Learning Psychology in English. Учебно-методический комплекс

UNIT 7

VI. Find in the text synonyms to the words given below.

conduct, to forecast, to endure, execution, worthwhile, firm, tension, subordinate, custom, to arise

VI. Derive nouns from the following verbs by means of suffixes: -ion, - ior ,-er, -ing, -ence,-ance, -ment

to predict, to behave, to carry, to react, to like, to correlate, to meet, to prefer, to ail, to perform

TEST

I.Put in the sentences the missing words from the box.

a)authority; b)behavior; c)extroversion; d)feature; e)individuals; f)neurotic;

g)performance; h) rewarding; i) self-image; j) subservient

1.The … includes self-perceptions such as being “intelligent” or “lively”.

2.People probably have consistent attitudes to … in their work situations.

3.… vary greatly in their entire style of social performance from one situation to another.

4.About 5-10 per cent of the population would be classified as … by psychiatrists.

5.A person’s … can be predicted to some extent from variables like age, sex, job and social class.

6.Some people have great respect for tradition, are ... to those in authority and bully their juniors.

7.The occupational role, and the way it is played, is a core … to identity.

8.Neuroticism can be measured by questionnaire, interview, or from … at laboratory tasks.

9.Social … consists of a liking for social situations, especially large and noisy ones.

10.… people are both more popular and influential.

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LEARNING PSYCHOLOGY IN ENGLISH

II. Match the term with the definition.

III. Choose Russian equivalents for the English words.

IV. Choose English equivalents for the Russian words.

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UNIT 7

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LEARNING PSYCHOLOGY IN ENGLISH

UNIT 8

THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF WORK

WORK is one of the central activities of life, and social behaviour at work is one of the most important and interesting forms of social behaviour.

Work has to be done; sometimes it is enjoyable, sometimes it is not. It has to be done to provide food, clothes, shelter, protection from enemies without and disruptive elements within, care, protection and education of children, and all the elaborate arrangements for entertainment, travel, etc., to which we have become accustomed. It is not clear whether man has innate patterns of work behaviour or not; it is possible that man's capacity for learnt, persistent, goal-directed behaviour in groups is such an innate pattern; it is certainly very well suited to man's extensive material needs for clothes and shelter for example. The carrying out of these persistent patterns of behaviour (whether they are called work or leisure) gives men a sense of identity and purpose, and may be necessary for mental health. By far the greater part of our behaviour at work is the product of cultural factors; through his-

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UNIT 8

torical processes a society develops certain attitudes to work and ways of working, and these are passed on to children in the course of education and other kinds of socialization.

Working organizations as we know them now in Europe and the U.S.A. have developed since the early Industrial Revolution. Changes have been gradual and pragmatic, in response to changes in technology, increases in the scale and complexity of work, and the ideas of organization theorists. Until very recently there were no empirical studies of the efficiency of alternative kinds of organization or the satisfaction of those working in them. We have now entered a new phase in the history of work – a great deal of research is available on the conditions under which people work effectively and happily.

Social psychologists have been studying social behaviour at work since the early 1930s. They have studied such things as behaviour in working groups, the relations between managers and supervisors and those supervised, and the organizational structures associated with work. This has been one of the main spheres of research by social psychologists outside the laboratory – social behaviour at work is affected by many factors not found in the laboratory. They have sometimes been asked to find out the conditions which result in high productivity, measured for example in terms of amount of useful output per man-hour. They have also studied the conditions which result in the greatest job satisfaction. It is an important empirical question how far high output and high job satisfaction are compatible goals. Social psychologists have also studied the conditions under which absenteeism and labour turnover are lowest; these are found to be low when job satisfaction is high, and when they are low, overall productivity is high and labour costs low.

The social psychology of work really began with the Hawthorne studies in the 1930s, which showed the importance of interaction within working groups. The Human Relations movement demonstrated in numerous studies how the style of supervision and composition of different groups affected their work performance and satisfaction. The Tavistock Institute showed the impor-

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tance of linking work groups to technology in the best way. Industrial sociologists have studied the operation of different kinds of working organization, and vocational guidance and selection psychologists have shown how people of different abilities and personalities can be placed in the most suitable jobs.

