The Need to Belong

Ubuntu – my humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in yours.

Evolutionary roots

• Simply – it’s how we survived

What was your most satisfying moment in the past week?

• Did it impact your self-esteem? Was it impacted by belongingness? Community?

• Need to belong runs deeper than most other needs– When our need for relatedness is balanced with

autonomy and competence – that is where well-being comes from

Why?• When we feel accepted, self-esteem is high

– Much of our social behavior is based on inclusion

• Think of what it means to make new friends – what is the hope of your first impression?

Sexual Motivation and the need to belong…

• Both have light and dark sides– Sex = love and exploitation– “we” = families, friendships, teams and gangs,

nationalism, ethnocentrism

Pain of ostracism• Ostracism: social exclusion

– Based in punishment – how?– What is the goal of ostracism?– What examples do you have from your life of

ostracism?

TO LIVE IS TO WORKThink: What is often the first question that is asked of you or

that you would think to ask someone?

Framing concepts• What is the difference among a job, a career,

or a calling?

• Flow: experiences that boost our sense of self-esteem, competence, and well-being

Yerkes-Dodson Law

Industrial-organizational psychology

• What is the psychological work contract?– Set of mutual obligations between worker and

employer

• Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychology: applying psychological concepts to the workplace

I/O’s subfields• Human factors psychology: explores how machines and

environments can be optimally designed to fit human abilities

• Personnel psychology: methods and principles to selecting and evaluating workers– Matches people with jobs, placing well-suited candidates

• Organizational psychology: how work environments and management styles influence worker motivation, satisfaction, and productivity– Modify jobs and supervision in ways that boost morale and

productivity

• How is it that interviewers can somehow feel confident in their abilities to predict long-term job performance in one conversation?– Well, simply put… they can’t

The Interview

Interviewer Illusion

• People who conduct interviews (not those seeking the job) often time are overconfident in their ability to select workers– “I don’t need to do background checks because I

am THAT amazing at asking generic questions.”

How does it work?1. Interviews disclose the interviewee’s good intentions –

WAY less revealing than actual behaviors2. Interviewers more often follow the successful careers of

those they have hired than the successful careers of those they have rejected or lost track of – no reality check

3. Interviewers assume that what they see is what they get – how does the interviewee’s need to belong impact the interview?

4. Interviewer’s preconception and moods color how they perceive interviewees’ responses – Do I like you or will you be good at the job?

So how do we avoid interviewer illusion?

• Structured interview (Tell me about a time you were caught with too much to do and too little time.)

• Vs.• Unstructured interview (How organized are

you?)• What difference do you see?

Is this a good fit?

Personnel psychology and appraising performance

• Performance appraisal is key to any occupation whether employee or management

• Feedback affirms workers’ strengths and helps motivate needed improvements

Organizational Psychology and Achievement Motivation

• Achievement motivation: desire for significant accomplishment, mastering skills and ideas, control, or for rapidly attaining a high standard

• Why do you want to be good at anything?• Why would you dedicate hours to anything?

Think…

• When was the last time you worked incredibly hard at something?– Why?

• What did it feel like when it was over?– Were you satisfied? Did you take pride? Did you

continue to work hard?• What was that feeling called?

Leadership• Task leadership – goal-

oriented leadership that sets standards, organizes work and focuses attention on goals

• Social leadership – teambuilding and support

Practice Question 1

• Which of the following would an industrial-organizational psychologist be LEAST likely to study?A. Managerial skillsB. Employee motivationC. Job satisfactionD. Corporate profitabilityE. Pay incentive programs

Practice Question 2

• Which of the following would fall within the realm of human factors psychology?A. Developing hiring procedures that enable businesses to

hire the right person for the a jobB. Applying successful motivational techniques in the

workplaceC. Focusing on workers’ rights to a safe work environmentD. Researching the fairest way for management and labor

to negotiate contractsE. Designing controls for a machine that allow people to

operate it efficiently and safely