My name is Linus Maximilian Rinke and I am currently a graduate student enrolled at the University of Central Florida and working towards my M.S. in Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology. I don't imagine many people know exactly what that field incorporates and though a quick google search probably yields the answer I'll explain it in more detail in a bit.
Because this is my first time really getting into blogging, seriously at least, I'm not really sure where to begin but I'll do my best. As I stated before I'm a graduate student at large Southeastern University (55,000+). At 23 years old I wasted no time after graduation to continue my education and successfully delayed entering the real world, at least for the time being. Majoring in Psychology I had no clue what I wanted to do after I got done with school and finally settled on a graduate degree that, at least in my eyes, seemed a little more flexible than the other available options.
Every time people ask me what it is I study I always prepare myself for the same three responses different people come back with. The confused "i'm going to pretend like I know exactly what that is guy", as the name implies, will just nod his or her head and pretend to know exactly what I/O Psychology is, right before quickly changing the subject. The "Psychology incorporates a single universal motif guy" is a fan favorite and one of the more common responses I receive when people ask me what I do. This person will ask me what I do and than quickly ask if I can read his or her mind. See, this person assumes that Psychology hasn't changed in the last 200 years and that all Psychologists are still practicing psychotherapists. The last kind of response is one I generally don't encounter that often. This person actually has a general understanding of what I do and asks intelligent follow up questions the foster interesting conversations.
Industrial/Organizational Psychology is what I would consider to be the MBA equivalent of a Psychology Degree. Similar to a business degree I look at how businesses function. The biggest difference, however; is that unlike MBA students I don't learn about business structures or strategy or even marketing ploys and public relations. I study Human Capital, the foundation and backbone of any successful corporation. Some topics that are grounded in I/O psychology include: training, HR, leadership, motivation, & organizational behavior. This is really just scratching the surface though as any topic which concerns the study of people as they relate to organization is of interest to us Psychologists.
I hope to use this blog to Chronicle the experiences of a graduate student in my field and sometimes maybe as a means to vent my frustrations with the field, school or life in general.
Until next time,
-LiMax