The social psychological scene in this area at the present time is somewhat chaotic. A number of theories of motivation (e.g. Maslow, Herzberg) have become very popular with managers; various forms of social skill training (e.g. T-groups) are now widely used; there are demands for new forms of working organization, for example with more participation in decision-taking and more flexibility. However there is now a considerable body of research findings about the accuracy of these theories and the effectiveness of these training methods.

I.Read the text and translate it into Russian.

II.Answer the following questions.

1)What is the purpose of work?

2)Is it clear that man has innate patterns of work behaviour?

3)What factors affect social behaviour at work?

4)Since when have social psychologists been studying social behaviour at work?

5)What questions have social psychologists studied?

6)Where did studies on social psychology of work begin?

III.Think and answer.

What is the peculiarity of social psychology at the present time?

IV. Translate these sentences into English using words from the text.

1)Социальное поведение в трудовой деятельности яв- ляется одной из самых важных и интересных форм общественного поведения.

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2)Не ясно, обладает ли человек врожденными моделя- ми поведения в работе.

3)В ходе исторического развития общество формирует определенное отношение к работе и способы ее вы- полнения.

4)Рабочие организации в их современном виде воз- никли в начальный период промышленной рево- люции.

5)Большое количество исследований трудовой дея- тельности возможно в условиях, когда люди работа- ют эффективно и счастливо.

6)Социальные психологи изучили условия трудовой деятельности, обеспечивающие наименьшее количе- ство прогулов и самую низкую текучесть рабочей силы.

7)Институт в Тавистоке наилучшим образом проде- монстрировал значимость взаимосвязи трудовых коллективов с технологическим процессом.

V.Choose the noun which can follow this verb.

V. Find in the text synonyms to the words given below.

complication, quantity, considered, stubborn, fulfilment, to influence, appropriate

VII. Derive nouns from the following verbs by means of suffixes: -ion,

-er, -ment, -ance, -ing

to elaborate, to enter, to affect, to find out, to use, to develop, to associate, to measure

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LEARNING PSYCHOLOGY IN ENGLISH

TEST

I.Put the words from the box in the sentences.

a)to provide; b) technology; c) organizations; d) guidance; e) phase;

f)behavior; g) available; h) motivation

1)Working ... have developed since the early Industrial Revolution.

2)The greater part of our ... at work is the product of cultural factors.

3)Work has to be done ... food, clothes, shelter, etc.

4)The Tavistock Institute showed the importance of linking work groups to ... in the best way.

5)A great deal of research is ... on the conditions under which people work effectively and happily.

6)We have now entered a new ... in the history of work.

7)A number of theories of ... have become very popular with managers.

8)Vocational ... and selection psychologists have shown haw people with different abilities can be placed in the most suitable jobs.

II.Match the term with the definition.

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UNIT 8

5) industrial sociologist e) activity in which effort of the body or mind is used to produce something or gain a result

f)a person who studies social behaviour at work

III. Choose Russian equivalents to the following English word.

IV. Choose English equivalents to the following Russian word.

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LEARNING PSYCHOLOGY IN ENGLISH

UNIT 9

PERSONALITY AND WORK

THERE are great individual differences between people at work: in how well they can do different jobs, how hard they work, and how much they enjoy different kinds of work. They differ in abilities – which determine how well they will be able to do a particular job, and which job each person is best suited for. They differ in interests and motivation, which determine what kinds of work each person most wants to do, and how hard he will work at it. They differ in patterns of social performance; this is partly a matter of temperament – differences of mood, energy, reactions to stress – but is also a question of styles of social performance in different social situations. From the point of view of personnel selection these aspects of personality are important, since they enable predictions to be made of which people will be most effective at a particular job. From the point of view of vocational guidance these factors are important since they enable predictions to be made of which job will give a particular person the greatest job satisfaction.

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