11. Business

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The Business World

In the business world, companies want to do their best work. Sometimes, they ask psychologists for help. Psychologists know how people think and feel. They can use this knowledge to make ads that people will remember. They can also make workspaces that are comfortable and safe.

Marketing (focus groups)

Advertising and marketing psychology is used in for focus groups and customer opinions. Businesses work with psychologists to create ads that use scientific methods to influence people’s emotions and make the ads more memorable. These methods include studying how people think, feel, and make decisions and using things like violence, humor, and sex to get people’s attention. There’s a related field called neuromarketing that has some critisism and potential privacy risks.

Environmental Psychology

Environmental psychology is a type of psychology that studies how people interact with their surroundings – sometimes called ergonomics. It examines noise and temperature to determine how well an environment works for its users. Environmental psychology can be used to design spaces that work well for their intended purpose.

Human Factors

Human factor psychologists use data from experiments to design processes and objects that complement human behavior. One example is ergonomics, which improves work environment designs such as offices and manufacturing shops. Another field of human factors is engineering psychology, which studies how humans interact with processes and machines to create items and systems that work well with human limitations.

I/O Psychology

Industrial and Organizational (I-O) Psychology is a field that applies psychology to the workplace. It includes recruitment, training, performance appraisal, job satisfaction, and motivation. I-O Psychology also covers work behavior, occupational stress, accident prevention, management, retirement planning, and unemployment. The field is not easily separated into two disciplines, and I-O psychologists are generally rounded in industrial and organizational psychology, with some specialization.

Other Possiblities

Read the “Careers in Psychology” chapter for more insight.

1          Mid- and top-level management

2          Sales

3          Social work

4          Other management positions

5          Human resources (personnel, training)

6          Other administrative positions

7          Insurance, real estate, business

8          Marketing and sales

9          Healthcare (nurse, pharmacist, therapist)

10        Finance (accountant, auditor)

Questions

What are some problems that might happen if businesses use psychology to make people feel a certain way about their ads, and is it the right thing to do?

How can the study of environmental psychology help make public places work better for people who have disabilities?

What do you imagine occupational health psychology could do to stop workplace violence and help workers feel better both mentally and physically?


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