a hot-button topic for many of today’s companies. Diversity programming and initiatives are regularly implemented by organizations of all types and sizes. As it relates to an organization’s human resources operation, diversity will continue to be an ever-changing term as the work towards equitable treatment for all continues.
The general line of reasoning is that if we learn to incorporate each other’s diverse traits and characteristics in the workplace, we can then use these differences to foster an innovative environment, which will give the company a competitive advantage over the competitors that do not accept workforce diversity. According to the Allied Academies International Conference, “Diversity is rapidly becoming a common practice among companies due to the increasing number of minorities entering the job market today. As these groups become more prevalent throughout companies, upper-level employees are facing numerous challenges when determining what changes must take place to create a positive working environment for everyone. Management is responsible for the development and implementation of effective policies directly relating to diversity to ensure the acceptance of minorities into the workplace and to aid in minorities’ success through equal opportunities and treatment.” (Marcia L. James, 2001, Academy for Studies in International Business Proceedings)
In this booklet you will find an overview of all the different approaches to psychology. This will consist of the key assumptions, examples of the relevant psychologists and examples of their work, as well as an exploration into the advantages and disadvantages that some of these approaches possess.
Diversity in the workplace has been a hot topic around organizations in the United States for several years. Diversity is the state of employing a staff of people that are different within the same organization. It includes but is not limited to age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and even education (Nixon & West, 2000). Many organizations participate in diversity programs to ensure that all employees fell like they are part of the team not discriminated against. Research shows that having a diverse work environment improves profitability, employee performance, and better customer service. However, being a diverse company can cause adversity amongst its employees.
The distinctions between industrial psychology and organizational psychology are not always clear. Thus, the two areas are often referred to jointly as industrial/organizational psychology, or I/O psychology. I/O psychologists work for businesses, consulting firms, government departments, and
Why people do the things they do is a question people have been asking since the beginning of time. However, psychology first appeared in the 1870s. Psychology isn’t just an academic subject, its all around us. People use the principles of psychology everyday. For example, television commercials rely on psychology to persuade people to purchase the advertised product. Psychologists usually treat patients with a mental or emotional problem, but they also serve as scientists researching human behavior. They study how humans relate to each other, and work to improve these relationships. Psychologist especially concentrates on behaviors that affect the mental and emotional health of healthy human beings. In order to be a psychologist, one must
With the changing demographics of the U.S. workforce (Ng & Burke, 2005) and the need for organizations to continually innovate their products and services to remain competitive, embracing diversity and the benefits its brings is going to be key to driving a successful organization
Motivation is defined as a psychological force that stimulates a person to act toward the desired objectives and maintain goal-oriented behaviour to achieve a specific goal (Helen 2013). In the workplace, motivation is one of the most significant factors determining the effectiveness and efficiency. Motivation is positively related to employees’ willingness in performing their job duties which can significantly affect the business’ growth. Thus, the more motivated the workers are, the more successful the organisation will be (Stanley 2015).
The discrimination-and-fairness paradigm is considered the “dominant way” of understanding diversity by most organizations. It attempts to remove discrimination and create employment equality by seeking to increase diversity among employees. Progress is measured by how well the company is able to meet its diversity number goals but avoids looking deeper at the reality behind the numbers. (Thomas & Ely p. 81)
Diversity in workforce “include, but are not limited to: age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, religious beliefs, parental status, and work experience”(Thomas 1992). Diversity in the workforce is initially perceived as a response toward the increasing diversity of the consumers in the market (Agocs & Burr, 1996). From there, it has been observed that capitalizing on existing differences among the employees provide benefits to the organization. Diversity in workforce fosters and encourages