So What Is I-O Psychology, Anyway?
My personal take on the I-O field
These days it seems like there’s a new branch of psychology everywhere you turn. Clinical psychology is what most people are familiar with, but there is also applied psychology, positive psychology, and there are plenty of folks here on X claiming to practice “dark psychology” (it’s not a thing, but you can read more about it here). I study Industrial - Organizational (I-O) psychology. For me, I‑O isn’t just about job fit; it’s become a way to understand people, community, and even myself.
At its core, I-O psychology is the scientific study of people at work. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), it involves deriving principles of individual, group, and organizational behavior and using that knowledge to solve real problems in the workplace. The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) describes it as the application of psychological principles to issues facing individuals, teams, and organizations. In plain terms: I-O psychologists use data, research, and evidence-based methods to improve productivity, employee well-being, fairness, and overall organizational health.
So that’s that’s the textbook answer, or maybe we’ll call it the LinkedIn answer, but I tend to apply it differently. Many folks with a master’s degree in I-O came from a business background or used it to compliment an MBA. I started out in clinical psychology, however, then moved to applied psychology. I take the Gestalt approach to organizations (yes, that’s another branch of psychology), seeing the organization as an individual. I see individuals not as employees needing to match their job, but rather individuals with God-given gifts with an intrinsic need to fulfill their purpose.
Folks with I-O degrees become consultants or go on to become I-O psychologists. I accepted a dream job as a consultant (not in psychology) a few months after I started the graduate program at Auburn, and I’m not going to put it on hold to get my doctorate, so officially the degree just looks good hanging on the wall. Unofficially, it comes in real handy in just about everything I do.
In 2024, right after I completed my graduate program, I ran for school board in Tecumseh, Michigan. I had no hope of winning, I just wanted to wake folks up. My I-O degree helped me address resistance to change in a town that almost always votes for incumbents (even when they have a dismal track record). I didn’t win, but I started a blog that now rivals the local paper as a local resource... and advocates for change.
I’m a proud Rotarian and work closely with my local @rotary clubs. I-O psychology comes in real handy when you find yourself helping run a hurricane shelter or organizing a pancake breakfast for a few hundred locals. Knowing how to place the right individual with the right task is an art as much as it is a science. It’s also very useful when personality conflicts get in the way of the mission. Many I-O psychologists evaluate personality as much as our clinical counterparts.
I use principles I learned in I-O almost daily at work when it comes to conflict. I love my job and enjoy my coworkers, but many of us are former military. We can be an ornery bunch. I-O psychology taught me to look past the disagreement to find what each party truly needs. Maybe the subject matter expert doesn’t need to be right, but rather just needs to be heard, for instance. It’s a soft skill that helps just about everywhere.
For me, it’s all connected. Humans need to work. It puts food on our table, it keeps our mind engaged, and it gives us dignity. To understand work is to understand human nature. Bob Marley understood this when he wrote the song “Night Shift” about driving a forklift in a Detroit warehouse before becoming a famous artist. While research and surveys and diagnostics are an important part of I-O, I enjoy it just as much in day-to-day interactions.
One example of this occurred at the shelter we ran during hurricane Irma. I met a missionary who left the tech industry to help the homeless. After the mini-concert we threw with our acoustic guitars we got at a pawn shop, he asked me who I was. I laughed and said, “I’m Jake”. He said, “but who is Jake?” I didn’t have an answer, and I never forgot the question.
Years later, I would end up completing a graduate program in a field of study that keeps asking one question: Who are you?
(This article is also published on X:
